How the digital dream became an industry standard

2008 Jul 23

When the first generation of computerized drill rigs was launched in 1998, it was nothing short of a revolution in equipment control. Now, almost 10 years on, the success story continues with endless future possibilities.

More than a decade has passed since our technical development team came up with the idea of replacing electronic control systems with a computerized alternative that would forever change the way mining and construction equipment could be operated.

For many people at that time, being able to programme drill rigs, loaders and trucks with key parameters so that they could operate automatically seemed like a pipedream. Today, most new Atlas Copco products are equipped with the same basic rig control systems (RCS) and, just as we predicted, our customers are getting substantial benefits from them in terms of faster and better results.

Epiroc operated under the trademark “Atlas Copco” prior to January 1, 2018.