Orica - FRAGTrack

On paper, dedicating a portion of your business to R&D related activities is an effective approach to innovation.

But in practice, it takes more than smart business structuring to turn a novel idea into a viable product. 

The work of Orica’s Research and Development (R&D) team at Kurri Kurri indicate how small, collaborative specialists with moonshot ideas can coordinate to make real R&D happen. 

Despite the broad-spanning expertise of Orica’s R&D team, their lead engineer, Brad Collins, knew that to make the ambitious product idea work, they were going to need some agile assistance. This was crucial; the larger departments inside of Orica need convincing if they are going to consider including a new and ambitious project into the company’s globally-reaching project pipeline.  

Fortunately, after months of planning in order to make the project work the way Brad needed, by early 2018 the Orica team recruited local talent to assist in the design and development of the FRAGTrack product. By bringing in both Josh Jeffress’ industrial design team at Design Anthology and our embedded hardware development team at NewieVentures, from the outset, the project was on a rapid trajectory. 

What is FRAGTrack?

FRAGTrack is a fragmentation measurement tool designed to provide rapid insights into the outcomes of blasting processes in mining. The product is comprised of two physical components - the F50 and F60 - that work in tandem to provide valuable data on rock fragmentation that is used to fine tune the blasting process to minimise cost and maximise effectiveness.

The F60 is a robust, optical camera that uses machine vision and embedded sensors to measure and determine particle size distribution samples. The F50 processing unit utilises edge computing to identify and process this data instantly, with localised data capture capabilities for asset security.

The F50 processing unit leverages 3G wireless connectivity to transmit the fragmentation data collected from the F60 camera straight into the customer’s software, enabling operators to monitor and assess this data instantly.

Bespoke design for long-life application and industry excellence

Despite the high technical capabilities of the FRAGTrack technology, the hardware has been constructed of the highest industrial standard. The hardware that we developed for the F60 and F50 devices have been designed specifically to withstand temperatures as low as -40 degree and as high as 85 degrees. This temperature resistance is essential for the technology to operate amid the diverse climates of the global mining industry. 

We personally assisted Brad and the Orica team in the successful field trials that saw FRAGTrack withstand the arid mining environments of sunny Australia and Latin-America to the below freezing temperatures of Canada and Finland. 

Good product ideas are made great with rapid development

In under six months, our assistance in design, prototyping, trialling, assessing, and augmentation saw FRAGTrack shift from an ambitious product idea into a robust field-ready product. 

Fast forward to this year, following more field trials, hardware and assembly tweaks, and its first commercial sales, the Hunter Manufacturing Awards recognised Orica’s FRAGTrack for Excellence in Innovation and Excellence in Product Design. 

This is an extremely well earned pat on the back, firstly for the Orica R&D team and our contracted engineering specialists, but also for Design Anthology who, like us, were engaged in the collaborative project from the beginning, contributing their industrial design expertise for the product enclosure and promotional product materials. 

The FRAGTrack project is an exceptional example of how innovation isn’t only necessary in the product’s conception, it’s needed in the way a project is executed. 

Through Brad Collin’s decision to leverage nimble specialist teams externally, smart, rapid product development ensured that the Orica team could produce a quality product, ready for market.

Design Anthology’s stunning promotional video detailing the specifications of Orica’s FRAGTrack product.