Overview
Wenco International Mining Systems is a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery, headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1986 as Westar Engineering Company by a team of mining engineers including Phil Walshe, Wenco has over 35 years of experience in surface mining fleet management [1].
Products
Wencomine FMS
The core fleet management platform providing:
- Real-time dispatch optimisation
- Activity Dispatch — activity-based truck assignment
- Fuel Dispatch — fuel truck scheduling and tracking
- GPS vehicle tracking and management
- Material tracking and grade control
- Production monitoring and reporting with real-time dashboards
- OEM data access across multiple manufacturers
- Stockpile Manager — high-resolution stockpile management, blending and processing efficiency (announced MINExpo 2024) [2]
- Drill Manager — bootleg visualisation and guidance for drill compliance
Wencomine uses an open-architecture approach, supporting equipment from multiple OEMs in mixed fleets.
Wencolite
A lightweight FMS designed for small mines, contractor operations, and quarries [3]. Wencolite delivers core fleet control functions — equipment assignment, payload control, haul cycle optimisation, production monitoring, and reporting — without requiring extensive radio networks or dedicated dispatching support.
Machine Guidance
GNSS-powered positioning for shovels, dozers, loaders, graders, scrapers, and light vehicles [4]. BenchManager uses GNSS positioning to determine shovel orientation and dig limits, providing operators with real-time face positions and cut/fill information. Integrates with Wencomine FMS for combined fleet management and precision guidance.
SmartCap
EEG-based wearable fatigue monitoring technology. Wenco acquired all assets and intellectual property of SmartCap Technologies Pty Ltd in May 2021 [5]. SmartCap measures brain activity (EEG) to determine alertness and fatigue levels in real time, with visual and audible alerts before fatigue incidents occur. The device integrates into any headwear — cap, hard hat, beanie, or headband. SmartCap is integrated with Wencomine FMS, allowing fatigue monitoring without requiring an additional in-cab screen.
Asset Health (Readyline)
Condition-based maintenance platform monitoring mining assets including excavators, trucks, and drills [6]. Readyline analyses IoT data from hundreds of onboard sensors to identify out-of-condition scenarios and predict when maintenance is required, preventing minor issues from becoming catastrophic failures.
Open Autonomy
Wenco’s Open Autonomy API bridges the gap between fleet management systems and autonomous haulage solutions. The API is a universally recognised standard interface enabling any FMS (Wenco, Modular, Jigsaw) to work with any autonomous control system (ASI, SafeAI, Oxbotica) on any OEM truck [7]. Wenco contributed to the development of ISO 23725:2024, the international standard for autonomous system and FMS interoperability.
Global Presence
Wenco has offices in seven countries: USA, Australia, Chile, South Africa, India, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.
Sources
- Wenco International Mining Systems — Wikipedia
- Wenco News — Stockpile Manager at MINExpo 2024
- Wencolite Fleet Management System
- GNSS Antenna Alignment for Machine Guidance — Wenco Blog
- Wenco Acquires SmartCap — PR Newswire, May 2021
- Wenco Asset Health Monitoring
- Wenco on Open Autonomy — International Mining, April 2024