Talk to many mining equipment makers and that is the tale they will tell. In many cases the technology they have developed can make some major productivity improvements for miners.

However, the tale is always the same. “You could not have picked a worse time to try and sell us something.”

Of course the retort is just as obvious.

“We could not have picked a better time,” the technology developers say. “You need this to boost your productivity.”

Unfortunately, it is down to the miners to open their cheque books, something they do not seem overly ready to do.

It is no surprise really. The guys making such purchasing decisions have just seen a whole lot of their colleagues sacked and do not want to be joining them. Make a risky purchase decision? Not likely, even if the upside could be huge.

Rio Tinto also signalled that its age of innovation was over when it did away with its head of innovation John McGagh. The mega-miner reckons it is time for those innovations to start working.

Yet at the same time many major miners are also calling for innovation and productivity savings. Anglo American boss Mark Cutifani has been making a lot of noise in this area and BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie wants mining equipment up time to get closer to that in the manufacturing sector.

So most of the guys at the top seem to want innovation but their purchasing departments are stuck in wanting to just do things the same way they always have.

They just do not seem to know what they are missing out on.

Take Giraffe, for example.

The company has developed a heavy equipment washing system.

This is not a couple of guys getting their Gerni on either*. It is a first of its kind cleaner on a Volvo cab chassis that has a 7000 litre water tank and a 600 litre detergent tank. The water can be heated to 90C.

The truck has a bucket on a knuckle boom that can get up to 16m high. Better yet the vehicle can actually be controlled from the bucket. The operator can move the truck at up to 5kph to get into a better position for cleaning. In essence the machine is an elevated work platform in the guise of a truck.

It is also Volvo’s first ever remote-controlled truck.

Unlike other trucks with elevated baskets attached, this machine does not require outriggers. Instead the suspension has been modified to give the required stability.

The unit has been approved by the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum, is licenced to travel from site to site with no WA Main Roads permits required and is Australian Design Rules compliant with its tanks filled.

That bucket is fitted with a water cannon that can dispense pure detergent, hot water or a hot water-detergent mix up to 20% concentration at 250 litres per minute. Alternatively the operator can use a hand-held pressure gun when it suits.

According to Giraffe managing director Darryl Smith, the company’s wash truck can do with two operators what most contractors require four to five men to do.

He estimates – conservatively – that the unit could give a mine a direct 45% cost reduction for its equipment cleaning.

It could also, potentially, do the same work in about a quarter of the time.

Cleaning a large piece of equipment such as an excavator can cost up to $30,000 and take 48 hours.

“The occupational safety and health people should get excited about this because the people doing the cleaning should never have to get their feet in the mud,” Smith said.

However, should they need to get down to ground level and get up close and personal with, say, an excavators track, the unit has two high pressure hand pieces at ground level too.

So why would anyone want to wash down a piece of mining equipment?

The simple answer is maintenance.

Before a large piece of equipment, such as an excavator, can be overhauled, it has to be cleaned.

It can also be a crucial part of preventative maintenance.

A crack a few centimetres long in the boom on one of those primary loading tools can, in just the space of hours, end up with the entire boom failing and the machine being out of action.

That is why the machine has to be cleaned. Such cracks can easily be hidden beneath the muck that clings to the machine.

Smith said each machine required different techniques to clean and therefore the machine had been designed to allow for those.

In some cases the machine has to be sprayed with detergent only and left for some time for that to soak before the detergent is hosed away. Having 250lpm on tap makes for some serious hosing.

The idea for the Giraffe wash unit came from watching the de-icing of plane wings. Travellers to Europe or parts of the US in winter will have seen this being done by men in baskets spraying a fluid onto planes’ wings.

That is why Giraffe went to Vestergaard Company, which specialises in plane de-icing equipment.

A lot of attention has been given to the internals of the machine. All of the connections and tanks are stainless steel. Each hose is labelled and fluid flow directions are marked to make maintenance easier. The components are all lifted up off the floor to make it easier to clean out.

The unit is driven by Schneider programmable logic circuits. The PLC boards are airconditioned to ensure they do not overheat.

So far Giraffe has spent north of $1 million developing its unit. The company has had some serious interest from miners but, sadly, none have pried open their cheque books.

* Getting your Gerni on is the slogan for a brand of high pressure cleaners. Supply Side is not sponsored by Gerni. It would, however, be open to any offers of sponsorship and is willing to discuss terms.