FLEET MANAGEMENT

STREAMLINING FLEET SOLUTIONS

LOOKING FOR AN EXPERT SERVICE PROVIDER THAT KNOWS HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LIGHT VEHICLES FOR MINING APPLICATIONS? AEROKLAS AUSTRALIA HAS THE RESOURCES AND THE KNOW-HOW TO MANAGE THE ENTIRE BUILD OF THE VEHICLE.

Aeroklas Australia acquired vehicle accessory manufacturer TJM in early 2015 and it has since grown its product range extensively.

TJM has been in operation since 1973, when Lloyd Taylor, Cliff Jones and Steve Mollenhauer started the journey to becoming the first Australian company to manufacture and distribute quality 4WD equipment.

The company’s products are designed, tested and manufactured to thrive in the world’s most famed offroad frontier: the Australian outback.

TJM’s rigorous testing and worldclass engineering ensure that every product reaches the highest levels of performance and functionality, enabling it to thrive in the harshest mine conditions.

The Aeroklas Australia group also includes market-leading Australian auto-accessory brands Flexiglass and Bocar.

Aeroklas Australia can streamline fit-outs for all fleet vehicle needs, regardless of mine-site location.

The group’s acquisitions mean the fleet division has access to an array of ready-made products, quality assurance, Australian design rules compliance, workshop fitment capabilities and expert staff to ensure standardisation of vehicle fit-outs.

“We’ve got two major retail divisions that can help support with fleet project management and building vehicles, whether that be our TJM retail and distribution network or our newly developed Aeroklas fitment centres,” Aeroklas Australia’s head of customer experience and retail strategy Matt Logan said.

“We have launched two Aeroklas fitment centres in Western Australia and one in Queensland.”

The fitment centres and qualified staff can deliver solutions that guarantee on-time vehicle delivery via localised centres, personalised service and a reduced risk of damage through overhandling of fleet vehicles.

The fleet division covers a full spectrum of vehicle fitment and equipment needs, spanning indemand products such as vehicle protection, suspension upgrades, ute trays, canopies, lighting and communications.

THREE AEROKLAS FITMENT CENTRES HAVE BEEN OPENED IN WA AND QLD.

“The benefit of working with the national fleet team is we’ve got the capability to work across our multiple brands and our other preferred supply partners we work with,” Logan told Australian Mining.

“The biggest thing that sets us apart from any of our competitors is we have got the ability to manage and build the entire vehicle.”

When it was looking at establishing the fleet division and the fitment centres, Aeroklas Australia found that customers were often having to outsource specialty builds for their vehicles to multiple suppliers, adding to downtime.

“We take that one vehicle and fit all of the components given our specialties, and our fleet division has the capability to project manage that successfully and work with procurement managers from the mining divisions to regularly update them on the project build of those cars,” Logan said.

“Our divisional capability is quite unique across Australia, where we’re either using our core products or our direct access to supply partners to bring in specialty products that we can then fit to the vehicle.”

The company’s specialty is exterior equipment – bull bars, side steps, rear bars and the like – all of which is relevant to mining vehicles.

“Our bull bars are renowned for having proprietary development in the products. They have built-in rated recovery points within the bar itself, which provides better strength for a safer recovery,” Logan said.

“They also have a unique integrated winch-frame system, so when customers want to put winches in it’s a lot easier to fit the winch into the vehicle.”

TJM XGS suspension is designed to elevate a vehicle’s core potential and improve comfort, while refining how it responds to braking, accelerating and cornering. XGS suspension offers outstanding loadcarrying and towing capabilities compared to a standard system.

TJM has the XGS 4000 series and the exclusive XGS pace series, a highly-upgradeable remote suspension system.

“The quality on the XGS 4000 system is one of the best in its class. It’s a specific application engineering that’s designed and applied to the vehicle, and it also supports the gross vehicle mass and weight upgrades many mining vehicles might need,” Logan said.

“A lot of standard suspension cannot accommodate the additional load-bearing accessories being added to mine vehicles. You need to go aftermarket to be able to fit suspension that supports your required load-carrying or towing capacity needed to operate a light vehicle on a mine site.”

Aeroklas Australia’s resources enable it to provide complete solutions. If a mine site requires canopies for its fleet, Aeroklas can utilise Flexiglass and Aeroklasdesigned canopies, or if the company is after aluminium trays or the like for the back of the vehicle, it can use Bocar’s products.

Along with TJM’s vehicle protection accessories comes its communications products, an essential feature for mining vehicles to maintain safety. Antennas and UHF give vehicles the ability to communicate and get help in remote areas.

GME, Oricom and Uniden make up TJMs preferred supplier program for communications products, and the Aeroklas fleet division can fit every product from each of the companies

TJM offers a three-year warranty on all shocks and struts, with a strong confidence in their reliability.

“Our steel and alloy bull bars are also under a three-year warranty. They typically last longer than that, but it depends on the corrosive conditions, the environment that the mine is in and the type of work that the bull bars will be subjected to,” Logan said. AM

GLENCORE CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO AT MOUNT ISA MINES

THE MAJOR MINER HAS TAKEN ON 10 KOVATERA LIGHT VEHICLES AS IT LOOKS TO IMPROVE ITS CURRENT UNDERGROUND UTILITY FLEET AT MOUNT ISA MINES IN QUEENSLAND.

Dave Anderson has been working with Mount Isa Mines (MIM) for 36 years and is currently the company’s maintenance superintendent for light vehicles (LVs) in north-west Queensland.

He’s seen it all in the maintenance world and has become an expert at devising strategies to reduce downtime and operating costs on mine sites.

So when MIM wanted to increase the durability of its underground LVs, the company turned to Kovatera.

Glencore operates more than 130 LVs at MIM and has a number of maintenance strategies based on the various failure modes, with the brake system the prominent limiting factor.

According to Anderson, any LV operating on a standard rear brake system in the underground environment requires maintenance intervention every 14–21 days to prevent premature failures. This is where Kovatera offers a more reliable and effective system.

“We’ve got control measures in place where the internal wet brake system is a more reliable and efficient system, and Kovatera meet that requirement,” Anderson told Australian Mining. “That was one of the main drivers around trialling the Kovatera LVs, as it allows us to extend our maintenance strategy and potential life of asset.

“While it’s going to take a number of years to phase out the current LVs and fully implement the Kovateras into the business, we expect to have a reduction in fleet numbers and maintenance requirements over that time.

“This is what we’re basing our decision on and the Kovatera is a more fit for purpose unit.”

There are currently six Kovateras supporting Glencore’s underground mining operations at Mount Isa, with a further four in transit.

The Kovatera LVs don’t just stand apart for their brake systems, but also for their chassis strength. The chassis is made of fabricated steel with a flat plate ‘T’ configuration, giving the vehicle a very sturdy backbone.

Based on this design, Kovatera and Drivetrain are able to provide a five-year/5000-hour warranty on the chassis.

“Life of asset has been an issue with our LVs. We’ve tried a lot of vehicles over the years and the chassis has always been the weakest link in our equipment, which ultimately determined the life of asset,” Anderson said.

“We’ve tested various brands and vehicle types, but the chassis just don’t hold up from an operational perspective.”

A stronger chassis means a safer vehicle. The Kovatera LVs also have rollover protective structure (ROPS) and falling object protective structure (FOPS) certification, which means they can navigate more areas underground compared to other LVs.

Kovatera’s fail-safe braking system is also a key attribute, as are the machines’ automatic speed-limiting capabilities.

Drivetrain has played a critical role in getting the Kovatera LVs to site, and the company will continue its support of Mount Isa Mines into the future, ensuring they attend to every need.

“I know we’re in the early stages of our relationship, but in the past 12 months Mount Isa Mines have been appreciative of the support Drivetrain has shown,” Anderson said.

“It’s hard to get an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to make changes as quickly as we want. There’s always going to be some initial minor requests from us, and Drivetrain has responded promptly to make the required alterations.”

“The teamwork approach we’ve established to make these machines successful has been reassuring. To date, I am very happy with the work Drivetrain has been doing.”

To further expedite Glencore’s deployment of Kovatera LVs at MIM, Drivetrain is establishing more support closer to the source.

Drivetrain technical manager Shayne Griffin said this had started by consolidating parts.

“One of the most important things for us is the ability to supply parts at a local level. Drivetrain is currently in the process of implementing spare parts and warehousing into Mount Isa for immediate supply and ongoing support. This will be the first stage,” he said.

“The next stage will be the implementation of Drivetrain technical and onsite support in the Mount Isa region to support our growing fleet of Kovateras.” AM

GLENCORE’S DAVE ANDERSON NEXT TO THE KOVATERA.

THE KOVATERA IS A MORE FIT-FORPURPOSE LV FOR MOUNT ISA MINES.