Checking On Production

2009 Dr. B. C. Paul

Note These slides contain material from slides dating back to
2000 and also contains screen shots from the program FPC
developed by Caterpillar Equipment Company
 Where We Are At

We have a working truck and

loader fleet with at least
reasonable cycles
Now we need to see if we are in
fact meeting our production
target
 Click on the Fleet
Production Subtab under
Production and Cost
Uh-Oh Bad News

The fleet can only

Produce 47 million
Tons per year

We would need 3,921

Hours per year to
Meet our target

It would take us
1.41 years
 Do We Have Efficiency
Problems?

Operators usually dont get full performance

Out of their equipment. The longer the
Haul Cat time studies show the closer the
Operator gets to theoretical maximum. We
Can change this with experience or if we
Have a better system but in our case at 95%
We really cant better things to much here
(besides that our tires are constraining us)
 The Other Operator
Efficiency Control Point
Under Project Tab

We start out telling the

Computer whether to use Cat
Research to set operator
Efficiency or whether to
Over-ride at the first
An Efficiency Summary
We have a shift
Efficiency that tells us
How many minutes of
Every hour our crews
Really work (breaks
Time to get crews to
Work place etc)

We have operator
Efficiency % of machine
Capability our operator
Actually gets while
Running it
 Efficiency

My efficiencies appear to be
realistically set
(There is a problem on fleet
availability in the program itself
but well deal with that later)
 Other Possible Causes

The theoretical production

Of our loaders exceeds
(found under fleet
Production subtab) Our trucks

Thats Odd this is telling

Us we have a truck
Bottle-neck

Lets go back and check

Our cycle times
Here is My Problem

I picked my number of
Loaders to match the trucks
With a 23 minute cycle time

Then when I had tire heating

Trouble I built in a tire cooling
Time at the Dump point adding
Almost 9 minutes to the cycle.
Of course my trucks with the
Longer cycle time are not
Pulling their weight or
Balancing the loaders
Recalculating My Truck to
Loader Ratio

(Incidentally note that I keep

revising estimates as I get more info.
This is my 3rd try at this calculation)
31.17 minute truck cycle/ 4.06
minute loader cycle
7.67 trucks per loader
20 loaders*7.67 trucks = 153.54
Up the trucks to 154
(darn those hot tires)
 Better Not Perfect

The fleet is now close but still

Needs some adjusting
Help in Adjusting The
Fleet Size Subtab
It tries a range in
The number of
Trucks to see
What kind of
Production and
Cost you get

(Obviously trying
1 to 4 trucks is
A bad joke)
 Looking at 150 to 165
Trucks

Adding trucks isnt helping. The loaders are maxed out.

Up The Loaders to 23

(I was after about a 15% boost because I must

Also handle the extra 3.5 million secret tons)
Select the Secret Course
to Check Production
Set My Cycle Time
Parameters
Check My Tire Temp

Actually the sand

Dune trip slows things
Down so I dont
Need as much of
A tire cooling break

Go Back and Adjust

The dump time and
Cooling break
Ok That Just About Does It

You may have to bounce between

Screens to get the adjustment just right
Now for the Check

The years required

Ratio is not too
Precise, but looking
At the tonnage
About 175 would
Seem close
 Check Out the Fleet
Production for the Two
Routes

2,643.28 + 131.52 = 2774.8

(Thats close enough to 2772 that I think Ive got my
Fleet)
 Accomplished and
Remaining

We now have a truck and loader fleet

that can meet our production
requirements
Optimization procedures now mean
trying different fleets that will work
and picking the most economical
that we have confidence in
Just One little thing Ive been
holding out one more needed check