Discover all the details about the innovative BKT "Spotech" program, which helps mining companies to maximize their productivity by selecting the right tire using an up-to-date system of data gathering and find out some more insights on how BKT is utilizing technology to improve mining operations.
Watch the interview with Chris Rhoades, Vice President for OTR at BKT USA.
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Frik Els -
Andrew Petruska -
Chris Rhoades
- Over ten billion tons have been moved using autonomous haul trucks.
- At 0.2G a 2700 R49 Haulage tire has over 12.000 pounds of lateral forces impacting it.
- The weight of BKT's largest tire is almost 8,400 pounds or 3,800 kgs.
In this series
EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF MINING.COM, CANADA
Frik Els is the executive editor of MINING.COM, the world’s premier source of news and opinion on mining and metals with a weekly readership of more than 200,000 industry professionals across the world.
Frik has focused his writing and public engagements on the green energy transition and the raw materials needed to meet climate goals and combat global warming. He created the EV Metal Index providing insights into the greatest disruption to the auto and extractive industries in a century.
PROFESSOR AT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES, USA
Dr. Andrew Jacob Petruska is currently a tenured Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Robotics Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, that he joined in 2016.
Awarded an NSF IGERT Traineeship during his PHD to study noncontact magnetic manipulation, he developed the first real-time reconfigurable magnetic manipulation system. His current research focus has pivoted to perception, state estimation, and control in GPS denied environments for applications ranging from underground mining, search for rescue, and on- orbit manufacturing, to lunar construction, navigation and mining.
VICE-PRESIDENT FOR OTR, BKT USA.
With a family tradition in the OTR sector that goes back to 155 years ago, Chris Rhoades started his career by working on tire tracking programs.
He then joined BKT in 1999 as Senior Product Manager, Technical Solutions, and used his expertise to develop a new technology: SPOTech. It is a cutting- edge monitoring system that collects data on haul truck activities by means of GPS systems, GoPro cameras and accelerometers for improving productivity, efficiency, and operating conditions within mining sites or quarries.
With 24 years’ experience in BKT, he is now BKT Tires' US Vice-President for OTR. He's passionate about partnering with customers and dealers to leverage
solutions to reduce their total cost of ownership
