We offer end to end engineering solutions for the mining sector.

Ranjit Ravindran,
Business Head – Mining & Construction Equipment Division,
Voltas Limited.

At Voltas, we believe that service is the backbone for sustenance and futuristic growth in the mining industry.

– Ranjit Ravindran
Business Head – Mining & Construction Equipment Division

Voltas has been in mining and construction equipment industry in India for the last 64 years. it has contributed to nation’s infrastructure building and has brought in  cutting edge infrastructure and mining machineries. “Mining & Construction Equipment Division of Voltas has graduated to provide cost effective engineering solutions to production based mining machineries,” states Ranjit Ravindran, Business Head – Mining & Construction Equipment Division, Voltas Limited. Ravindran highlights the  contributory role played by Voltas in the mining space.

What contributory role Voltas as a solution provider has been playing in the mining sector?

Our tie up with global OEM’s in mining and construction equipment brings in the latest of technologies and cost effective solutions. In India Mining & Construction Equipment Division of Voltas has been instrumental in launching electric drive technology in mining machinery –  be it be dump trucks or wheel loaders or rope shovels. In its current product and service offerings Voltas supports electric drive dump trucks from Belaz and electric drive wheel loaders and rope shovels from Komatsu – P&H portfolio.

Electric drive technology in mining machinery is cleaner as fuel and fume burnings are much less in dumpers and loaders and nil in rope shovels. Maintenance cost including fuel cost is much less because of less rotating parts. Electrical braking always has an edge over its mechanical counterpart as the wear and tear in mechanical parts are much higher.

At Voltas, we believe that service is the backbone for sustenance and futuristic growth in the mining industry, it is even more imminent as the equipment are of capital intensive in nature and hence service support to this equipment throughout its life cycle is of utmost significance. The host of engineering solutions offered by Voltas MCED independent of any OE make of equipment Viz – operations and maintenance contracts, rental contracts, maintenance and repair contracts, annual service and maintenance contracts, parts cap contracts, reman and rehabilitation programmes, turnkey rebuilds and repairs, operator and maintenance crew training as per OEM standards, preventive and periodic maintenance programmes including condition monitoring, depot and rate delivers considerable cost savings to large mining companies who look at optimising production by rationalizing their costs.

How do you assess the trends in site optimization, especially through big data?

Digitization has been a huge buzz word for some time now; I’ve heard some people equate it to another industrial revolution, ‘The Digital Industrial Revolution.’ Digitization and Big data analytics are changing the landscape of mining industry too. By gelling the digital world with the physical world, new dimensions are being created within the mining industry itself which help optimize production based on market demand, production capacity, and quality variations.

What are the challenges here?

Despite all the best efforts being made by OEM’s, miners across the globe, the mining industry has not been able to fully optimize its efficiencies in production, safety, operations or to that extent asset optimization because of many ground level challenges.

What will be the drivers that will make the mines more automated and digitalized?

Declining mineral grades will create a more intensive mining industry with increased focus on water management and energy. Automation and technology innovation are being employed to resolve productivity constraints while green mining techniques will also be implemented to reduce overall carbon footprints. The next frontier in the mining industry will include automation and digitalized mines that can effectively operate in deeper, harsher and more complex mining environments.

Please elaborate on steps initiated by Voltas to bring digitization in the Indian mining space.

Catching up with digitization in mining industry we have entered into a partnership in India with an Australian company namely Mine Excellence Pty Ltd, a leading technology provider based out of Melbourne that provides end to end blasting technology space globally. The solutions offered by Mine Excellence helps in designing, optimizing and analysing how blasts are performing. The SaaS and mobile based platforms are designed specifically to benefit the mining industry so that business intelligence is provided in the hands of the average blaster, blast supervisor and even the senior mine management.

The solutions are capable of estimating the blast parameters and predicting harmful impacts like fly-rocks and air/ground vibrations. It helps the designers improve and optimize blasting which can result in significant benefits operationally and eliminate potential risks during blasting. The software is being used by small mines, large tier-1 mining companies and mining service providers across countries and mines.

Please elaborate on current aftermarket support trends based on the changing requirement of clients in the mining space? How geared up is Voltas to meet the demands?

Aftermarket support has undergone a sea change in any service industry across the globe. Gone are the days when products and companies monopolized the markets and customers had limited choices. In today’s competitive and cost effective scenario, products should have cutting edge technologies backed by friendly aftermarket support. Voltas has been in mining and construction equipment industry in India for last 64 years, from contributing its worth to nation’s infrastructure building in post-independence era to launching cutting edge infrastructure and mining machineries in liberalized economy. Mining & Construction Equipment Division of Voltas has graduated to provide cost effective engineering solutions to production based mining machineries. Today we operate across India, Middle East & African subcontinent and maintain some of the largest dump trucks, shovels and loaders of different OE makes for many mining companies across the globe.

What is your take on the impact of allowing commercial mining of coal and pursuing large and long term MDO contracts?

Commercial mining of coal and long term MDO contracts are some of the cost effective solutions initiated by the government to produce natural resources and make power and infrastructure available to entire nooks and corners of the country. I foresee the long term prospects of commercial mining and MDO as quite instrumental for putting India on the list of developed economies.

Is there any major capex happening from the Major PSUs which is being reflected in your order book?

The natural resources in the country from oil to coal to iron ore to bauxite to zinc ore will witness buoyant growth in next five years as lot of infrastructure development is bound to happen in every field. We have partnered with Belaz Enrika to bid for some big ticket tenders in Coal India limited for ultra large size off highway dump trucks from Belaz stable. Once we get the order it may have a reflection on our order book.

What is the range of solutions offered by Voltas in mining and quarrying sector?

We offer end to end engineering solutions in mining, construction and crushing equipment. Apart from our mining and construction equipment portfolio, we are market leaders in track mounted crushing plants where we offer complete range of crushing solutions with our OEM Terex Power Screen. With roads, smart cities, metro projects, airports across the country we witness a robust growth in our crushing and screening business too.

How do you perceive the upcoming trends in innovative technologies in the crushing segment?

The requirement for aggregate products is witnessing a growth in India with lot of rebuilding initiatives taken by the government across the country. Global players with a long history, such as Terex – Powerscreen, are best placed to serve the needs of Indian customers who want to increase production, machine uptime and revenues.

With a strong R&D focus from its factories across the globe including India, Terex – Power screen constantly innovate its range of mobile crushers and screens and machine functionalities. Terex Power Screen has been the early adopters of the newest technologies meaning their equipment is optimised to drive customer productivity and experience.

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