Drone technology is still relatively new, but the adoption of drones is revolutionizing the way we work in countless industries. The aggregate industry rarely leaps at the latest and greatest technologies, preferring to stick with known commodities, but those who incorporate drones will discover that they have the potential to create a far safer and more efficient job site. First published in Cement Americas Spring Edition 2018, this article discusses 3 steps to follow to incorporate drone usage into your workflow.

AZFAB has developed a solution to one of a plants operator’s biggest problems…WATER. In the industry, water has become one of our most important commodities. It often takes months to reclaim water from settling ponds. In addition, there is a significant loss of this precious resource in a traditional pond system. AZFAB Thickeners will help you face those challenges and lower your operating costs. Making efficient use of flocculants and effective use of settling zones, AZFAB Thickener-Clarifier can significantly reduce the size of settling ponds and can do so with minimal power consumption and chemical cost. The AZFAB system can return 90% of wash water back into the plant’s operation within 30 minutes. Tanks are 16 feet high and range in diameter from 30 to 85 feet. The systems can handle 2,000 to 18,000 gallons per minute and can be designed to fit the plant’s exact needs. All units come equipped with low drag rakes, hydraulic drives, and PLC control. The system is a bolt together design, and assembled in USA.

AZFAB has developed a solution to one of a plants operator’s biggest problems…WATER. In the industry, water has become one of our most important commodities. It often takes months to reclaim water from settling ponds. In addition, there is a significant loss of this precious resource in a traditional pond system. AZFAB Thickeners will help you face those challenges and lower your operating costs. Making efficient use of flocculants and effective use of settling zones, AZFAB Thickener-Clarifier can significantly reduce the size of settling ponds and can do so with minimal power consumption and chemical cost. The AZFAB system can return 90% of wash water back into the plant’s operation within 30 minutes. Tanks are 16 feet high and range in diameter from 30 to 85 feet. The systems can handle 2,000 to 18,000 gallons per minute and can be designed to fit the plant’s exact needs. All units come equipped with low drag rakes, hydraulic drives, and PLC control. The system is a bolt together design, and assembled in USA.

With the broadest line of mining equipment in the industry, Cat mining systems work harder, last longer and help move more material at a lower cost.

After a period of intense mining project development, driven by increased emerging market consumption of building-block commodities such as coal, copper, and iron ore, the mining industry now finds itself in a period of cost cutting and capital preservation. Between 2005 and 2015, mining firms worldwide constructed and started up more than 1,230 greenfield mines representing total investment value of $265 billion. The mining boom, which included greenfield mine construction and expansions of existing mines, really peaked in 2012, but significant spending for major mining projects continued in 2013 and 2014, albeit at a lesser rate, as large projects that had started in earlier years reached peak construction.

Productivity has become the new mantra in recent years for the mining industry. Ever since the “super cycle” of the commodities price boom came to an end, industry executives have realized that a blind chase for value can lead to significant structural costs and productivity defects in the mining process, which ultimately decrease profit. Many chief executive officers (CEOs) have responded to this market volatility by making significant cuts in capital investments. Possessing more operational (“back to basics”) profiles than their predecessors, industry leads now realize that in addition to improving short-term cash flows, they need to: ●● Make sustainable gains in productivity. Programs aimed at improving productivity need to have an enterprise-wide impact, beyond pilot programs that address people or equipment. These productivity initiatives also need to be accepted across all operations and made sustainable going forward by emphasizing truly continuous improvements. ●● Respond with more agility to fluctuating market demands. Business agility requires a supply chain design that enables faster responses to shifts in market demands and prices. With improved business agility, it’s possible to optimize net results per quarter—right down to margin-per-hour operations. Transforming the supply chain design in this way requires a forward-looking understanding of market demand, scenariobased planning, optimal resource allocation and flexible scheduling decisions—all of which necessitate changes across people, technology and processes.