Fluor Corp. signed an exclusivity agreement with Advanced Conveyor Technologies Inc. (AC-Tek). Under the agreement, Fluor and AC-Tek agree to work as exclusive partners for conveyor projects in key global mining geographies. The agreement includes Fluor subsidiary Virta Inc., a new bulk material handling systems company.
“Both AC-Tek and Fluor are well-established leaders in material handling expertise,” said Leonardo Kaid, vice president, global business development and strategy for Fluor’s Mining & Metals business. “This exclusivity agreement improves Fluor’s value proposition for mining and metals projects as well as opportunities in other key markets like chemical plants and ports and terminals.”
Fluor and AC-Tek have successfully completed a significant number of overland conveyor projects since 2007 and the new agreement will leverage the two company’s complementary capabilities on future opportunities, according to the companies. The extended portfolio for a complete conveying solution further builds Fluor’s expertise in discrete element modeling, pipe conveyor design, pulley finite element analysis, laboratory testing, and field measurement and verification.
Fluor, together with AC-Tek, now has the capability to include dynamic analysis in all of its overland conveyor projects to optimize equipment selection — belting, drive systems, idler bearing and spacing, takeups, braking, motor controls — for safe and reliable conveyor operation. Dynamic analysis, static analysis, horizontal curve design and the implementation into the system design are critical technical capabilities in a growing global market for effective and capital efficient material handling systems.
Overland belt conveyors offer a safe, efficient and cost-effective means of high capacity bulk material handling. As conveyor length, geometric complexity and capacity increase, comprehensive dynamic analysis becomes a necessity and is a key element of Fluor’s engineering offering in bulk material handling systems.
