Sep 29, 2026 · 49 min · 8 segments
**Hosts:** Matt Warder & Joe Aldina | **Special Guest:** Eugene Marinelli | Brought to you by the Clear Commodity Network Entering the back half of the year, coal producers are navigating a…
Matt WarderHost
Joe AldinaHost
Uh, coming up on the last issue, a- as I mentioned before, at the end of the day, um, you know, the most important issues to operators are gonna be safety and cost, [chuckles] and cost means productivity.
So, um, you know, if, if you're gonna make a sales pitch to the industry, I mean, this is really where, where you make the mark, right? Um, so, you know, in your, in your experience, um, in Alabama, uh, you know, how would you, uh, I guess, how would you characterize that to, to other folks who are operating in the industry, um, you know, that, that might be interested in your product?
product?I, I guess the way I'd explain it is, um, you know, our goal is, is, you know, to, uh, increase productivity in the sense of tons per manhour.
So, you know, we're, we're working with the mine and saying, you know, "Here's what you have.
Here's the team you have, and here's the equipment you have, and let's, uh, let's have less downtime and, um, and, and higher, uh, recovery and so on, and, and, and make sure that you're fully leveraging your, your data to get, uh, you know, to be as productive as possible." Um-
so it's like, you know, to the belt example, like, we-- when you lose, when you lose production, it's like the belts are not running, um, some equipment breaks, uh, the long wall is, is down or, uh, for some reason, like, one of your shifts has a turnaround time that's, like, much longer than the other shifts.
It's, like, not, it's, like, not running at all or it's, like, you know, hasn't been-- the, the inputs haven't been tweaked in, in hours.
Um, so, you know, there's all these, there's all these little things that you can monitor, uh, that, that sort of add up to, uh, significant gains, I think.
Um, I think we're still early in terms of, like, establishing those concrete proof points.
Um, you know, one thing that we, y- we're trying to be diligent about is, like, defining the outcome that we're de- delivering and not just, we're not just doing technology for the sake of technology, but we're saying, like, "Here is a metric we want to move.
Like, we want your belt time, your belt uptime to go from, like, one, maybe it's not even measured to, like, let's set a baseline of, like, what is your belt uptime right now?" And then, uh, let's come up with a strategy to get that number into, uh, uh, to, to be higher.
I think it just from, from first principles, um, you know, you're, you're going from a world where you don't know about problems to one where you do, and you, you're, you're not tracking things to one where you are.
And, um, you know, I've always believed that, uh, you know, that which is measured improves.
Like, simply by even measuring something, you know, it will kind of almost improve on its own because you'll subtly take action to, uh, to make it, make it better, so.
Yeah, you suddenly, suddenly realize, wow, we're spending a- that much time on that or it's, this is costing us that much.
This, this all makes me think of, uh, 2012, uh, when I met Matt, we were going manhour by manhour through these mines and, uh, each manhour starts to add up, whether it's time traveling to the face or it's stoppage time.
And, you know, Matt and I haven't worked for coal miners, but, uh, the costs are, are so important, uh, in the, in the industry.
And you really, um, you, you're just kinda counting up and trying to eliminate manhours that, uh, that are very expensive.
Uh, coming up on the last issue, a- as I mentioned before, at the end of the day, um, you know, the most important issues to operators are gonna be safety and cost, [chuckles] and cost means productivity.
So, um, you know, if, if you're gonna make a sales pitch to the industry, I mean, this is really where, where you make the mark, right? Um, so, you know, in your, in your experience, um, in Alabama, uh, you know, how would you, uh, I guess, how would you characterize that to, to other folks who are operating in the industry, um, you know, that, that might be interested in your product?
product?I, I guess the way I'd explain it is, um, you know, our goal is, is, you know, to, uh, increase productivity in the sense of tons per manhour.
So, you know, we're, we're working with the mine and saying, you know, "Here's what you have.
Here's the team you have, and here's the equipment you have, and let's, uh, let's have less downtime and, um, and, and higher, uh, recovery and so on, and, and, and make sure that you're fully leveraging your, your data to get, uh, you know, to be as productive as possible." Um-
so it's like, you know, to the belt example, like, we-- when you lose, when you lose production, it's like the belts are not running, um, some equipment breaks, uh, the long wall is, is down or, uh, for some reason, like, one of your shifts has a turnaround time that's, like, much longer than the other shifts.
It's, like, not, it's, like, not running at all or it's, like, you know, hasn't been-- the, the inputs haven't been tweaked in, in hours.
Um, so, you know, there's all these, there's all these little things that you can monitor, uh, that, that sort of add up to, uh, significant gains, I think.
Um, I think we're still early in terms of, like, establishing those concrete proof points.
Um, you know, one thing that we, y- we're trying to be diligent about is, like, defining the outcome that we're de- delivering and not just, we're not just doing technology for the sake of technology, but we're saying, like, "Here is a metric we want to move.
Like, we want your belt time, your belt uptime to go from, like, one, maybe it's not even measured to, like, let's set a baseline of, like, what is your belt uptime right now?" And then, uh, let's come up with a strategy to get that number into, uh, uh, to, to be higher.
I think it just from, from first principles, um, you know, you're, you're going from a world where you don't know about problems to one where you do, and you, you're, you're not tracking things to one where you are.
And, um, you know, I've always believed that, uh, you know, that which is measured improves.
Like, simply by even measuring something, you know, it will kind of almost improve on its own because you'll subtly take action to, uh, to make it, make it better, so.
Yeah, you suddenly, suddenly realize, wow, we're spending a- that much time on that or it's, this is costing us that much.
This, this all makes me think of, uh, 2012, uh, when I met Matt, we were going manhour by manhour through these mines and, uh, each manhour starts to add up, whether it's time traveling to the face or it's stoppage time.
And, you know, Matt and I haven't worked for coal miners, but, uh, the costs are, are so important, uh, in the, in the industry.
And you really, um, you, you're just kinda counting up and trying to eliminate manhours that, uh, that are very expensive.
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