The system has been employed by Orica, the world’s largest provider of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas and construction markets, a leading supplier of sodium cyanide for gold extraction, and a specialist provider of ground support services in mining and tunnelling.
It was introduced first in Australia in 2014 and due to its success is being phased in by Orica across its global operations. The system has already been introduced in 11 countries around the globe and will be further installed in another 22 countries.
The system in question is an In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS) boasting a range of features that provide live monitoring of an array of activities.
The system includes Trimble Car Cube, hands-free phone function, rollover sensor, duress switch, and interior and external cameras.
Location, road speed, driver behaviour, pitch and roll, and activity durations are among activities monitored.
Emergency situations are a particular focus with alert notifications, cameras, and duress switch just some of the safety minded applications.
Operational and driver behaviour data is captured and sent to Orica. This live system provides global visibility for Orica’s management teams.
“The solution is purpose built to provide data and information regarding driver behaviour and operational activities,” says SITECH’s Anthony Kwok.
“It provides Orica with information to improve driver safety and work more efficiently. It also provides information that Orica can share with their customers and to investigate vehicle incidents.”
Anthony said Orica released an RFP to market and Trimble approached SITECH to see if the Australian firm was interested in working with them on it.
“Orica wanted one global solution for all their vehicles. This included a low cost and advanced telemetry solution that could be deployed globally,” he said.
“We put together a team of project co-ordinators, technical experts, subject matter experts and a lot of research and development to respond to their RFP.”
For SITECH installation technician Matt Redwood, the roll-out has meant plenty of new stamps in his passport – this year he has travelled to Indonesia and South America and in June is headed to the UK as part of this worldwide roll out.
“I was in Indonesia early in January to train local installers at one location – a coal mine in Borneo,” Matt said.
“I trained up four installers who will then implement training for Orica throughout its Indonesian operations.”
In March Matt spent about two weeks in South America, this time undertaking installations and system checks, repairs and QAs in Panama and Colombia.
“It has been a busy but rewarding year so far,” Matt said, adding that the Google Translator app had been invaluable on both trips.
Next up is the UK and Northern Ireland, where he will train installers for Orica’s European operations.
Anthony said it was an important project for SITECH and something of a landmark.
“It’s the largest project in the history of SITECH Construction Systems – and the first global project for us,” he said.
