Allowing equipment to run to failure is no longer a viable option for the mining industry. With increasing competition around the world, margins have decreased sharply, and mining organizations are feeling increasing pressure to eliminate downtime and potential equipment damage to maximize profitability. That challenge has been further complicated by the need to build mines in more remote locations, which increases costs due to travel and the complexity of getting parts to sites.
Emerson’s Romeu Kleinubing explores these emerging challenges in his article in Global Mining Review. One of the best places mines can save money and increase profitability is in improving their maintenance posture, he explains.
“For most mines, upwards of 50% of operational costs are directly related to maintenance. Moreover, of the remaining 50%, another 30% can easily come from energy consumption, which is related to maintenance because rotating and mobile equipment in good condition uses less energy, especially when shutdowns and startups related to unplanned downtime are reduced. That savings can be significant.”
So how do mine operators achieve lower maintenance costs? By finding ways to anticipate equipment failures. Modern vibration monitoring software can unlock the critical predictive maintenance strategies that deliver both improved performance and reduced downtime.
Sensors are the first step
Predicting asset failure requires data. That data can be collected via manual maintenance rounds, but such a strategy is time consuming, intermittent, and often unsafe. As a result, most organizations are instead looking to wireless vibration monitoring technologies.
Sensors like Emerson’s AMS Wireless Vibration Monitor and AMS Asset Monitor collect data continuously, delivering it directly to appropriate personnel. Moreover, these continuous condition monitoring tools use on-board analytics and embedded AI software to cut through the complexity of raw vibration data, providing technicians with actionable insights to help them make faster decisions.
AMS devices like the Wireless Vibration Monitor and Asset monitor focus on impacting—a critical metric for asset health. Romeu explains,
“While all vibration provides insight into asset health, impacting is a much better indicator of overall asset health than most. Impacting cuts through the complexity of vibration analysis to provide a simple, reliable indication of equipment health via a single trend. Using that trend, technicians can quickly identify the most common failures in rotating machinery, while helping ensure operations stay within safe thresholds to prevent structural or mechanical failures.”
Less wear, better planning, safer operation
Running equipment to failure not only means operations must stop; it also tends to lead to additional asset damage. In many cases, maintenance teams will need additional parts and more extensive repair work. Romeu shares,
“Because equipment that runs to failure typically experiences excessive damage and additional wear—especially in the case of a catastrophic failure—monitoring vibration can be an essential strategy to extending equipment lifespan. As potential failures are caught early, they can be remedied before they cause additional wear and tear, lengthening the life of critical machinery.”
And that increased visibility also translates to better safety. Wireless sensors reduce or eliminate the need for human technicians to interact with moving equipment to gather data. Moreover, unplanned failures are a major contributor to safety incidents. If a reliability team can identify issues and fix them before they become catastrophic failures, safety levels will likely increase.
Predictive maintenance today and tomorrow
It is never too early to start implementing a predictive maintenance strategy. Emerson’s enterprise operations platform is paving the way for a seamlessly integrated data infrastructure to make it easy to add new technologies today, while simultaneously laying a foundation for the new, AI-driven technologies that are just over the horizon. Even starting small today can deliver significant return on investment while simultaneously keeping personnel safer day-to-day— a rare win-win proposition.
