Abstract
Productivity and efficiency of mining equipment are among the most important factors contributing to unit mining cost, and measuring and benchmarking them is one of the best ways of identifying the possibilities of improvement. It is in this context that the present paper discusses the notion of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The paper reviews main components of OEE – availability, utilisation and production efficiency. It discusses some of the factors influencing those components as well as different means of quantifying them, and proposes a number of key performance indicators (KPI) associated with them. The paper critically reviews metrics already in use by mining companies and equipment manufacturers and proposes a number of other measures whose implementation would be beneficial for mine operators. The indicators are also analysed from the point of view of their meaningfulness, practicality and usefulness for further analysis. The paper also addresses the question of data quality and it provides a number of recommendations concerning performance reporting and follow-up of equipment efficiency.
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