Every truck piece of equipment is going to perform differently depending upon what type of environment it’s placed. Michael Currie, owner of HME Benchmark, is an expert in forecasting mobile fleet costs, downtime and manpower.
Currie spoke to MINING.com in February about his online tool for estimating fleet performance.
MINING.com: What is HME Benchmark?
Michael Currie: It’s an online database that forecasts mobile fleet costs, downtime and manpower. The main thing is that the estimates are contextualized; they’re based on how the machine is operated and maintained.
MINING.com: What problems does it solve?
Michael Currie: It solves two main problems. First, it addresses the information gap that was left when Cat removed “repair costs” from the Performance Handbook. That was a big deal because it left a large portion of the industry without a basic, reliable estimating tool. Second, it lets users compare how machines perform in different settings; for example at a remote site in a developing country versus something generic like, say, Arizona. That’s a really difficult thing to do if you don’t have good data and a lot of expertise.
Obtain HME Benchmark’s online database to forecast your mobile fleet costs and downtime
MINING.com: How accurate is the data?
Michael Currie: It’s normally good to within 5% to 10%, sometimes less; it’s a good estimating tool. The data comes from about 1,000 units with over 25 million operating hours. That’s a pretty good sample. These are machines that I’ve actually worked with in the field.
MINING.com: Where did the idea come from?
Michael Currie: Personal need – I’d accumulated 30 years of data and was tired of lugging around spreadsheets. Having it in a structured database available over the net has been terrific; it saves an incredible amount of time.
MINING.com: Who uses it?
Michael Currie: People developing fleet budgets and selecting equipment. They’re normally in mine maintenance, purchasing, engineering and finance roles. It’s also a very important tool for the consulting industry.
MINING.com: What machines are included?
Michael Currie: Shovels, Haul Trucks, Dozers, Graders and Wheel Loaders – all of the primary classes of surface equipment. There are currently 23 classes in the database.
MINING.com: How much detail is there?
Michael Currie: Plenty…costs are categorized by maintenance & repair parts, ground engaging tools, lube and tires/undercarriage, along with calculated maintenance ratios and downtime – it’s all detailed and broken out over twelve reporting periods. There’s also an estimate for replacement cost and energy consumption.
MINING.com: Who’s Mike Currie?
Michael Currie: I’m an independent consultant; I work with fleet owners to improve availability. I’ve been in the heavy equipment industry since 1983, working for Cat and Komatsu dealers before starting my business.
MINING.com: Why have you partnered with CostMine?
Michael Currie: CostMine is my online distributor because they are the leaders in providing cost estimating tools to the mining industry. They’re the natural choice because I’ve had such good experience with its parent, InfoMine, which hosts several of my IP products.
MINING.com: How much does HME Benchmark cost?
Michael Currie: It’s $100 bucks a month, with discounts for multiple users.
MINING.com: What’s next for HME Benchmark?
Michael Currie: Focus on the user – continue to grow the subscriber base, add machines that users want and can provide good data for, and consider more features for the community.
MINING.com: Thanks for your time and good luck with the application.