Spares Optimisation in the Longwall industry

We recently started to publish our case studies for work we have been doing in RCM, Spares Optimisation and Maintenance benchmarking and will continue to do so over the next couple of weeks here. 

However, I thought this case study on a spares optimisation project we recently conducted for the Longwall coal mining industry was a fantastic opportunity to talk about some of the rapid ways that companies can make quick reductions in asset maintenance costs. 


The project took place during the last three months and highlighted some classic examples of common problems in the Longwall mining industry. Particularly when it comes to the low frequency extremely high lead time parts that these machines require.

We choose to use Raptor as our tool for performing Availability modelling when our clients do not have a preference. it is cost effective, robust, has a very strong pedigree and suits our needs well. But we don't represent it or sell it...

Example of the Availability Model in Raptor

The Goal of the Spares Modelling Project

After some quick analysis of the present status quo, we set out to develop a model that would achieve <5% of total downtime caused by a lack of spare parts. Within the published data we uncovered in our research and use in The Value Quadrant Audit™ approach. 

Acknowledged performance measures from published studies, paid research and the Reliability Success benchmarking initiative

This was no small task given the present situation held that over 20% of the the downtime experienced was due to a lack of the right spare parts. 

While our database of industry failure rates is pretty strong these days, we always rely ont he client to supplement this where they can do. However, when this is not posible then we need to resort to commercial data stores such as Exida, Oreda, IEEE coloured Books and other commercial sources. 

The Results of the Availability Model

The end results where astounding. 

• 15 parts on 12 different components (out of 157) were removed from stock 

• 5 parts out of 157 underwent no change at all, and 

• 14 new components (out of 157) were added to stock

We have organised our consulting team to make most use of Junior and Senior Engineers, making sure we are able to provide a sophisticated service like this at very competitive price, without compromising our drive for extremely high quality outcomes.