Capital Equipment News August 2018

TCO & UPTIME

Volvo launched an updated version of SiteSim in January this year with some impressive new features and benefits.

Insight reports enable customers to see at a glance the actual payback they are getting from their fleet and provide a starting point for further analysis and tangible improvements.

comprehensive simulations for small and medium-sized sites too. “The fact that we can now input 3D images of a customer’s site into the programme and simulate multiple jobs is very exciting. We can demonstrate with confidence and accuracy what a few tweaks to the set-up of the site and machine fleet can make to their bottom line,” says Pettersson. Realistic simulator training From 2018, Volvo CE is also able to input 3D images of a customer’s site into a machine simulator. “It sounds like a fantasy thing but it’s real! Operators can practise the exact tasks and routes they will take on the jobsite so that they can fine-tune their skills and become more efficient in real life. It’s also a very cost- efficient way of training operators,” says Pettersson. First launched in 2011, Volvo CE offers machine simulators for wheel loaders, articulated haulers and excavators and is

Connected machines hold huge potential as an enabler to streamline Volvo processes and tools in order to maximise uptime.

to input 3D photos of the customer’s site into the programme. The other main improvement is that the programme can now run several different jobs at the site in the same simulation. Previously it could only handle one at a time. SiteSim calculates the optimum set- up for an entire site to give the lowest possible TCO. By inputting the type of material, distance from the loading to dumping points, and topography of the site, a Volvo consultant can recommend the ideal number and capacity of machines, as well as the optimum routes operators should drive, based on the tonnes per hour and the cost per tonnes.

The programme can run simulations for up to a year of operation. Site studies such as this are regularly carried out in the mining industry, but Volvo CE is unique in its ability to offer

“It sounds like a fantasy thing but it’s real! Operators can practise the exact tasks and routes they will take on the jobsite so that they can fine-tune their skills and become more efficient in real life. It’s also a very cost-efficient way of training operators.”

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