Bridgestone gets technology spinning at new centre
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Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone opened a $10 million facility in Port Hedland last week that will apply remote sensing and big data to detect wear on the mining fleets and conveyors of its Pilbara customers.
The opening of the facility, which is located in Hedland's Wedgefield industrial area, comes a month after Bridgestone announced its local industrial tyre and engineering arms would be integrated into a mining solutions division from next year.
The Port Hedland facility will also monitor and maintain conveyor belts using remote sensing technology.
Bridgestone Earthmover Tyres chief operating officer Andrew Andreou told Business News the facility had been built so the company could get closer to its customer base, which was currently serviced out of Perth.
The facility’s customers would largely be resources focused, including the iron ore majors, he said.
Similar to technological applications in other parts of the resources industry, such as infrared or sound-based monitoring of equipment for performance or maintenance issues, Bridgestone would seek to bring a high-tech flavour to its offering.
The company uses its own software systems to allow real-time, accessible tracking of equipment in the field.
Tracking devices, which can be remotely managed, are placed Inside the wheels to measure heat and pressure.
A truck with wheels experiencing high wear could be diverted onto a shorter route or simply carry reduced loads for a period, saving the need for it to be taken out of service.
“There’s a lot of work and a lot of development that’s going on with technology from the point of view of monitoring tyre performance, monitoring conveyor belt wear, looking at potential supply chain information that can be provided on a live basis,” Mr Andreou said.
“There's a whole series of technology that's been introduced.
“We’re talking remote sensing, sensors placed into tyres that deliver real time data back to the Port Hedland facility or directly back to the customer.”