In the hustle and bustle of mining production and associated activities, the focus on the servicing of lifting equipment can unintentionally be sidelined. “The problem is that equipment performance and safety for technicians on site can be compromised,” says Johan Naude, agreements specialist for Konecranes and Demag South Africa. “This situation can easily be avoided with a customised Konecranes Service Agreement that offers a comprehensive and systematic approach to asset management.
“We recently identified a servicing break on lifting equipment at a mine during our standard overview of customer operations. After a service visit to site and discussions with the customer, they believed that signing up for a two-year customised Service Agreement with Konecranes was the most cost-efficient way forward. When the movement of heavy mining related equipment, such as conveyors and crushers, is key to sustained production then regular and planned maintenance is essential.
“The Service Agreement was drawn up based on knowledge of the equipment, its usage, operating environment, service history and international and local safety regulations. It is for the servicing of not only their Konecranes CXT lifting equipment, but also other crane equipment from a different brand. The Agreement forms part of our responsibility to our customer to ensure their lifting equipment operates in a reliable and sustainable manner.”
The Konecranes Service Agreement is designed to deliver all historical and current operational data, flag refurbishment, upgrades, or new equipment data to both the customer and Konecranes technicians in real time via the Konecranes Portal. This assists with the long-term spare parts and service needs for the entire lifespan of the equipment. The Konecranes Portal also issues alerts to both technician and customer in the event that any equipment unexpectedly develops a fault. This ensures that corrective action can be implemented as soon as possible.
“The ability to monitor part performance ‘live’ eliminates unnecessary downtime,” adds Naude. It provides guardrails that prevent any fault from becoming catastrophic. Proactive online service scheduling via the Konecranes Planner is based around the customer’s production cycle, thereby allowing planned stoppages that do not dramatically interfere with operations. In the mining sector and other industries, this is a critical factor and saves the customer valuable time and money”.
Service agreements ensure that future CAPEX expenditure budgeting are streamlined and more accurately planned for, whilst also ensuring that all international and local safety regulations are adhered to.
Other benefits of the Konecranes customised service agreement include:
• Properly scheduled inspections help identify and address safety issues, timeously reducing the impact upon employees.
• Planned and scheduled maintenance work can assist in the minimising of excessive labour and parts replacement costs which also helps reduce the impact upon the environment.
• A maintenance program can help in assessing whether cranes are being used properly or as intended, and identify opportunities for operator training.
• Preventive maintenance conducted at regularly scheduled intervals is often the most effective way to maintain and potentially extend the lifespan of certain cranes.
To eliminate concerns about lifting components that fall outside of the Konecranes Service Agreement, the Konecranes technician conducts a post-service review with the customer to highlight the findings from the service visit. They will also discuss and identify the components that need attention that are not covered by the service agreement and explain risk and opportunity factors.
The Service Request page on the Konecranes Portal will list individual components that have an undetermined condition and are not in the scope of your agreement. An ‘undetermined condition’ indicates that the component condition could not be directly verified through visual inspection without further disassembly and/or the use of other inspection methods. These advanced services are generally excluded from the scope of typical service agreements.
“For example, when a crane is not operating at full performance, the technician will suggest a CraneQ and/or RailQ analysis which will provide the data needed for corrective action,” explains Naude. “The analysis process will be undertaken at a time convenient to the client’s production schedule in order to contain unnecessary downtime.”
Lifting equipment and its associated components can only deliver an optimised and safe performance if they receive the correct and regular servicing they require. The outcome of a serious mechanical failure or breakage on site can have extreme consequences for the customer: both productivity and personnel safety wise. “It makes sense to have the right guardrails in place, and we at Konecranes believe our service agreement delivers that needed reassurance. Our goal is to ensure that our customer’s lifting equipment meets their production commitments safely and reliably “concludes Naude.
For more information contact Konecranes and Demag South Africa,
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