New life for Canadian mine - Atlas Copco

Rolling out the red caThey came, they saw, they liked:Scandinavian drillers queued up for a chanceto try out the SmartROC.Drill rig operators got the VIPtreatment when they attended arecent demonstration in Sweden of theSmartROC surface drill rig. For them,and drilling companies everywhere, themessage was clear… a new era in thedrilling industry had begun.About 50 Scandinavian drilling contractorsconverged on the Atle quarrynear Örebro, Sweden to get up-closeand-personalwith the SmartROC surfacedrill rig, arguably one of the most technicallyadvanced drill rigs available.With a strong focus on working life forthe professional driller, the audience wasinformed that the era of the dinosaurs (read:manual rigs with no “intelligence”) is comingto a close, and that the SmartROC is theforemost example of “the new era”.Presenting the rig for a packed audience,Olav Kvist, Product Line Manager forAtlas Copco’s surface drilling equipment,explained the reason why. He began bypointing out that the rig is superior to allother comparable drill rigs on the marketin terms of advanced computer control, performanceand environmental friendliness.But he quickly turned the spotlight onthe operators: “You are the guys who mattermost,” he told them. “You are the oneswho sit in these machines every, sometimesfor very long shifts. That’s why we are rollingout the red carpet for you by offeringimprovements that have a substantial affecton the operator’s life.“For example, the cabin is designedfor maximum comfort. The controls areergonomically designed and very easy onthe arms – just two joysticks, some simplepushbuttons and an input device with ascroll-and-click wheel instead of usingtouch-screens. All this built-in functionalityis extremely labour-saving, reducingphysical effort to a minimum.”The drillers were then able to see thesecharacteristics in action via a live video linktransmitted from a SmartROC working inthe quarry. Here, an Atlas Copco instructorput the rig through its paces, methodicallydescribing each function and operation inturn, while the results of his actions weremade simultaneously visible on an enlargedpicture of the rig’s display screen.Kvist followed up with a few examplesof the many upgrades that come with the22 Mining & Construction – 3 / 2011