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CPS Case Study: Queensland Coal

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In 2018, the 51 operating coal mines in Queensland produced more than 314 million tonnes of raw material. *

The top 10 producing coal mines were responsible for 142 million tonnes of that. One of the top coal mines, producing over 8Mtpa, had its existing rollers 100% converted to CPS Rollers.

The Challenge

The client’s strategy was to replace conveyor rollers when they failed, with a site-based ad hoc approach of purchasing rollers based on trial and error. The cost of this strategy was around $57,000 a year, not including loss of production, plus approximately $60,000 in labour to replace failed rollers.

The Solution

To address this undesirable expense, including lost production time, the site studied available data from current long-term CPS customers located at other heavier tonnage sites conducted an FMEA of historical site-based failures.

From this investigation, the decision was made to work with CPS to conduct a full site replacement; to be completed within 12 months. The site replacement involved a total of 3,757 Yeloroll Carry rollers, 519 impact idlers, and 313 PU return rollers and weightometers.

The performance and failure rates of the installed CPS rollers were monitored for 12 months post-installation and compared to previous rates.

The data recorded demonstrated a failure rate improvement from 16.1% to 0.41%. This equates to a reduction of roller failures from 739 down to just 19. Site-based conveyor downtime was reduced by over 72% or 251 hours per annum. The site’s main feed conveyor experienced an 83.7% reduction in roller change-outs for the 12-month period following the CPS roller installation.

Due to the belt-friendly nature of CPS rollers, the substantially lower rate of failures did not require the immediate shut down of the conveyor. Therefore, downtime was virtually eliminated. This represents a significant reduction in reactive maintenance and an increase in conveyor availability for production.

In fact, the site experienced an uplift in production of 900,000 tonnes across the observed period - at an average price of $101 per tonne – which translates to a production uplift during this period of $90.9M. Of this uplift, 750,000 tonnes were directly attributable to improved conveyor availability. The addition of CPS rollers contributed to improved performance across the plant.

Moreover, lower noise levels due to CPS rollers’ composite construction and lower weight were observed. This significant weight reduction has led to improved safety performance and less exposure to safety risk, thanks to the lower changeout frequency. The low coefficient of friction also reduced power usage at an average of 9%.

“The tremendous improvement in failure rate brought by CPS rollers had significantly increased conveyor availability and led to an uplift in production while still ensuring personnel safety. We, at CPS, are committed to delivering top quality products and services to help clients maximize their business.” - Travis Lewis, National Sales Manager, CPS

 *https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/annual-coal-statistics