Crusher Maintenance Comparison you cannot ignore | ALPHA

OPEX (operating expense) takes an important role in mining. It’s flexible which means could eat mining profit. Even the right equipment has been chosen, there’s still risk of losing money with improper operation. The real world is not idealized.

Let’s look into crusher maintenance as an example.

Most of mining companies are following advice from crusher manufacturer, to take preventive maintenance, which can be a regular fleet. Such as every 8hrs, 40hrs, 200hrs, 2000hrs, etc. Site operators will replace the worn parts or equipment during these periods to avoid major failures or unplanned downtime. Advanced management can achieve maximum life-time of equipment. As known, the efficiency of maintenance management is highly crucial in this method.

On the other hand, a new concept jumps into our sights. It’s Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Management in plant maintenance. Equipment status will be collected by IoT sensors and uploaded into a cloud-based data center, then predictive maintenance advice will pushed into plant after data analysis. The data of crusher includes but not limited: temperature, pressure, no-load cone rotation, vibration, equipment service time in hours, maintenance log, etc. Based on predictive maintenance advice, spare parts can be supplied timely without excessive inventory. Time and personnel cost of maintenance can be lower than before.

There’s still one maintenance method, which is conventional all over the world. Crushers keep working until they are tired out or permanent shut-down. Generally, this will bring high repair cost and unplanned downtime of production, which means revenue lost to mining companies. All mining companies know that it’s not advisable. There’s a choice between short-term and long-term development.

Years of data indicates that short life-time with higher maintenance cost take negative impact on mining operation while ignoring preventive or predictive maintenance. Profit of mining companies with preventive or predictive maintenance management can definitely cover the spare parts cost and revenue lost of unplanned downtime.

You can make the right choice between higher revenue and financial crisis!

For more maintenance optimization advice, contact us.

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http://www.alpha-technology.com.au/pdm-coal-washing-plant-alpha