While the OEM development of HME trucks continues to innovate and drive the technology forward, third party attachment suppliers are not resting on their laurels either. Competition to provide the ultimate truck tray (or “bin”, or “loadbody”, or “tipper”, or “box”, or even “bucket” depending on your region) remains fierce and evolutionary. The VR Loadbody – one of the leading mining products supplied by Van Reenen Steel – continues to find improvements where others had hit their ceilings (or floors, depending on perspective). Primary focus points for the custom-built VR Loadbodies are productive steel mass, effective life cycle cost of the asset, and finally site-specific operational gains.

Productive steel mass refers to the material in the tray structure required to safely hold the payload while protecting the operator and electric components on the truck deck. Managing engineer for Truck Trays Campbell Bam explains: “the steel mass of the body, while obviously necessary for the structure to be cyclically loaded for many thousands of hours, still remains a penalty to payload. The less steel we can commit to carrying a unit of payload (volume or mass) the more efficient the tray, the higher the payload and the greater the truck fleet production”. With more truck OEMs shedding the traditional 10/10/20 payload policy in favour of a “no greater than 120%” payload maximum, the call for next-generation truck trays to meet higher payloads is significant. Bam adds: “in the past 24 months, we went from believing we were at our lower limit on tray mass to shedding a further 18%”. That saving, along with higher volume due to the 120% rule, translates to immediate payload mass gain and the positive knock-on effect to the bottom-line production.

Next, effective life cycle cost of the asset is the monetary outlay by mine site over the useful life of the truck tray. This includes purchase price, major rebuilds at intervention off the truck and any necessary running repairs. Dr. Justin Martens (General Manager) warns: “too often detached group supply chains are making decisions on behalf of mine sites based solely on the capital price of the mining attachment. Short-term gains to budgets and mining company liquidity is eroded not long after when early relining operations are required or major rebuilds are forced to occur before schedule. In some instances low-mass offerings are also plied with liners after delivery at the sites’ expense, further clouding the real commercial input, productive steel mass and final truck efficiency”. VR Loadbodies feature integrated liners that are impervious to loss (removing cost/risk associated with crusher and production plant downtime), require no relining infield (reducing risk to personnel) and subsequently meet or exceed their required campaign life – all factors having positive net effects on the factual life cycle cost of the tray.

Lastly, site-specific operational gains are not immediately apparent but can have quantifiable savings for sites and their production. A common example is the carry-back or hang-up a tray can experience where stubborn payload portions remain in the loadbody for the return trip (exceeding 20% in some instance). This phenomenon is counter-productive in every sense, from payload loss to unnecessary fuel burn and tire wear. The full VR loadbody portfolio can be fitted with a concentrated central heating system to mitigate carry-back initiation. Through intelligent heat transfer exploitation of the engine exhaust gasses to where the problem starts, hang-up is prevented from establishing and subsequently growing.