In its recent publication, Resourcing global growth: Strategic Report 2015, BHP Billiton had some interesting things to say about how it has improved the performance of the truck fleet at Escondida, where the objective was to increase ultra-class haul truck production time. First, Escondida benchmarked its truck performance and maintenance activities, both internally and externally, and reviewed how it conducted truck maintenance and shift activities to identify improvement opportunities.
A range of initiatives were implemented to improve haul truck production time. Less frequent and larger blasts were used to reduce interruptions to production. Trucks were only taken out of production for preventative maintenance determined by equipment condition, rather than by time in service. The mine also implemented new crib huts
and shift relief, called ‘hot seating’, to keep the trucks moving.
The result was that Escondida has set a new internal BHP Billiton benchmark for sustainable ultra-class haul truck performance. In FY2015, truck utilisation of available time increased to 83% from 75% in the previous year. This allowed the operation to move 438 Mt of material, an increase of 6% compared to FY2014. During FY2015, Escondida decreased its mine production unit costs by 10% through its productivity initiatives.