International Mining sat down with CR’s Quintin Nienaber, General Manager of Category Management, to talk about CR’s range of surface mining products and new projects on the horizon. Head to page 40 of the June 2020 edition of International Mining Magazine to read the full article.
In terms of product offering, what has the acquisition of BFT brought to CR? What products/expertise did BFT have that your own customers were calling out for?
The acquisition of Berkeley Forge & Tool (BFT) has allowed CR to further our global market presence while also complementing our existing mining product range. Now, CR can continue to grow in the supply and support of the global mining sector, especially in the North and South American markets where BFT has been providing the industry with innovative products for more than 50 years. Our objective is to broaden our product offering, increase our technology and solutions footprint, and enhance our supply chain capability.
Berkeley Forge & Tool bring not only a wealth of knowledge but the addition of the SaberEdge Rope Shovel Lip and TLC Front End Loader Lip to our product range. With the addition of the SaberEdge Rope Shovel Lip, CR is now a solid contender in the Electric Rope Shovel market, complementing our existing suite of Innovative product lines servicing Hydraulic Machines, Front End Wheel Loaders, and Dragline operations.
Within your current portfolio, what products are most in demand from the mining sector (cast lip systems, dragline buckets, G.E.T., dragline rigging, conveyor systems, fixed plant wear products, etc)? What do you put this trend down to?
Demand across all our product lines is only increasing right now, which is fantastic. However, we have noticed that the RazerEdge™ and DecaEdge™ ranges are particularly important to our customers right now.
The RazerEdge™ Cast Lip range is the only proven cast lip system for under 500t machines, delivering maintenance and productivity improvements for 5+ years in all types of applications. They are designed to remove the weaknesses that are associated with weld-on adapters and GET. By removing the weld-on adapters, RazerEdge lips are almost 30% stronger, which results in maintenance savings and increases machine availability.
The DecaEdge™ Cast Lip range builds on the experience of the RazerEdge for L1850, L2350 WA1200, and CAT 994 wheel loaders. The system removes outdated plate lip features by employing plane alignment, spade angle optimization, and optimized material placement to deliver up to over 33% less down time.
It also eliminates the need for wear blocks and packages from the specially designed teeth and shrouds which means that every time GET is replaced, the underside wear package is refreshed.
Both of these products impact many parts of the value chain for a mining operation. As there are no other products like them in the world, the value RazerEdge and DecaEdge both provide to a mine site is being recognized.
How has your recently added RazerEdge™ RE1522 cast lip for 100 t-plus class machines been getting on in the field? I understand it’s proven popular in Australia and Canada? What problems were you looking to solve with the development of this cast lip?
The RE1522 is the world’s only cast lip for 100t to 120t excavators and has recently been developed by CR to complement the current RazerEdge range that has been delivering unparalleled maintenance savings to miners across the world for close to a decade. After speaking to our contract mining customers, we found that there was a real opportunity to deliver savings for their 120t excavators
We specifically designed the RE1522 to improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs through the removal of weld on or mechanically attached adapters. The lip itself boasts superior strength increases over conventional plate lip installation and removes excessive heat effected zones, sharp transitions and uncontrolled weld stresses by eliminating them. Finally, the design significantly reduces risks associated with GET change outs and improves maintenance practices by removing requirements for hot work on continual repair welds.
By creating a product that delivered not only maintenance savings, but also improved mine site productivity, we achieved our original objective and at the same time engineered a unique, market-leading product.
Many engineering companies are leveraging digital tools to improve the longevity of their products. How has CQMS Razer used such tools to improve on its existing product range? How have these tools sped up/improved your own manufacturing and testing process?
As a leader in mining technology, we use a range of different tools and technology to test and validate our products. For engineering work, we use the industry-standard CAD systems. To ensure we deliver new product developments into the market with guaranteed knowledge of how the product will perform, we utilize our scale testing facility, located in the technology park of our CR Digital headquarters.
The CR Digital Titan 3330™ Load Haul Optimisation System uses highly sophisticated instruments and patented algorithms to accurately calculate and display real-time bucket payload data to the machine operator, enabling increased loading accuracy and efficiency. By utilizing the CR Digital Titan technology on the scale testing equipment, we can further refine and improve designs in the R&D stage to ensure our customers are getting tested, proven products.
Where is the focus of your R&D spend currently? Are you collaborating with other O.E.M.s/METs companies, institutions as part of this product design and development process? Can you provide any insight into what products/services may be launched in 2020?
We are heavily focused on continuing to deliver products that redefine the standards for productivity, durability, and reliability. We are very proud to say that we are continually working on development projects with our customers and partners; it is critical to our success that we are connected with our customers and their needs. In 2020 we plan to expand on our DecaEdge range to accommodate the full range of wheel loaders on mine sites, we expect the first of these to be available in Q4 this year. We are also working closely with one of our customers, developing a lip for the 800t market, which is still in the early development stage. Finally, we are also expecting to see our first SaberEdge lip for the CAT7495 Shovels later this year, so many new exciting projects for CR this year!
View the full range of CR surface mining technology products.
