Michelin, the world’s leading sustainable mobility company, celebrated its longest running mining tyre at one of South Africa’s top coal mines in Limpopo. The MICHELIN 40.00R57 XDR3 MC4 tyre becomes the first Michelin mining tyre in South Africa to operate on a coal mine for almost 18 000 hours, beating targeted hours that were set for the tyre by the site.
This MICHELIN tyre range has consistently performed much better than allocated targets, operating at an average of 11 200 hours – a feat in the coal mining industry.
The milestone could not have been achieved without a Michelin-client partnership approach. The company prides itself in its close collaborations with clients, which foster enabling environments that safely increase productivity, reduce downtime, and lessen wastage.
“We are beyond proud of this achievement, which came as a result of the commitment we have to being a sustainable mobility partner for all our clients across various business sectors and industries. We have been working with business customers to deliver safer, cleaner, more accessible, and more efficient mobility”, says Marcus Baffoe-Bonnie, Managing Director at Michelin South Africa.
To put it into perspective, 17 985 hours is equivalent to 62% more life and an additional 6 746 hours of production.
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“At Michelin, we are always looking for ways to provide tangible solutions for our clients. By working together and prioritising safety, ensuring teams on the ground are well-trained in tyre maintenance, we achieved maximum productivity and performance of these tyres, and we want this to be the norm,” added Fabien Taillardat, Mining Sales Director at Michelin South Africa.
The tyre has covered 213 717kms, an equivalent of 152 trips to Cape Town from Johannesburg.
“Our research and development teams harness their experience and passion to deliver technologies that meet ever higher performance standards – and that has been the case with our partners,” continues Baffoe-Bonnie.
After a dire few years, mining companies are working to rebuild profitability and improve productivity by doing more with less – Michelin is acutely cognisant of its customers’ needs and is continuously developing products that will, not only meet challenges, but offer tangible long-term benefits.
MICHELIN Better Mining offers innovative solutions for safe, smart, and sustainable mining. Customers benefit from effective tools to help them in their day-to-day business activities, while saving them time and helping them to keep closer control of their organisation’s costs, all while ensuring their operations are safe and protect the environment.
