VPR based in Hyderabad has its core area of expertise in the field of mining excavation and irrigation. The company has been continuously executing projects in The Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd., Andhra Pradesh, and Coal India Ltd. (Western Coal Fields Ltd., Maharashtra, for the past decade and half and Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd., Orissa). Mr. Prabhakar Reddy, Managing Director, VPR Mining Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., briefs about the site operations.
Can you please brief us your material handling operations and about the tippers & tip trailers fleet strength and details? What are the average ages of the tippers & tip trailers deployed?
We are into large mining operations in overburden removal in India, and mining operations in Africa and Indonesia. Our annual turnover is INR close to Rs. 700 crores and we excavate OB and mineral to the tune of 100 million cubic meters per month in all operations. We are in this business of mining for past two decades (20 years). We use tippers of 18 Cu Mt capacity – 8×4 and 23 Cu Mt capacity 10×4. Our total fleet size is close to 500 units put together. We use tippers up to the age of 5-6 years and we do not use tip trailers as of now. We use only 8×4 and 10×4 tippers with rear loading and rear dumping.
Share with us details of your infrastructure, manpower, places of work contract, operational hours per day, distances covered per day per vehicle, service workshops & site support facilities.
We have 7 mining sites pan-India and two mining sites – one each at Africa and Indonesia, our total manpower is close to 3,000 employees including office staff, drivers, excavator operators, mechanics and other commercial staff. We use all tippers @ 22 hours / day covering an average of 200 km / tipper / day. We have site built workshops with mechanics supported by Larsen & Toubro Ltd. with their onsite support personnel 24/7.
Specify the main factors considered in your selection of the tippers & tip trailers for the applications; and working with OEM / their dealer for the technical support.
We find 8×4 is most versatile tipper for mining application, the size of the tipper depending upon the contract. Our team closely works with L&T I Scania in selection of equipment for specific mining project and quantity of tippers needed for the project, depending upon the volumes needed to be excavated & transported. We prefer around 400 HP range and we are more interested in fuel economy, cabin comfort and TCO, which we find in Scania more than other makes of similar capacity.
Highlight the typical challenges faced at site conditions. How important are driver training and skills for your applications? Comment also on the site service support.
Presently we are finding difficulties in sourcing skilled manpower like – drivers, operators, mechanics and on-site personnel. We wish Scania and L&T must concentrate on training – drivers, mechanics and mining related staff, to improve productivity and smooth execution of contracts.
Presently we are supported by Larsen & Toubro Ltd., with their superior onsite support coupled with onsite workshops, onsite tools and onsite spare parts stocks. We are happy with the support from L&T.
How do you compete with contractors having a similar fleet and what is the typical age/life of tippers for your applications? Share with us your company’s expansion plans in future.
We are mining contractors and execute mining contract as per the tender specifications by using suitable equipment for specific to mining contract. We use rear dump trucks, large size excavators, tippers, excavators, dozers and graders to execute mining contracts. We use mining tippers to the age of 5-6 years. Our ambitious business plans are to grow around 25% YOY and we see such growth in overburden removal contracts from Coal India with enhanced coal production targets. We wish to double our fleets soon, depending upon our business opportunities.