Abstract

Accounting for changing duty cycles in equipment matching maximizes equipment utilization and productivity. The objective of this study is to investigate if the optimal number of shuttle cars for a particular panel width is optimal in different segments of the panel. In this study, discrete event simulation (DES) is used to determine the optimal number of cars that maximize productivity in each segment. Data from a real-life mine is used to validate the model. The study shows that the optimal number of cars for the entire panel may not be optimal for some of the defined segments.