Tag Archives: mixed-fleet automation

Epiroc focused on ‘connecting the dots’ to create mine of the future

Ahead of Epiroc’s Capital Markets Day (CMD) and MINExpo 2024 at a hotel just outside of Las Vegas, Helena Hedblom, Epiroc President and CEO, was happy to tackle the industry’s big three: automation, digitalisation and electrification.

Hedblom, like the heads of her fellow OEMs, has big ambitions for these three technology pillars, but the way Epiroc is looking to meet these ambitions is different.

The company’s “agnostic” philosophy has been a key differentiator for the past years, and even as more OEMs start to open up their architecture and platforms to the wider vendor marketplace, it is this attitude that is likely to help it lead from the front.

“Our ambition is to provide mixed fleet automation,” Hedblom told IM last week. “That is what we have invested in quite heavily over the last two years; we have acquired two companies in RCT and ASI Mining to allow us to achieve this.

“This is how we see the future of mining when it comes to automation, having the capabilities to operate whatever type of equipment there might be in that mine, including utility vehicles.”

Epiroc has, as of the CMD last week, 3,100 machines running without drivers. This is up 29% from the last CMD in June 2023, with the company noting that there was “great potential to connect an even larger fleet” via Epiroc machines and/or units from other OEMs.

RCT, underground, has a track record of achieving such autonomy on a wide range of machines, while, on surface, ASI Mining has proven it can do the same with the fleet at Roy Hill, in Western Australia.

Epiroc is currently converting Roy Hill’s mixed fleet to driverless operation in Australia, with 78 autonomous haul trucks made up of Caterpillar and Hitachi trucks, and over 200 utility vehicles.

Roy Hill remains the sole case study on surface, but Hedblom says the company will soon transition to the ‘scale’ of its “nail and scale” process that leads to adding more mine sites to its agnostic automation platform.

Hedblom is convinced the ability to automate the entire fleet – whether the machines are “digitally connected” or not – plus integrate the highest levels of collision avoidance solution, will go far in eradicating the need to allow autonomous and staffed equipment to operate in the same zones underground and on surface.

“If you have all the utility vehicles automated, that is the key,” she said. “It is more than just automation; through the Mernok acquisition, we’re now able to bring in Level 7, 8 and 9 collision avoidance technologies.

“Technology-wise, it is all coming together.”

IM Editor, Dan Gleeson, met with Epiroc President & CEO, Helena Hedblom, ahead of the company’s CMD and MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas

Electrification

The big stats in terms of electrification include:

  • 42% of the offering in “fossil free” versions;
  • Battery-electric vehicles deployed at 34 sites;
  • An active electric fleet of rigs, loaders and trucks totalling over 600 units (of which a large portion is historical fleet, including cable);
  • Recurring battery-electric vehicle orders from 12 sites; and
  • A three times increase in the utilisation rate of battery-electric vehicles during the last 12 months.

The other statistic of note is that, as it stands, Epiroc group revenues related to electrification amount to just 4%.

This indicates both Epiroc and the industry are still in the initial stages of this transition; an opinion backed up by claims from the Electric Mine Consortium that Sandvik’s battery-electric truck population across the globe represents only 15% and, as it stands, no battery-electric load and haul equipment has been sold commercially in one of the biggest underground markets: Australia.

Hedblom, here, sees parallels with the automation uptick in the industry.

“This transformation is happening in the same way that automation evolved,” she said. “A couple of years ago, we had some customers that had greenfield operations and decided to go fully electric. Now we see more customers looking at repeat orders.”

The automation analogues also come with the fact that Epiroc – unlike other OEMs – is offering a mid-life rebuild option to convert some of its existing diesel-powered load and haul fleet to battery-electric operation.

Epiroc has plans to offer this conversion option across its full existing diesel-powered load and haul fleet by 2030.

The addition of ‘fossil free’ in the Epiroc lexicon over the last few years reflects the need to put multiple options on the table for miners.

“We see that there will be different types of solutions needed during the coming 10 or 20 years, depending on mining method, type of application, etc,” Hedblom said.

This was made apparent on the floor at MINExpo where Epiroc showcased the MT66 S e Drive, a Pit Viper 271 E and a SmartROC D65 BE. The former is a diesel-electric haul truck that uses both diesel engine and electric drivetrain to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, the SmartROC D65 is a battery-electric down-the-hole drill demonstrator that trams on battery yet is plugged in for drilling, while the Pit Viper 271 E is currently envisaged as a unit connected to the site’s renewable electricity infrastructure for that ‘fossil free’ operation.

The Minetruck MT66 S e Drive

“We believe there will be a combination of different energy sources in this mix,” Hedblom said, reeling off the likes of battery-electric, cable, trolley and hybrid options. Additionally, biofuel ‘drop-in’ solutions are already available for conventionally powered machines in its offering.

She added: “Sometimes the discussion is all about benchmarking diesel against a fossil-free machine, but the reality is that every machine we are developing now cannot just be on par with its diesel counterpart. It must be better – faster up the ramp, filling the bucket faster, etc – to ensure we provide productivity benefits and a lower total cost of ownership for customers.”

Digitalisation

From an M&A perspective, digitalisation has been a key focus area for Epiroc since the Atlas Copco spinoff in 2018, with many of the 27 acquisitions since listing tied to this trend.

This, as well as many organic initiatives, has led to the company building up a revenue base for its Digital Solutions division of SEK2.4 billion ($234 million).

“Our digital solutions are agnostic, working on different types of machines and systems, so this opens up many ways to engage with our customers,” Hedblom said, noting that the platforms it had created are being used by existing Epiroc equipment customers, as well as those with fleets from other OEMs.

“The areas of high interest are around collision avoidance, situational awareness and mixed fleet automation,” she said. “I see that digitalisation creates that transparency needed to drive productivity.”

Digitalisation, itself, represents an easier ‘sell’ for Epiroc due to its seamless nature – ie not creating multiple change management issues – when compared with adopting automation and electrification technologies, Hedblom added.

Going forward, she is convinced a digital backbone will become more important with the increasing uptake of automation and electrification.

“Today, a lot of the different tools mining companies are using – for the mine plan, for maintenance, etc – are still not connected,” she explained. “You don’t use all data at the same time for the best type of decision.

“A lost hour of productivity is a lost hour of productivity; we are seeking to avoid this through increased digitalisation.”

This is where the individual solutions Epiroc has acquired through the likes of Mernok (collision avoidance), RCT and ASI Mining (agnostic automation solutions), Meglab and JTMEC (battery-electric chargers and infrastructure) could combine with its digitalisation platforms to optimise the overall mining process.

“By connecting the dots, there are many more optimisation opportunities to be had,” Hedblom said.

The difference here is that Epiroc is willing to look outside of its own four walls to the broader industrial space to ‘connect these dots’, meaning the idea of a fully-electric, fully-autonomous, fully-digitalised mine could be much closer to becoming a reality.

Testing: the secret sauce of Sandvik R&D

Jani Vilenius has his plate full at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. As Director of Research and Technology Development, he is brought into most conversations the business area has about future mining products.

In fact, he even works across the Sandvik Rock Processing business area on occasion, as well as overseeing the design centre in Bangalore, India, which provides “value engineering” across Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions divisions.

“We coordinate research programs and projects, not products,” Vilenius told IM recently in the company’s newest office in Tampere, Finland. “This may be overseeing the concept machines that we have been producing for several years, as well as technology partnerships with universities.

“We aim to think long term within the Research and Technology Development and Services team, but not too long term as the world is much more agile nowadays than it used to be.”

This means Vilenius’ team has to coordinate all of the activities taking place at the Test Mine in Tampere, provide a ‘steer’ on engineering services and safety processes needed to satisfy today’s and tomorrow’s requirements and regulations, drive cybersecurity and sustainability developments across Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions in the R&D phase, plus integrate the thinking between the rapidly-expanding Digital Mining Technologies division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions and the R&D team.

And, as of a month ago, his team also coordinates testing at the new Surface Test Pit: a new surface mining test bed being developed 40 km northwest of the underground test mine.

This is all underwritten by the strategic priorities across the business area he primarily works in, as well as the Sandvik group goal of ensuring 25% of revenue comes from products that are less than five-years-old.

To tackle these tasks, he has a sandbox (soon to be two) that all equipment providers would like to have.

The Test Mine in Tampere comes with 6 km of tunnels at a depth of 40 m, with potential to expand further. Positioned beside a glass factory and close to the company’s rock drills factory, this test mine offers the company and its customers everything they need to make strategic business decisions in an environment that can, for instance, replicate the heat and humidity of a deep underground mine in South Africa, as well as the biggest and widest mine galleries the industry has on offer.

This facility – which has everything your typical underground mine has except a daily throughput target – allows the company to run all its underground drills through a rigorous testing procedure prior to customer dispatch. It also allows the various divisions under the business area a chance to test out prototypes, applications and products from time to time.

For the concept machines Sandvik is becoming renowned for, the test mine acts as a place to validate conceptual thinking in a real-life environment, helping engage customers in detailed discussions as to what on-board and off-board technology elements would provide the greatest value to their operations in the near-, medium- and long-term.

The aim is to replicate this process on surface with the Surface Test Pit, providing the catalyst the company needs to reach its ambitious surface drilling market goals over the next several years.

IM sat down with Vilenius to find out how he coordinates all this R&D work, and how day-to-day testing works from a practical perspective.

IM: I imagine your department is inundated with requests from various business lines when it comes to testing. How do you go about prioritising these requests and turning them into an easy-to-follow roadmap that can lead to commercial solutions?

JV: I’ll answer that by taking a step back.

We have a technology focus built on supporting both Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions and Sandvik group strategy. We then have roadmap items where we try to leverage technologies across many applications. These technology platforms are not always 100% suitable for both surface and underground mining, but there are elements that have similarities. For example, our latest electric concept surface rig uses the same thinking and philosophy used on other concept machines for underground. Of course, there are new elements included, but the platform thinking remains in place.

Jani Vilenius, Director of Research and Technology Development

Based on this, we have different forums and conversations with the divisions and the R&D heads, discussing together where we need to put the focus in terms of testing. There are, of course, differences in sizes of the division with those who invest a bit more in R&D entitled to more access, but we also have to remain strategic about how to capture the market attention within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions; knowing when and what to launch, as well as what developments will allow us to achieve the required technology momentum to support both our own internal goals and the goals set by our customers.

With all these technology developments – projects, concept machines, theoretical testing – there needs to be a value proposition. For the concept machines, for instance, there is value from a marketing perspective to showcase Sandvik as a technology leader, but there is also the value of engaging with customers in conversations that, through the actual machine development, allow them to comprehend what the technology may mean for them on a practical operational level.

This rapid agility – which I would say is unique to Sandvik – means we can receive valuable customer feedback on these concept machines before we commercialise certain elements. It allows us to effectively manage risk in a market calling out for technology breakthroughs to solve complex challenges.

IM: How many tests/trials can you have going on at the same time at the Test Mine?

JV: It varies. All underground drill products are tested there before they go out to customers, which puts a lot of load on the facility, while ensuring that when customers get these units, they have been run in an environment similar to a real-life mining operation.

Then we have new prototypes not under my remit that are tested ahead of becoming ‘products’, for example in underground drilling. Then, we have several technologies we test on a daily basis with different types of test benches and subsystems.

The reality is that we would not be as agile as we are without this test mine. It is not easy to go to a customer site and get permission to test equipment as it can negatively impact their (the customer’s) production. The ability to test at our own facility gives us a layer of comfort and confidence ahead of getting to the customer site.

We cannot try or test every application in our test mine, but those scenarios we do test provide real value.

IM: Are there plans to expand the test mine further?

JV: We have a roadmap for our test mine, but this is determined with a cost versus value equation. We don’t want to have empty tunnels without testing going on regularly.

We have all the opportunities to have a third, fourth and fifth level at the Test Mine. We have, for example, recently expanded into a new area to support our underground drill products to allow testing for that. This is a function of the offering getting wider and the need to expand the tunnels to make sure the new products receive the same testing opportunities as the existing ones.

We have expansion plans focused on automation and electrification too.

IM: Speaking of automation, is fully automated (without any personnel involved) battery swapping one of the ongoing projects you are working on?

JV: I can say we have some ideas on this. It is a topic that needs addressing and discussing as automation is coming on all our equipment and all processes in the future.

Fully automated battery swapping testing is, of course, part of the roadmap.

IM: I also understand that your team originally came up with the MineGame tool for modelling battery-electric equipment fleets and infrastructure. What was this designed for?

JV: Yes, this is a tool we needed to develop to support fleet-wide electrification. It is not designed to recommend the type of machine you will get; it is more about how you implement the many electric machines in the mine, what impact this has on infrastructure, how many tonnes we can get out of different fleets, etc.

This modelling tool gives comfort to customers about the value proposition of fleet-wide electrification, while also showcasing how new, developing technologies can be implemented in greenfield and brownfield mines.

This tool – on top of those from Deswik and Polymathian within the Digital Mining Technologies division – will be a game changer for us.

IM: What about the interaction of manual and autonomous equipment? Is this something you are already testing at the Test Mine?

JV: This is an ongoing requirement from customers, who look to always alleviate production stoppages.

It is not an easy challenge to address though. Everyone knows we want to get safe systems in place with a mixed fleet as not all machines are currently automated.

There is obviously a value case for this, and the Test Mine is a good place to test it out.

All I can conclude with is to say we have many tests going on in the Test Mine…

IM: A cheeky question, I know…What will be the next concept vehicle? You’ve set yourself a big challenge with bringing one of these out every year. How are you keeping up with this?

JV: We have smaller concepts, and we have bigger concepts on the table. We need to ensure we develop the technology to get those concepts done in a timely manner and in a way that, as I keep saying, provides value.

Maybe the next one coming out will be one of those smaller concepts.

Then, of course, we have wild ideas for underground equipment further down the line.

IM: The Digital Mining Technologies division is becoming a much bigger part of SMR. Do you see a point where you will start using the day-to-day data coming off sensors on your machines to revamp existing machine designs and come up with new machines?

JV: Yes, this is mandatory for us to do at some point in time. Integrating data from the field and systems into the engineering process is a tried and tested policy in many industries – some of which Sandvik are serving – so we need to do that more in mining.

The big step I foresee on this front is when we truly understand the value of using artificial intelligence in mining. Leveraging these tools will ensure there is a continual optimisation loop that goes throughout our software, hardware and services.

Epiroc surprises with positive Q3 financials and automation, electrification advances

It is fair to say Epiroc’s September quarter results surprised on the upside.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, orders received held up, dropping just 2% to SEK9.37 billion ($1.07 billion) compared with orders in the September quarter of 2019. In fact, on an “organic basis”, orders received were up 10% year-on-year.

At the same time, operating profit remained stable, only decreasing by a little over 5% year-on-year to SEK1.82 billion.

The Epiroc management team took the view that this performance was no exception, issuing a plan to propose a second dividend of SEK1.20/share at the Extraordinary General Meeting on November 27.

Investors viewed these numbers positively: its Stockholm-listed shares closed 8% higher.

While the revenue numbers were dominated by the company’s aftermarket business, which generated 69% of the SEK8.7 billion, it was on the equipment side where some very interesting developments were observed.

The company recorded a 25% year-on-year organic increase in equipment orders in the period, reinforced by a few large orders such as those from Norilsk Nickel. The majority of orders were small- to medium-sized contracts of, say, one or two pieces of equipment, according to Helena Hedblom, President and CEO.

“More customers have taken the decision to invest,” she told IM, adding that this development followed two quarters where mining companies were hesitant to commit.

Within these new orders were several automation agreements, the company said, alongside new battery-electric equipment and digital bookings.

Epiroc has continually committed to advancing technology related to digitalisation, automation and electrification, and it appears the fallout from COVID-19 and the sector’s sustainability drive are strengthening demand for these products.

“I see clearly the interest and demand for automation and tele-remote solutions is increasing in light of the pandemic,” Hedblom said of how COVID-19 had impacted the company’s product focus.

“The key to success for us is we have built up these regional application centres that have given us the capability to deploy automation and teleremote systems without international travel.”

Still on the topic of automation, Epiroc revealed even more today.

The first snippet of news, which Hedblom snuck in during the webcast, was that the company had secured an order for an autonomous fleet of surface drill rigs from an unnamed customer in southern Africa.

The second, which she teed up in the official results release, built on in the webcast, and expanded on for IM, was the successful deployment of “unique solutions” for OEM-mixed fleet automation.

In surface mining, the company, in tandem with ASI Mining, has retrofitted automation on Caterpillar haul trucks running at Ferrexpo’s Yeristovo iron ore mine, in Ukraine. The market had already been told about this.

Solutions for OEM-mixed fleet automation underground was very much representative of ‘news’.

“For underground, we have deployed very advance traffic management solutions for mixed fleet automation where we have automated our loaders and then machines from another OEM,” she said. “That is a breakthrough.”

While Hedblom was not able to say too much more about the project, she did acknowledge the solution was a few years in the making and had been advanced with an existing customer.

“The traffic management solution is based on the partnership we have with Combitech,” she explained. “It is a traffic management system being used in airports and subways in the big cities of the world, so is a highly advanced solution.”

Such a partnership dates back to 2017 when Atlas Copco (the Epiroc predecessor) signed an agreement with the Saab subsidiary to advance its digitalisation and automation initiatives.

There was also some news on the battery-electric front, too.

Back in November 2018 at the company’s Power Change Days event in Örebro, Sweden, Erik Svedlund, Global Marketing Manager – Electrification, mentioned the potential for retrofitting battery-electric technology on Epiroc diesel equipment. He said there was also the potential for such a solution being employed on other OEMs’ machines.

IM asked Hedblom about this.

“We have developed the first retrofit kit for a ST1030,” she replied, explaining that the company was “coming close” to releasing such a solution to the market.

While the company has electrified its Scooptram ST7 and its Scooptram ST14, the 10 t payload LHD has been, to this point, only available in diesel-powered form.

She added: “We have also partnered up with a couple of other OEMs that will use our battery system.”

This could be similar to how Railcare, a Swedish manufacturer of machines that keep railways safe and clean, will use Epiroc’s modular and scalable battery-electric technology platform (including batteries supplied by Northvolt) to power its Multi-Purpose Vehicle for rail maintenance applications.

“It goes very much hand-in-hand with the OEM-agnostic approach that we strongly believe in,” Hedblom said.

Those words are backed up by some substantial actions.