Contura Coal West, based in the Powder River Basin (western US), needed additional machines but did not have the capital budget to invest in new equipment. Contura did, however, have two idled shovels in the eastern United States it could relocate. To meet production requirements, these machines had to be moved, reassembled, upgraded and operational within eight months.

Solution design 

We partnered with Contura through a Life Cycle Management (LCM) agreement to relocate and rebuild the two shovels in a timely, cost-effective manner.

Our service teams conducted machine audits before the move and provided reports of projected repair needs during the teardown to help guide decisions on capital and technological upgrades before the components arrived from the teardown site. This minimized lead times for unexpected parts and component needs, and allowed the service teams to continue to move the project forward with minimal delays.  All capital expenditures for the repair parts and upgrades were rolled into the LCM agreement.

Results

By rolling the repair costs and technological upgrades into the LCM agreement, Contura was able to soften the impact of the capital expense and avoid maintenance downtime that would have been required 18-24 months after the relocation. 

Since these machines went back into operation, they have been top performers for Contura Coal West, with average physical availability of 89.3%.