In Stockholm, Sweden, Epiroc AB presented three annual internal awards recognising teams behind projects in sustainability, automation and predictive maintenance, including a customer collaboration with Boliden AB. The awards highlight the growing role of data, digital platforms and customer partnerships in mining and infrastructure operations.
“Congratulations to the award winners, who are true representatives of Epiroc’s core values innovation, commitment and collaboration. I’m proud of all the ground-breaking work produced by the organization that makes our customers’ operations more safe, productive and sustainable.”
Said Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO.
The United in Performance Award was presented to teams from Epiroc’s Tools division and the mining company Boliden AB for a sustainability-focused project. The teams worked together to develop the industry’s first life-cycle analysis for rock drilling tools, integrated into a new digital reporting platform.
This enabled Boliden to monitor, in real time, the CO₂ emissions associated with the use of its drilling tools. The project helped reduce the CO₂ footprint linked to drill bits by more than 90%, thanks to innovative drill bit solutions and a closed-loop recycling model. Another relevant aspect concerns safety: eliminating the need for underground grinding reduces a potentially critical operational phase in the mining environment.
The award was presented to Johan Jonsson, Joakim Kemi, Jonas Falkeström and Fredrik Gransell from Epiroc, together with the Boliden team.
The second award, the Inspired by Innovation Award, went to teams from the Surface division and the Technology & Innovation unit for the development of the Common Automation Panel, or CAP. The platform addresses an increasingly central area in drilling operations: remote machine control.
CAP replaces traditional cabin-style operator stations with a digital platform designed for mixed-fleet environments. For Epiroc, CAP represents a step toward more flexible automation in drilling applications.
The award winners are Mahmood Hassan, Patrik Malm, Alexander Kihlgren, Mayya Popova and Christopher Blignaut.
The third award, the Dare to Think New Award, was presented to teams from the Parts & Services and Digital Solutions divisions. In this case, the focus is the shift from a reactive service model to an approach based on predictive maintenance, parts availability and proactive planning.
The platform developed by the teams makes it possible to anticipate interventions, improve component availability and support more effective service planning. For mines, companies and fleet managers, this type of approach can help reduce unplanned machine downtime and make maintenance activities more predictable.
The award was presented to André Steenkamp, Christel Füllenbach, Jonathan Batchelor, Paul Lucas and Willem Botha.
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