Connecting Operators / Maintainers & Mobile Fleet to ERP and the business

My second key project as part of the $36M Capacity Maximisation business transformation project was to develop and implement a solution to improve quality control, efficiency and improve availability.

  • Connected 25 Cat dozers (RIII, GEB, AMA & Next Gen) from 2012 to 2023 Models

  • Lifted Tonnes moved per dozer hour from 1150tpdh to 1450tpdh 

  • Maintenance costs reduced $1.1Mpa

  • Avoided $1.6M in rebuilds annually by improving effeciency and planning

  • Additional short push identified reducing hours and fuel consumption.

  • Recognised by CAT Technology as world leading within their machines.

  • Positioning accuracy confirmed every 2 seconds.

World first fully integrated System with backwards
Compatibilty - providing 2 second data

Worlds first fully integrated operator touch inteface with live fixed plant, task management, trains and vessel loading information in real time.

On site SQL server providing preprocessing for Data Historian and Cloud SQL and Datalake. Allowing real time machine data to combine with SCADA and digital twin data for a full operation picture

Interactive defect reporting, tracking and automated health monitoring linked to a custom machine health and scheduling application has improved on time maintenance, operator feedback and reliability.

12 year machine lifecycle information was uploaded to the database and a visual tracker provides an at a glance view of conflicts.

Connecting Fleet Operators, Fleet Asset Management and Machines to the Cloud

I developed and led the project to connect the fleet and 220 operators and maintenance to machine telemetry, logistics tasks, dispatch, maintenance schedules and asset lifecycle.

Dispatch to operation tasks calculated automatically using position and hours to target burn rates.

High Precision GPS with Gyroscopic Accelerometers allowed operation under metal strucures whilst maintaining 5 cm accuracy

Wifi communications implemented across 700acre facility to allow 2 way live data (80M data points daily)

3D Stockpile Management

One of the biggest cost of operation relates to understanding of current shape / future shape and product on and off stockpiles. Wheather its ROM, trains / trucks arriving or loading out to trains / ships , having a plan with high probability reduces dozer push time by as much as 25%.

Stockpile shape management was implemented initally in 2D for logistics and planning across 85 stockpiles, then extended to 3D to plan build and tear-down activites out to 10 days

  • Planning window extended from 48 hours to 10 Days

  • Reduced Pushing Time per Tonne by 13%

  • Quality Incidents reduced to 0 ( from 2017 No incidents)

  • Driver overtime reduced by 25%

  • Product Owner confidence improved

Utilising IOT Edge devices - SCADA High Speed Servers and MQTT
to deliver real time machine health & performance Information +

I designed extensive IOT edge concepts and developed a service fabric layer 1500 message topics and 120 Million data points daily to site and Azure SQL servers.

Developed algorythms to capture 2 second data from hundreds of machines to deliver live performance metrics for machine and system productivity.

Developed business logic utilising Six Sigma methodologies to enable bulk product batches to be monitored for quality, quantity and system effectivness.

Eliminated machine recovery on stockpiles by utilising bespoke and CAT algorythms allowing detection of problems before the macine fails.

Numerous CAT sales / development and Technology teams visited to see the in-house developed technology and lauded it as WORLD FIRST in many aspects.

Operator detection systems implemented allowing for improved safety and site personel management. The passive dection nature proved key for success.