09 Dec 2024
Diploma Australia Seals solving complex challenge
Diploma Australia Seals (DAS) specialises in the supply of premium mechanical engineering products, parts and servicing for a range of industrial applications. It works closely with its customers to understand their challenges, build solutions that save its customers cost and improve reliability, efficiency and safety.
The challenge
DAS business, FITT Resources, was approached by a bulk sand supplier operating its own quarry on the Gold Coast. The customer was using a dredge to transport sand from its quarry pond to a processing plant located 1km away. The dredge it was using was inefficient, labour intensive to operate, and didn’t comply with council-enforced noise and operating limits. Furthermore, it struggled to maintain production of 150,000 tonnes of sand per year.
“Finding solutions to our customers’ challenges is what we’re here to do.”
The solution
FITT Resources was able to draw on its in-house expertise on product and application use to design the right dredge solution for the customer. Importantly, it was able to leverage its exclusive distribution agreement for Australia and New Zealand with a global dredge supplier.
The outcome
The package system FITT Resources designed and delivered for the customer comprised a dredge with a pump and GPS automation, which supports remote and autonomous dredge operation and allows for consistent and continuous flow of product to the process plant.
Importantly, the ability to operate the dredge remotely from a centralised control significantly reduces health and safety risk as operators are no longer required to enter high-risk zones.
The new system allowed the customer to more than double its annual production of sand to over 330,000 tonnes, and reduce its overheads as a result of the autonomous capability. Overall, the customer achieved a 50% per tonne reduction in operational costs.