A South African simulator maker is setting up shop in Western Australia.

According to ThoroughTec managing director Rob Letschert, “Australia is the obvious market”.  “That and North America.”

Australia has been chosen because it is more familiar to the South African company, which has already sold two of its simulators there.  “We’ve sold one to Sandvik in Perth and one to the Mining Industry Shills Centre,” Letschert said.

Interestingly, the MISC also has some simulators from fellow South African simulator maker 5DT.  The company is setting up its Australian headquarters in Perth.  It also plans to establish a sales and support office in Brisbane later this year.

ThoroughTec came at the mining equipment simulation market from the flank.  The company, which has been building simulators for more than 20 years, was originally involved with the South African military. 

As a result, the company offers two simulation systems – one called CYBERMINE™ and the other CYBERWAR™.  It has more than 400 simulator units in mining, military, aviation and other commercial markets around the world.

The military simulation business grew out of South Africa’s isolation due to the apartheid-era sanctions.  Towards the end of the 1990s, mining companies started approaching ThoroughTec and the CYBERMINE™ division was born.

Initial interest was in haul truck, shovel and excavator simulators.  The range expanded to include dozers, surface drill rigs, loaders, draglines and articulated dump trucks.  It was not long before the underground equipment makers started taking notice.

“Now we’re the largest supplier of both surface and below-ground simulator products in the world”, Letschert said.

ThoroughTec executive  director Dr John Waltham said the Australian market move has also been sparked by the global success of a home-grown simulator system maker.

“We figured the market had already been educated thanks to Immersive (Technologies),” he said.

“But there’s a huge gap in the market that nobody has satisfied.”

Waltham refers to the underground sector.  There are no full motion simulators for the underground market in Australia.

“We’re confident we can do that (satisfy the underground market) plus off the surface equipment,” he said.

Waltham said the company mainly looked at Atlas Copco and Sandvik equipment in the underground realm.

“We have almost the full range of Sandvik gear,” he said.  “We even have extra low profile equipment simulated for the platinum mines.

“We take great pride in the fidelity levels of our modelling”

Indeed, even just seen on a laptop rather than the full sized motion-based equipped simulator systems, the fidelity looks very realistic.

Letschert said the company had loose ties with the original equipment manufacturers to get information to make its simulators as accurate as possible.

“To build a simulator the information needed is in the public domain,” he said.  “You can buy parts and equipment manuals.  Whenever we need information from them (the OEMs), it’s always forthcoming.”

ThoroughTec’s military heritage also has the company thinking beyond just operator  training in the mining space.

Letschert said the military requested a simulator for unit commander level, a much simpler system with more scenario-based training.  These put commanders in realistic situations to see how they operate under fire without a shot being fired.

Such an approach could be applied to the mining industry.  There is anecdotal evidence of a number of inexperienced people in senior roles as a result of the skills shortage and the massive expansion the industry has undergone.  Scenario-based training could help.  Just as boosting operator skills improves productivity, so too should boosting the skills of managers.

ThoroughTec made a change to the way it evaluates development projects.  Previously it would develop a simulator system if a client requested it and pass on the research and development costs to the client.  It meant it had a simulator system ready for a market that might not exist beyond the initial client.

These days ThoroughTec evaluates the demand for simulators before it starts developing them.  It means it bears the R&D cost but has a better chance of sales later on.