A KOMTRAX Plus remote monitoring system for mining equipment has been released by Komatsu. The company has been providing its KOMTRAX remote monitoring offering for its construction and utility equipment for a number of years, and is now in the process of rolling out its KOMTRAX Plus service for its mining equipment product range. It combines the benefits of Komatsu’s long-standing VHMS (Vehicle Health Monitoring System) with remote monitoring capabilities. The system allows mine management, asset managers and maintenance crews to view specific machine performance data remotely via any computer with an internet connection, said Rick Augur, Komatsu Australia’s Telemetry Specialist – KOMTRAX Plus.

“Komatsu has long been renowned for developing and using technologies that help its customers maximise their productivity and lower their operating costs – and KOMTRAX Plus is the latest example of this,” he said.

“KOMTRAX Plus provides a means to remotely monitor the health of major components using Komatsu’s satellite technology on selected mining and production class machines, enabling constant evaluation of a machine’s condition and operations. This system has been designed to reduce repair costs and maintain optimal machine availability by helping prevent unscheduled downtime, through the combination of Komatsu’s proven VHMS and KOMTRAX offerings.”

Access to KOMTRAX Plus, which is free of charge to any piece of Komatsu equipment fitted with the system, is via the company’s Equipment Care website portal.

“Our Equipment Care portal allows customers to view every machine in their KOMTRAX Plus fleet via a single platform, accessible to any computer with an internet connection,” Augur said.

“This portal provides users access to critical information about each machine, including machine performance, machine health, fault analysis, fuel data, payload data and idle time summaries.”

He also said that KOMTRAX Plus provides Komatsu mining equipment owners with the means to continuously monitor machine conditions, helping achieve maximum productivity and utilisation.

Key features and benefits of the system include:

• Reduced maintenance costs: Continuous monitoring of machine condition and performance ensures any abnormal readings can be addressed before they result in unscheduled downtime
• Safer operations: Poor or incorrect operator practices (for example, excessive speed) are highlighted, allowing additional training if necessary
• Lower operating costs: Continuous monitoring of operating practices and machine settings allows fine-tuning of operator procedures
• Fuel usage management
• Accurately logging of machine hours: Mine management can be kept fully aware of how many hours machines are actually working during the hours they are accumulating
• Production data: Constant logging of machine payloads.

“In addition, Komatsu uses the data collected through KOMTRAX Plus for our Continuous Improvement (CI) program, to ensure that our machines deliver maximum productivity, reliability and availability, and best meet our customers’ application demands,” Augur said.

Komatsu mining equipment fitted with KOMTRAX Plus includes:

Haul trucks: HD465, HD605, HD785, HD985, HD1500, 730E, 830E, 860E, 930E and 960E

Excavators and shovels: PC1250-7, PC1800-6, PC2000, PC3000, PC4000, PC5500 and PC8000

Wheel loaders: WA600, WA800, WA900 and WA1200

Dozers: D375A and D475A.