Komatsu rebranded its fleet management platform iSite into Smart Quarry Site. Quarry looks at how the platform has been helping customers.
There was a time when a site manager measured their quarry’s fleet performance using old-fashioned pen and paper.
However, quarries are increasingly focused on compliance, with higher productivity requirements and many moving parts. Komatsu’s Smart Quarry Site brings site and fleet management into the digital era and away from the eye of the beholder.
Smart Quarry Site (SQS), formerly iSite, was rebranded late last year, but as Komatsu technology consultant Mark Boyes told Quarry, its impact remains significant.
“We wanted to make it more targeted towards the quarrying sector, and the reception itself has been quite good,” he said.
“For existing Smart Quarry Site customers, it has been business as usual.”
Komatsu’s Smart Quarry Site is part of the company’s digital platform, which allows operators and site managers to see immediately what is happening around the site.
The platform delivers real-time insights into key areas that underpin a quarry’s performance so managers can make informed decisions. Komatsu designed the platform to analyse site management, optimise production, monitor machine health, enable proactive management, and deliver enhanced safety around the worksite.
The Smart Quarry Site platform provides these insights on a dashboard using animated visualisations and can track the performance of any brand’s trucks, loaders, excavators, graders, or dozers.
Boyes told Quarry that the Smart Quarry Platform was a modern approach to quarry management for site managers, supervisors, and operators.
“In terms of adapting technology, quarries can be very new to taking it on. In the past, they may have been making decisions based on gut feel rather than analytical data,” he said.
“Some people may have found it challenging previously to decide what to do with this information, but Smart Quarry Site can take that data and turn it into something easily accessible and user-friendly.”
Using the platform, managers and supervisors can track key performance indicators across the entire quarry fleet.
The Smart Quarry Site can be set up to provide updates on payload, fuel consumption, and a machine’s uptime, enabling leaders to assess a quarry’s efficiency and productivity quickly.
The platform benefits machine operators. Each driver can access the system via their log-in to see site information immediately. The operator cabin screen displays real-time information about the machine’s current payload, material type, and destination.
This can be shared between operators to make use of cycle times across the site. Operators can also register customised or general pre-start checks on the Smart Quarry Site. These are stored on the platform and accessible when required.
Boyes said Komatsu had worked with the quarry to transition from old-school methods to the SQS platform, they had found benefits.
“We’ve had customers looking to target fuel burn with an additive, for example. They know we can track fuel burn with and without the additive using data analytics,” Boyes said.
“Other customers haven’t had an effective way to manage the utilisation of their plant, but we can track the utilisation on their cycle and measure working time versus idling time to give them that picture.
“It can be either very basic, or we can get very specific depending on what the customer needs.”
Komatsu staff visit the quarry site before deploying the SQS program to identify the key areas the program should address.
The Komatsu Training Academy then teaches operators, managers, and supervisors how to use the Smart Quarry Site.
“We hone down, target, and then eliminate the pain points depending on what the customer needs and then help them move into the digital form,” he said.
“When you invest in SQS, you get the backing of a full training program that explains how the program works and how to best use it for your business.”
Boyes said most customers achieved their primary savings through payload management using data from the Smart Quarry Site.
However, the platform can help quarries achieve auxiliary savings.
According to Komatsu, these savings include the smaller factors that are still key to a quarry’s day-to-day operations. Boyes uses the example of recording pre-starts on a paper copy.
The quarry could save not only the cost of paper but also printing costs and the need for a room to store it.
“When you factor in all those costs when you go to a digital solution, there are a lot of auxiliary savings you can get,” Boyes said.
While Smart Quarry Site might be the new name for Komatsu’s fleet and site management service, the OEM-agnostic tool provides real-time benefits to quarries.
“We’ve kept hearing from customers that this has improved their visibility,” Boyes said.
“They had perceived visibility by having an experienced supervisor watch from the top of a quarry with his knowledge, but this tool gives them complete visibility.
“With Smart Quarry Site, they have access to analytical data, but they’re getting it in such a way that it is easy to use.”•
For more information, visit komatsu.com.au
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