Quantifying the life cycle cost of a high pressure grinding roll in a mineral processing plant

Accelerated advancement of technology and the global economic crisis have prompted the need to improve equipment reliability to reduce unpredicted equipment failures and operating costs. Increasingly, attention is focused on the life cycle cost to improve understanding of the equipment's operational and maintenance costs which are driven by the system maintainability, reliability and required replacement time. This goes hand-in-hand with data availability and quality which play a vital role in the success of life cycle cost implementation. The research provides insight to the field of life cycle cost, as well as to quantify the major cost drivers of the high pressure grinding roll during its operating and maintenance life cycle for a period of four years. From the research findings, it is evident that reliability and maintainability management must be regarded as a vital element corporate strategy. Successful implementation of this strategy is reliant on the support of senior management which in turn will ensure that organizational market share is increased and that competitive advantage is maintained.