PERTH company Immersive Technologies, which specialises in developing mine equipment simulators for the global market, has continued to enjoy strong growth, with sales up more than 50 per cent during the past financial year.
Immersive had total sales of $53.8 million for the year to June 2011, accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show.
This enabled the company to report a profit after tax of $9.7 million.
Established by brothers Peter and Wayde Salfinger in 1993, the company produced its first simulator in 1998.
It now has a global reach with 143 staff, offices in seven countries and advanced equipment simulators for both underground and surface mining equipment in 30 countries.
Its simulators are used primarily by mining companies and contractors for the training of staff.
The company holds technical licensing agreements with original equipment manufacturers Caterpillar, Liebherr, Komatsu, Hitachi Construction Machinery and P&H Mining Equipment, meaning that Immersive can build simulators to the highest level of accuracy possible for those companies.
Earlier this year Immersive created simulators for a Sandvik jumbo drill and an underground truck.
It also has plans to release simulators for a Hitachi-designed shovel excavator as well as similar technology for haul trucks based on designs from Caterpillar and Leibherr and a simulator for an American light vehicle.
Earlier products include the PRO3 surface and the UG360 underground simulator, which the company released in 2010.
The PRO3 surface mining simulator includes a 180-degree screen display and motion platform, which provides accurate responses and delivers all types of feedback, including rapid jolts, feelings of acceleration and feelings of sensitivity required in operating a dozer.
However, the UG360 uses screens giving a 360-degree view and replicating the
conditions trainees will face underground.
The display provides high angles so that trainees can see and account for components in underground mines, including stopes and ‘backs’ as well as the same motion feedback platform, which simulates jolts and sensitivities needed for LHD (load haul dump) mucking and transport.
In 1998 Immersive released the world’s first haul-truck simulator, followed by the world’s first shovel excavator simulator in 2001, a Caterpillar track dozer simulator in 2003 and the world’s first wheel loader simulator in 2004.
Immersive’s success has seen it win a number of awards, including the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the 2008 Western Australian Industry and Export Awards.
