Every mine and crusher buys diesel by the tanker and uses it by the litre. Here is how to know which machine used what, and catch the gap the same day.
Diesel is one of the largest running costs in a mine or crusher, and one of the least controlled. It is bought by the tanker, stored in a tank, and issued by the bowser to excavators, dumpers, loaders and generators across a site that never really stops.
Ask how much diesel the third excavator used last week, against the hours it worked, and most sites cannot answer. Where that answer is missing, diesel goes missing too.
Why it slips
Issues are written in a book at the bowser, often at night, often in a hurry. Machine hours are written somewhere else, if at all. The two are never put side by side, so a machine that used more diesel than its hours justify looks exactly like one that did not.
The same gap appears between the weighbridge, the transit pass and the invoice. Each load should carry all three. When they are on separate papers, a load can leave without being billed, or be billed without its royalty being right.
What good looks like
On a well-controlled site, every litre issued is written against a machine, every machine logs its running hours each shift, and someone compares the two every day. Every load at the gate has its slip, its pass and its invoice together.
How to start without software
Give every machine a number painted large enough to read. At the bowser, write the machine number with every issue. At the end of each shift, write each machine's hours. Divide one by the other once a week. The machines that stand out will be obvious.
Where AI helps
- Supervisors speak issues and machine hours in Hindi, and they are entered against the machine.
- An agent compares diesel used with hours worked and flags the machines that are out of line, the same day.
- Weighbridge slips and transit passes are read from a photo and tied to each load, its royalty and its invoice.
- Permit balances are kept, with a warning before a permit runs low or expires.
- Monthly returns are drawn from the day's own records, instead of being rebuilt at the end of the month.
Your managers still act on what they see. The AI makes sure they see it while the diesel is still in the tank.
Where to start
Start with diesel per machine on your busiest site. We have set out how this works for mines and crushers, from pit to invoice.