Summary:
Infrared Inspections and Technologies (“IIAT”) is pleased to provide a case study that demonstrates the results of IIAT delivering Infrared Analysis Solutions on Bulldozers. The case study will demonstrate the results achieved supporting a fleet of Bulldozers where 46% of Tracks and Track Frames have exceeded theOEM budgeted life on a fleet of 21 machines.
1. Purpose of this Case Study
The purpose of this case study is to illustrate the results achieved by IIAT in increasing the undercarriage life in Bulldozers by delivering fortnightly undercarriage inspection, maintenance and re-lubrication activities on a fleet of 21 Bulldozers.
Bulldozers
The case study will examine the following:
- The number of tracks achieving greater than 4000 hours without a Pin & Bush Turn. The number and percentage of tracks that have achieved more than budgeted life.
- The number and percentage of tracks that have achieved more than budgeted life without a Pin & Bush Turn.
- The number and percentage of track frames achieving greater than budgeted life. The number of track frames achieving greater than double the budgeted life.
Through the above metrics, it has allowed IIAT to work with our customers to measure the Return-on-Investment utilising in house financial data provided by the customer to IIAT that included parts replacement costs as well as both planned and unplanned hours. Because of the confidential nature of these measures, this case study does not outline the specific return on investment, however the figures allow clients to illustrate the Return on Investment based on their internal financial measures.
2. The Workflow Approach Undertaken
The IIAT system addresses the two fundamental failure modes of external wear and internal friction in undercarriage components. While many miners focus on meeting a budgeted life, they often fail to track how many track pin repairs or track frame component change-outs that occur during that life cycle which in turn increases the hourly cost of the undercarriage.
IIAT provides a very structured approach that combines data collection and analysis to identify areas that require re-lubrication, basic maintenance practices such as track tension adjustment, wear management and re-lubrication of problematic components. For the Bulldozers, c – 200,000 images on an average of 110 components per inspection were captured over the period of 10 year of continuous monitoring.
3. Results
The following graphics illustrate the current hours achieved as at the end of April 2024 for track and track frame life from a client of 10 years where the fleet is inspected every fortnight. The graph below illustrates the following:
- Tracks that have achieved greater than 4000 Hours where no Pin and Bush turn has been completed.
- Tracks that have achieved more than 8000 Hours budgeted life.
- Tracks that have achieved more than 8000 Hours budgeted life where no Pin and Bush turn has been completed.
The graph below illustrates the following;
- The incremental hour brackets for the 52 track frames from less than 12,000 hours up to and including greater than 24,000 hours.
4. Summary
The site above tasked IIAT to assist in wear measurement monitoring, inventory spares management, including change out component identification and timing management.
IIAT has delivered similar outcomes by regularly inspecting Bulldozer Fleet at 6 sites over the past 10 years. The increase in life and therefore ROI depends on the frequency of inspection with the minimum increase in track life being 30% when monthly inspections are delivered.
The focus of the program is not just predicting faults, but assisting in moving the clients’ overall maintenance program from a reactive to a proactive state which is achieved by the combination of early identification and prompt execution of remedial action.
5. Additional Customer Successes
To date, IIAT has a data library of greater than 1m data points. This has allowed us to develop and implement bespoke statistical based proactive maintenance programs for many miners. Listed below are examples of miners IIAT continues to partner with.
6. Next Steps
IIAT welcomes the opportunity to discuss further the above case study and what steps could be introduced to ensure any customer is achieving the desired utilisation and return on investment outcomes with their Bulldozer fleet.
Click the button below to download a copy of the IIAT Bulldozer Undercarriage Cost Avoidance Case Study, and we’ll be in contact to learn more about your needs.
