ABB and Bridon-Bekaert Ropes collaborate on mine hoists

The leading automation and technology enterprise ABB and Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group (BBRG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to jointly explore the evolution of service capabilities for mine hoist systems located in customer sites worldwide. 

There are more than 600 active production and service mine hoists within ABB’s global installed base and now there is an opportunity together with BBRG, a leading manufacturer of mission-critical advanced cords and ropes, to serve these customers under a coordinated approach.  

The two companies will design, develop and deliver services focused on the improvement of critical operations for mine hoist customers. The consultative solutions will include innovative approaches towards safety, availability, productivity, risk reduction and sustainability. Aligning the best-in-class practices for preventative maintenance will be further enhanced by the integration of inspections, audits, and spare parts inventory optimisation, now for the complete hoisting system. The focus will be on Australia, Europe, China and North America. 

ABB’s digital solution suite for mine hoist monitoring and optimisation, ABB Ability Smart Hoisting, and BBRG’s VisionTek offerings for ropes will be combined under the predictive maintenance category, bringing technologies to provide asset health and condition/performance monitoring platforms and services to mine hoist operations. 

Bridon-Bekaert and ABB - a great team

“We’ve chosen to partner with Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group in this way because we can see the many benefits for our customers who are using ABB mine hoist systems,” said Charles Bennett, Global Service Manager, Business Line Hoisting, ABB Process Industries. “It has been clear from our work together in the past and in more recent discussions that we’ll make a great team for these future projects, where we can demonstrate our joint capabilities for all types of service.” 

“The geographies and breadth of service we can work on together is extensive,” said Koray Bineklioglu, General Manager Advanced Services, Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group. “Our potential collaboration spans across diverse geographies and a broad spectrum of services. We are excited about the imminent introduction of our comprehensive service portfolio and our engagement with customers who frequently grapple with the challenge of balancing hoist productivity and equipment servicing. Our VisionTek solution will offer customers a complete package, including real-time analysis, digital data access, and expert monitoring of critical working ropes, ultimately enhancing efficiency and reducing downtime.” 

ABB has been a leader in developing world-class hoisting solutions for over 130 years. Powered by electricity with the possibility to run off renewable energy sources, hoists are a future-forward solution. To date, ABB has delivered over 1,000 hoisting solutions globally. As a supplier of complete mine hoist systems, customers can benefit from low lifecycle cost, high reliability and system availability, short project execution time, and a single source of supply for complete systems, including service and spare parts.  

Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group (BBRG), a division of Bekaert, is a leading innovator, developer and producer of the best performing ropes and advanced cords globally. The Group provides superior value solutions to the oil and gas, wind energy, mining, crane, elevator, and other industrial sectors. VisionTek is the leading 3D optical measurement technology that runs performance and surface algorithms to compare real-time performance with critical rope parameter requirements.

ABB's – condition and performance control of mine hoist at LKAB’s Kiruna mine

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) is an international high-tech minerals group, one of the world’s leading producers of upgraded iron ore products. LKAB’s mines in Kiruna and Malmberget are among the world’s most modern, thanks to investments in advanced technology and large-scale production systems. The production at Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost city, is fully automatic from loading to unloading pocket in the head frame. The yearly output of the plant is 30m tons of iron ore products. ABB has a unique capability to engineer, deliver, install and provide after sale service for entire mechanical and electrical mine hoist systems of all types. The global presence means that ABB is always close to its customers