Choosing between bulk handling equipment replacement vs refurbishment is a key decision for facility owners as machinery nears the end of its lifespan. Factors like downtime, cost, and operational efficiency all come into play. ASPEC’s FULS (Fatigue Useful Life Simulation) program provides data-driven insights to help make informed decisions about when to refurbish or replace equipment, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum longevity.
At many existing bulk material handling facilities, equipment such as stackers, reclaimers and ore car dumpers are nearing the end of their design lives. Owners are faced with the decision on whether to refurbish existing or procure replacement machines. There are also continuing pressures for increased throughput and in the case of ports, to accept larger ships.
Traditionally, owners would carry out a refurbishment to allow the life of their equipment to be extended. However, due to the continuing strong demand for commodity exports and high equipment utilisation levels, downtime is critical. Thus, decisions between refurbishment and replacement equipment can have a big impact on plant availability, cost and revenue. ASPEC has developed a program called FULS (fatigue useful life simulation) to assist owners making decisions on when to carry out machine replacement or major refurbishment.
For more information, please download the paper on Bulk Handling Equipment – Replacement vs Refurbishment. The download can be found below.
Richard Morgan is a Structural Engineer and Director of Aspec Engineering with extensive experience in bulk materials handling and ports. He is chairman of Australian Standards Committee ME43 for materials handling machines. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer and Registered Professional Engineer, Queensland.
Frank Gatto is a Director and Principal Engineer at ASPEC Engineering. He has over 30 years of experience in civil and structural engineering and is a Chartered Professional Engineer with a PhD in Engineering.
Mark Biggs is the State Manager for Western Australia and a Senior Mechanical Engineer for Aspec Engineering. He has been with ASPEC since 2004 and is a Chartered
Professional Engineer with 14 years of engineering practice in the mining industry.