Mining Truck Assembly

Mining truck manufacturer discovers Doerfer's Wheelift® Transporters for use throughout their production facility for assembly work and moving between welding stalls, subassembly, final assembly, and outside passage to paint and testing facilities.

Click on images for larger view and captions

A world leading producer of mining trucks was experiencing increased product demand and were constrained in a tight skilled labor market. Productivity options were evaluated, and the non-value added time to transfer the mining trucks between work stations through assembly and final assembly was identified as having the greatest opportunity. The existing method of using wheeled dollies and tugs was tedious, time consuming, and had levels of risk associated with the safe operation and hookup of the equipment for the ever increasing amount moves required as mining truck production levels ramped up.

A single low profile transporter was envisioned to support work in progress accessibility and existing process and assembly equipment. Two common pickup points on the mining truck frame provide a stable position for load balance in the fore/aft and side/side orientation allowing full transporter movements in all directions.

Mining truck transporters

Process-driven mining truck transporters features include a flat deck at 21" for product access from any direction, a 4% slope capability, 6" vertical travel for self-loading and surface compliance, weatherproofing for outdoor travel to paint building, effortless omni-directional travel, shore power umbilical cord backup cable, wireless control, and fire suppression plan.

CHALLENGE: Reliably move high center-of-gravity (CG) mining truck frames; Provide end and side accessibility to work stalls; Facilitate use of existing tool setups; and keep a low profile to minimize work platforms and accessibility ladders to the mining truck work levels.

SOLUTION: Provide self-loading 160-ton capacity low-deck wireless transporter that can effortlessly move mining trucks from stall to stall throughout the assembly and testing process.

BENEFITS:

• Increased process equipment productivity
• Increased labor productivity
• Increased plant utilization
• Process flexibility through elimination of inflexible rail transfer carts and overhead cranes
  
  
  
  

Wheelift Transporters

A wireless belly pack controller provides precision control of all transporter movements through assembly in one easy to use interface.

The transporters have seven on-center rotation axle assemblies. With their computer controlled multi-zone fluid equalizing suspension, the axles have interconnecting fluid lines that divide them into load sharing groups to assure that every wheel carries only its specific share of the load, regardless of variations, slopes, and irregularities in the floor surfaces. Floor loading is dispersed with ground pressure loads spread over a wide footprint.

The Modular Wheelift Chassis of the transporters provides a degree of flexibility not attainable through other technologies. Wheelift Transporters and AGVs enable manufacturing flexibility with configurable work processes facilitating new design freedoms benefiting worldwide niche markets.

Wheelift Transporters and AGVs are manufactured in Iowa and are custom engineered to application specific requirements. Chassis and fixtures are available with load capacities to 500+ tons and deck heights as low as 18.5". Power options include diesel, LP gas, battery, and/or umbilical cord. Computerized all electric omni-directional drives are standard with individual axle ratings of 15, 20, or 30-ton.

Wheelift® is a Doerfer Companies technology. Doerfer engineers and builds application specific manufacturing machinery and systems. Operating from four North American locations with over 700,000 sq. ft. and 500+ employees, Doerfer offers an array of engineering and manufacturing resources and is NQA-1 certified.

SUMMATION: Mining trucks and other heavy construction equipment can enter an entirely new assembly process era by being able to effortlessly move these mammoths as though they weigh almost nothing.

TRADEMARKS

The following terms that are used through this website: Wheelift^®, Uniload^®, SynchroSteer^®, StackAxle^®, TrackAxle™ and OmniAxle^™ are all trademarks that are exclusively licensed to Doerfer Companies.