The challenge: Accurately measuring productivity
Observing productivity to ensure that monthly productivity goals were being met was a priority for Minerals Technologies, whose fleet of over-the-road trucks typically travel across state lines. Fleet Manager was keeping track of the trucks’ highway miles with daily paper reports; however, this was time-consuming.
Each employee operator has clearly defined productivity goals, which are used to calculate hike and bonuses. At the same time, fleet manager needed a system in place to keep track of the productivity of employees operating the company’s earth-moving equipment — the machines used in the surface mining operations. Providing employees with a timely accounting of their productivity targets, which is significant in helping them reach their goals, was difficult without an automated, real-time system in place.
The solution: Staying connected
Minerals Technologies needed tracking system devices that had strong, reliable cellular connections this proved difficult to find at first. Mining operation conditions covers more than 60 miles and is broken up into smaller packets, presented some big challenges for getting connected.
Cellular devices that can cover that greater of an area was not possible to find this study is explained by Rober, we tried so many different units and different companies, and they all said they’d work but none of them worked.
A second challenge for Minerals Technologies was finding a best way to measure the cycle times for the scrapers, dozers, and utility wagons. Through the TrackingHAWK solutions engineer and Reseller, including a consultation in the field, they customized the data collection process and reporting. By combining data from a driver’s toggle switch and transmission lock data, they were able to accurately measure loading, drop off, and dumping times and compare them to targets.
Flexibility to develop reports and dashboards specific to different user groups is provided by the TrackingHAWK solution. Reports are generated daily at set times so employees can view their performance at the end of the day.
Topology
Benefits
Reliable device connectivity
Access to real-time data
Customization and reporting flexibility
Outstanding Customer Support
The results: Seeing productivity
The ability to accurately track productivity translates directly to the bottom line. Management can see exactly where improvements are needed and take action. The GPS tracking system implementation is still going on, but all of the primary earth-moving tools has been equipped with the system and are providing daily reports. With greater insights on productivity, Minerals Technologies is equipped to further optimize their operations and continue to be a leader in mining and retrieval.