Robit has gathered its distributors from all around the world together for the Mega Dealer Meeting on 5-6 October 2017.

The event venues in Chesterfield and Derbyshire in UK are filled with Robit community members to establish a strong dialogue of the next growth steps. The special topics of this year are further strong growth and how to achieve it together as a Robit Family, introduction of Robit’s new offering having now the widest one in consumables in the industry as well as strengthening capabilities to meet the customer needs.

“We are extremely pleased to have the whole global Robit community joining this Mega-Event to strengthen our mutual co-operation. This is an amazing opportunity to develop and make our next remarkable steps and help each other to grow further”, states Mika Virtanen, Group CEO of Robit Plc.

ROBIT PLC

Mika Virtanen, Group CEO

Robit Plc’s CEO, Mika Virtanen and the Governor of Gyeonggi-Do, Nam Kyung-Pil signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 15^th September concerning Robit Plc’s major productional investment in the Foreign Investment area in Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea.

Robit Plc disclosed in its company release published on 23rd March 2017 of a major productional investment, through which the company will significantly increase its Top Hammer product line’s rod and shank manufacturing capacity in South Korea. The management of Robit Plc believes that the investment in the new production facility will significantly increase the automation level of the production of rod and shank products. The throughput time will also be significantly shortened, which improves the delivery capability and service level to customers.

The new production facility is being built close to Seoul to further improve logistical connections. The company estimates that the total investment related to the production facility is approximately EUR 10 million. Production in the new facility is preliminarily estimated to start in the beginning of 2018.

ROBIT PLC

Mika Virtanen, Group CEO

The 30-year history of Robit has only seen one thing constant – the ever-increasing need for the connection between hammer and rock to endure more severe forces. In recent years, top hammer performance development has not only been linear but exponential, as maximum impact powers in e.g. tunneling and drifting applications rise above 40 kW and impact frequencies steadily reach beyond 100 Hz. The Robit Button Bits, now used across the globe in a vast variety of rock formations, have witnessed masses of improvements during the journey. We’ve listened to our most experienced customers working in the toughest conditions, tested again and again, failed and succeeded, tweaked and reinvented, all the time working on what matters most – getting drilling right, every time.

The Evolution bit series is the result of a systematic approach towards crafting the world’s best button bits. Our level of sophistication is growing, trial and error has ages ago been surpassed by simulation and analytics based development. We know how our materials behave, how rock fractures, how to harness the immense forces traveling within the drill string. The best part of this is the quantifiability, the simple microstructure that makes itself visible after asking so many questions. We have the answers to where the Evolution performance comes from and what it means to your drilling process.

The Evolution series scope of improvements share multiple aspects across the size range, drawing from the simulation and analytics based approach exemplified by advanced fluid dynamic simulation being used among other tools.

In the small end, development focused especially on the specific needs of high power and high frequency drilling in tunneling and drifting applications. Multiple model approaches were taken, with the boldest design boasting just 6 extra-large buttons in a 48-mm bit. All variants were extensively tested with our customers and set against conventional hard rock bits. In the end the best results were gleaned from modifications and optimization to face design, but particularly from increasing both gauge and face button numbers as well as increasing the number of flushing holes. The test results of the Evolution bit in hard Scandinavian granite were very impressive, with grinding intervals up to 60 % longer and lifetime 20 % higher compared to conventional hard rock button bits.

In the medium to large sizes significant performance strides were taken by diving deep into flushing properties. Here in particular, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations proved their strong added value as they drove the pre-test phase for fast finding of optimal solutions and truly significant impacts. The 76-mm Retrac button bit, presented in pictures 2 and 3, superbly exemplifies the new design aspects. The Retrac body itself has the signature Robit curving grooves and the sleek geometry flows through to the new face design. The simulations clearly show that the new model isn’t just easy on the eye. The flow pattern is more even, which reduces bit erosion. The pressure distribution is more uniform, and the smoother side channels along larger main grooves increase airflow ensuring efficient flushing. Dead-space across the face is significantly cut by introducing an extra flushing hole in the middle, clearing the center area better of cuttings.

All in all, field tests confirmed what the technical simulation background work had already proven. Our partner drillers were happy with the excellent performance and noted better flushing and longer grinding intervals. Across sizes, the Evolution designs have systematically excelled. The 102-mm bits were tested in extremely hard and abrasive rock formations in Pennsylvania, USA, where we had been facing a common challenge with a customer to find the perfect bit for those conditions. The new formula allowed us to out-perform competition and more than double our achieved meters compared to our previous model.

Considering all the above, it is safe to say the reality of drilling has not changed.  We are going deeper with more speed and force, driving the development of the entire drilling consumables industry. As an established global company, we continuously need to reinvent ourselves. Across the globe our cases are more versatile, our knowledge base wider, our questions and tools for finding answers smarter. We want to show we are better than anyone else and explain why. In the end, we fight hard every day to be the strongest and smartest when it comes to the space between drill and rock. That is the spirit of Robit Evolution.

The Sense Systems product family is the result of an extensive R&D program lending much of its insights from the thorough understanding of rock and ground drilling Robit has gained during its 30 years of history and growth. The Robit brand itself has become a synonym for high-quality drilling consumables all around the world, and the digitalization of drill steel was a natural next step.

In broad terms, Sense Systems seek to add ever deeper levels of understanding and optimization to the drilling process through digitalization. A significant leap on this path was taken when Robit became the first company in the world to develop a patented system that can measure hole deviation during the percussive drilling process. The ‘S Sense’ for Top Hammer surface drilling was launched at the beginning of 2017 after an extensive testing phase. Along with the S, a manual ‘M Sense’ is on offer, using much of the same R&D knowledge and technology that has gone into creating the ground-breaking S.

Even as industry norms vary vastly on a global scale, the advantages of hole deviation measurement are widely recognized. Some countries are further than others in institutionalizing this, as in e.g. Sweden hole deviation measurement is compulsory for a minimum of the first row in a blast pattern. Beyond the obvious safety gains in ensuring predictable blasting by reducing the risk of flying rocks, the process related efficiency and cost benefits are significant. Optimizing blasting is more efficient and the overall costs lower than fixing the problems down the chain in secondary breaking and crushing. Drilling then is a main determinant of a good blast, and hole deviation an integral part of blast design. Costs can essentially be cut in fuel consumption, explosives, transportation, but also in streamlining the overall process as measuring can be integrated into the drilling process with the S Sense system.

The strength of Sense Systems is not only derived from the above mentioned obvious sources. Both the M and the S are operated on a rugged tablet computer running an easy-to-use graphical interface software. The deviation information is immediately available on the tablet, but when a sim-card is inserted or the device is hooked to Wi-Fi the data is also readily available in a cloud service. For the S Sense this means that e.g. a central office can follow the development of the drill pattern as it is drilled and start planning the blast accordingly. The cloud service is also a central location for all the drilling data, patterns and worksites and can be accessed by multiple people anywhere in the world.

As customer companies are starting to use Sense, the system and process linkages must be carefully planned. From cooperation point of view it is more demanding than buying Robit consumables, but the potential gains are also large. The Sense Team will work with the client in ensuring that the Sense Systems data can be efficiently used in the client process. This is also where gains can be realized in optimizing the drilling process as Robit has serious expertise in it.

The Sense Systems product family will eventually not be limited to just hole deviation. The X Sense GNSS-driven hole location system is launched in a range of countries before the end of 2017. Also, the DTH and underground hole deviation measurement systems are being researched. Eventually the aim is to cover all aspects of the drilling process to ensure maximum efficiency for partner customers. In addition to offering the widest range of best performing drilling consumables in the world, Robit can truly help you understand your drilling process, drive down costs and make the whole industry safer!

Welcome to the world of Sense!