From an underground coal perspective, growth is bringing many new entrants to the market.

Helen Gibson, General Manager, Underground Soft Rock, India, Komatsu

Can you provide insights into the range of products you intend to showcase at IME 2023?

Our main showcase during IME 2023 is an indigenised Joy underground Feeder Breaker which will be displayed at our outdoor booth M091. It’s the first time in our history that we have displayed equipment at an exhibition in India so it’s a proud moment to show real equipment to those who might not have visited an underground coal mine and to share with the mining community here that we are fully committed to the “Make in India” initiative, and are in the process of manufacturing the entire Joy room and pillar product package in India. As the quest for coal increases and our customers’ mining operations expand, we’re here to support the market with global-standard, proven, reliable, indigenised equipment, combining global excellence with local presence.

Secondly, we are displaying a Fletcher Titan A external roller drill mast, featuring a symmetrical drill carriage and inline dry drill-head which is part of a roof bolter. This is the latest in drill mast / drill-head technology, offering customers operational agility due to its compact design, greater serviceability and inventory flexibility. We are a distributor of Fletcher in India because their products complement the performance and extended life of Joy equipment, allowing us to offer customers a single equipment package solution with a minimum of 12 years of life.

Finally, we are very excited to share several technology innovations in our performance zone – a Joy Smart Services demonstration, showcasing India’s first underground-to-surface connected Continuous Miner; a virtual-reality operator training simulator using our new two-way BPX remote; and on-hand mining and product experts to discuss modern and efficient mining, sharing the potential for automation to improve safety and productivity; all supported by a paper presentation titled “Using Data Analytics to Measure Success” authored and presented by our Lead Control & Automation Product Manager, Toby Cressman, at the 10th Asian Mining Congress, running alongside IME 2023.

What is your perspective on the anticipated market dynamics in the mining equipment sector?

We are seeing an increasing appetite from the market for smart mining, considering both equipment and the entire mining value chain. Since the Ministry of Coal released a Roadmap for Technology for the Coal Sector last year, we have witnessed many industry conference themes focused towards re-engineering of the mining industry, digitization and Environment, Safety & Governance (ESG). This creates an opportunity to benchmark and learn from global best practices and a demand for differentiated mining equipment that is central to smart mining.

A drive towards Atma-nirbhar Bharat is bringing welcome investment in the mining ecosystem to support growth. We have been present in India for over two decades, offering direct service to our customers from mine sites and our central location in Nagpur, and we have recently doubled our operational footprint there giving us the capacity needed to make and supply equipment locally. Our goal is to grow with the market earnestly and responsibly, making quality equipment that stands equally with equipment made in our global network.

What obstacles and difficulties do you perceive within the sector currently?

From an underground coal perspective, growth is bringing many new entrants to the market. They have vision, passion, significant experience in other industries or types of mining but their experience with underground coal is relatively low and they need help to be successful not only for themselves but to satisfy the needs of the market. This is not an obstacle as such, but structured support is needed from experienced OEM’s to guide new entrants using a partnership approach, to nurture them through training and to offer equipment with assist features making equipment safer and easier to operate. At Komatsu, safety is our first decision-making criteria and we take our responsibility as an OEM seriously when it comes to contributing to the safety of the markets we serve.

The greatest opportunity ahead of us is the potential for the underground coal market to transform itself and produce tonnages that can be benchmarked globally. The Indian market has now confidently adopted mechanized mining but is yet to reach its potential. The challenge, for us as an OEM, is to help customers to consistently reach their potential with our equipment through the adoption of technology. We have witnessed a similar shift in expectations in the rest of our global markets and, in India, we have selected a few customers as technology partners to improve their performance through automation, data analytics and service digitization. These are the building blocks to smart mining and it’s an honour to create value together with these customers through such partnerships.

Hits: 13