ENGINEERED SOLUTIONS

Creative problem solving is part of the cultural DNA of Russell Mineral Equipment. In the early 1980s, RME’s Executive Chairman, John Russell clearly recognised the tremendous leverage promised by mechanising the grinding mill relining process. Every element of the RME Mill Relining System required individual R&D projects. Each element has then been subjected to a process of constant improvement spanning over 30 years.

Constant improvement is part of who we are; this process never ends. While all RME Mill Relining Systems are customised to each individual mill, RME also creates one or two special machines per year, machine systems the likes of which have never existed before. For example, RME designed and built three pecan nut tree pruning machines and five zinc fertiliser leaf spraying machines for Stahmann Farms. These pruning and spraying machines materialised Dean Stahmann’s revolutionary pecan nut growing strategy, yielding 50% more nuts per acre/hectare than anywhere else in the world.

The courage and skill required to design and manufacture a complex, first-of-type machine, maintains a fit and agile RME team, capable of confidently developing significant advances with our Mill Relining System. Good, recent examples of significant Mill Relining System advances include the RUSSELL TWIN 8 8000 kg capacity Mill Relining Machines and the RUSSELL 6V VERTIMILL® Mill Relining Machines of 12000 kg capacity.

RME groups its R&D activities into four families:

1. Continuous process improvement in manufacturing the existing RME Mill Relining System. A recent example of this is the application of the submerged arc welding process to welding RME’s Mill Relining Machines’ inner and outer beams
2. Continuous product improvement of RME’s Mill Relining System. A recent example of this is the new liner rollover function on the 8000 kg capacity Mill Relining Machine
3. New product development for inclusion in the RME Mill Relining System. Recent examples include RME’s THUNDERBOLT 250 Recoilless Hammer, “the sledgehammer for the 21st century”, and the design and manufacture of the RUSSELL 6V 12000 kg capacity Vertical/Stirred Mill Relining Machine.
4. “Blue Sky” projects, often in collaboration with universities, research institutes and mining companies’ R&D divisions. An example of this type of project is the Rotary Breakage Tester for quantifying mineral ore properties, designed in conjunction with the Julius Kruitschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKRBT®), part of the University of Queensland.