VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA (January 24, 2024) – Wenco International Mining Systems is excited to announce a major product development: SmartCap for Wencomine, the integration of Wencomine FMS and the SmartCap Fatigue Management solution.
Since Wenco's acquisition of SmartCap & its EEG solution, our team has taken the globally used and respected predictive fatigue management system to new heights.
Ben Sparrow, Product Manager: “A major progress area in the development space with SmartCap … is its integration into Wencomine. Now we’ve got one screen and one point of reference – so SmartCap doesn’t need a separate screen when it’s in a Wencomine FMS deployed site. That enables the user to have their MDT showing their fleet assignment – tracking timing and load haul status for example – but also now displaying their SmartCap fatigue score.”
All that is required for the integration is a SmartCap Bluetooth dongle connecting the SmartCap LifeBand to the Wencomine FMS. This minimizes hardware, integration time and machine downtime which means SmartCap is fully retrofittable for all existing Wencomine users. The ease of install is significantly increasing the demand for SmartCap among mines already using Wencomine. This easy installation also allows Wenco to leverage existing SmartCap customers who might be looking to change FMS or upgrade it to consider Wencomine.
Eli Alston, GM of Safety Solutions: “…Many of our FMS customers now see SmartCap simply as an operational cost upgrade to their existing system – so it’s an enhancement or add on – which greatly reduces their time in terms of approvals.”
As SmartCap relies on the LifeBand which is effectively an electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring operator brain activity, it does not use a camera. This can be greatly beneficial to operations with ancillary and light vehicles fleets.
“Firstly, it is not as limited as camera systems since camera's effectiveness can be impacted by operator positions and head movements seen on machines such as dozers and graders,” explains Ben. "Secondly, there is its portability – you wear the LifeBand and you are ready to go.”
Eli adds: “…Many mines also use SmartCap between the camp and the mine on operator’s own light vehicles and on bus transports. You can go in and out of the mine network and a public network and still send the data to the LifeHub…”
The fatigue data collected from the LifeBand and stored on LifeHub can then be used to correlate with Asset Health monitoring and FMS production data to bring actionable insights that can increase efficiency, reduce maintenance costs and improve employee wellbeing while ensuring a safe work environment.
To learn more about the Wenco SmartCap Fatigue Management Solution, please visit: Mining Fleet | Safety | Safer Operations or contact us at info@wencomine.com.