Flexco system prevents costly conveyor failure at Cemex
Flexco has deployed its Elevate belt rip detection system at Cemex UK’s Dove Holes Quarry, with the technology credited for preventing a major conveyor failure and significant downtime costs.
The limestone operation produces around five million tonnes of aggregate annually for distribution across the UK by rail and road, making conveyor reliability critical to maintaining throughput.
In April 2025, the Flexco Elevate system detected a steel plate that had fallen from the primary crusher onto the conveyor belt. The system automatically shut down the belt within 12 metres, preventing what would have been a catastrophic failure.
Without the intervention, Cemex said the belt would likely have been destroyed, resulting in weeks of unplanned downtime.
The financial implications of such an event are substantial. Downtime at the site can cost up to £20,000 per hour (approximately $A39,000), while typical belt rip repairs can take up to 48 hours. In total, a single failure can exceed £700,000 (around $A1.36 million) in losses.
Cemex turned to predictive monitoring after experiencing multiple belt failures in quick succession, ultimately selecting Flexco Elevate for its continuous monitoring and automatic shutdown capabilities.
“When the rip detector detected the issue, the belt stopped, which gave the opportunity for the maintenance team to go and inspect the belt,” Cemex Dove Holes assistant quarry manager Jamie Shaw said.
“If we didn’t have Elevate installed on our conveyor, the conveyor would have ripped completely in half … [The system] paid for itself.”
Assistant quarry manager Michael Craven said the incident reinforced confidence in the system after several months without a major event.
“We’d had Elevate installed for a few months. I don’t think the site had total confidence in it because we’d not had an event, but then in April 2025, we did have a critical event,” Craven said.
“Elevate managed to stop the conveyor within 12 metres. If Elevate wasn’t in place that day, then we would have certainly lost all of the conveyor.”
Following the incident, Cemex has expanded the Elevate system to additional conveyors across the site, highlighting the growing role of predictive technologies in improving reliability and reducing maintenance risk.
Flexco said it will continue to build out its Elevate solutions portfolio, supporting miners with intelligent monitoring systems designed to prevent costly failures and maintain operational efficiency.