Intelligent solutions to improve both safety and efficiency

As part of our ongoing series of intelligent solutions for increased safety and efficiency in maintenance, we provide below a further maintenance example illustrating just how safety and efficiency can complement one another.

Picture shows a TAKRAF X-TREME Class Sizer for bauxite with a capacity of 3,600 t/h. It is designed for superior durability in the harshest of conditions.
The TAKRAF X-TREME Class Sizer, here showing a 3,600 t/h machine for bauxite, is designed for superior durability in the harshest of conditions.

As mining operations invest in more technologically-advanced equipment and site conditions become ever more challenging, efficient but also safe maintenance concepts suited to modern sites are urgently required to protect employees and keep the plant operational.  

Traditional thinking tells us that the increased demand for safety, coupled with the growing complexity of modern mining equipment, leads to more complicated and time-consuming maintenance work, and that, therefore, safety and efficiency are mutually exclusive. 

However, this is not necessarily so as highlighted by the TAKRAF X-TREME Class Sizer. As with all TAKRAF Group products, the TAKRAF X-TREME Class Sizer was developed to meet the requirements of the Group’s intelligent and holistic maintenance philosophy, which facilitates the achievement of both optimal maintenance safety and optimal maintenance efficiency.   

In line with this philosophy, our TAKRAF sizer is engineered, in the first instance, to reduce wear and therefore maintenance, through its superior durability, abrasion resistance and intake behavior.  

Furthermore, it is designed for a high level of maintenance flexibility to adapt the best concepts appropriate for each individual application. For example, the sizer provides for maximum flexibility in machine dismantling, from replacing each tooth (pick) or segment radially in any position to replacing entire rolls or the entire sizer (a hot change) – more on that topic in a future article. 

Ease of maintainability is another important feature of TAKRAF Group’s intelligent maintenance philosophy. Every component of the X-TREME Class Sizer has been designed to reduce downtime and ensure that the machine is brought back into production as soon as possible, using our quick-release system. For example, the bolted tooth system enables worn crushing teeth to be replaced in seconds. 

Other ease-of-maintenance features include:  

  • Shaft removal is facilitated by its split housing design, which enables replacement of entire crushing roll assemblies 
  • Change-out procedures can be conducted in position 
  • The integrated moving unit enables an entire unit to slide into its maintenance position 

 “At TAKRAF Group, we believe that the safety and efficiency of maintenance work definitely do not need to ‘cannibalize’ each other and, more than this, with smart solutions, will actually complement and enhance each other,” says Thomas Jabs, TAKRAF Group CEO. “We believe, as mining statistics worldwide show, that increasing efficiency and improving safety are two sides of the same coin - a safer mine is, in fact, a more productive one.” 

As part of a dedicated deeper-dive into some of the intelligent maintenance solutions of our TAKRAF Sizer, we will be releasing a set of animation videos that focus specifically on each of these clever concepts and watch out for the first video on our YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter channels shortly.  

As always, for any further information or support, please send us an e-mail on: info@takraf.com.  

Innovation out of tradition – It pays to talk to a specialist!