TY - THES

T1 - Value of increased production in an underground mine: Production loading

AU - Jukakoski, Mikko Antero

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - For any company being competitive means providing customers products that address their needs and problems. In a globalized world, competition among different suppliers is getting tougher and in order to survive in the competition, a product must be somehow different to the other similar products. This is called differentiation. For Sandvik loading and hauling equipment, there are some special features in the product that are differentiating them from the competitors. Sandvik loaders are designed to be productive. The slogan is “Lowest cost per ton”. The idea behind this slogan is that the machines are powerful enough to do their work cycle effectively. The biggest benefit is achieved while filling the bucket. Equipping machines with power increases the costs of the machine. At the same time customers are putting pressure on decreasing the prices. As one possible solution to this problem is value based selling. In value based selling, the customer benefits are quantified and using these quantified values, prices can be justified. This thesis concentrates on production loading in underground mines. The target of the thesis is to find out what kinds of costs are associated in the production of a typical underground mine. This thesis is not covering detailed aspects of any particular parts of the mining process but it tries to elaborate the costs of mining in a larger scale. The focus of the thesis is to study, what is the value of improving the efficiency of production loading. This value is studied by creating an example of a typical underground copper mine, and then introducing three different improvements into the process. After this, the monetary value of the increased production is calculated. This thesis is not suggesting any changes to the existing selling processes. The aim of the work is to give an example how the additional value of a loader can be evaluated.

AB - For any company being competitive means providing customers products that address their needs and problems. In a globalized world, competition among different suppliers is getting tougher and in order to survive in the competition, a product must be somehow different to the other similar products. This is called differentiation. For Sandvik loading and hauling equipment, there are some special features in the product that are differentiating them from the competitors. Sandvik loaders are designed to be productive. The slogan is “Lowest cost per ton”. The idea behind this slogan is that the machines are powerful enough to do their work cycle effectively. The biggest benefit is achieved while filling the bucket. Equipping machines with power increases the costs of the machine. At the same time customers are putting pressure on decreasing the prices. As one possible solution to this problem is value based selling. In value based selling, the customer benefits are quantified and using these quantified values, prices can be justified. This thesis concentrates on production loading in underground mines. The target of the thesis is to find out what kinds of costs are associated in the production of a typical underground mine. This thesis is not covering detailed aspects of any particular parts of the mining process but it tries to elaborate the costs of mining in a larger scale. The focus of the thesis is to study, what is the value of improving the efficiency of production loading. This value is studied by creating an example of a typical underground copper mine, and then introducing three different improvements into the process. After this, the monetary value of the increased production is calculated. This thesis is not suggesting any changes to the existing selling processes. The aim of the work is to give an example how the additional value of a loader can be evaluated.

M3 - Master's Thesis (University Course)

ER -