Mining Digital September 2021 | Page 28

GACW

GACW

- Reinventing the wheel in an evolving industry
ultra modern reliability and , mercifully , a vital venture into corporate sustainability . It is indisputable proof that change is happening and it concerns the one thing that should keep businesses moving ( but so often does the opposite ).
President & CEO of GACW , Zoltan Kemeny , is the visionary behind ASW , but also a mining luminary who has been determined to evolve an element of the industry which had stalled for decades .
“ I saw the tyres as the weak link in the critical interface ,” reflects Zoltan . “ When the existing rubber hits the road or the terrain , you run the risk of flat tyres , fire , and damage from repeated use . I thought , there ' s got to be a better way – these wheels must be designed with the same precision as the vehicle itself , with a metallic structure , reactive suspension , and mechanical parts . The identification of that weakness became an inspiration at first , and then an obsession .”
Highly qualified in the field of engineering , Zoltan has used all his experience and knowledge of mining to create a dynamic wheel which works in tandem with other machinery and , critically , the environment in which it operates .
Wheel of fortune Clearly the most important plot point on the ASW journey is the elimination of the inflated tyre – a burden which would not be able to survive in the modern mining ecosystem . For centuries , repeatedly pumping up and patching up beaten-up old tyres has been the unsustainable sticking plaster on the mining industry , frequently bringing operations to a grinding halt , wasting valuable time , and creating economic problems in the process .
By replacing the traditional design with a predominantly metallic structure – which has steel walls , easily replaceable rubber gripping tracks , and suspension under the chassis – the wheels represent a fully