| The Ministry of Labour in Ontario, Canada was established in 1919 to develop and enforce labour legislation. The Materials Testing Laboratory (MTL) is operated by the staff of the Occupational Health and Safety Branch of the Ministry under the Supervision of Marcel D’Jivre and provides materials testing services, at a fee, to industries across Canada and other countries.
The primary function of the testing laboratory is to destructively test samples of mine shaft ropes from the Mining Operators of Ontario, who are required by law to have them tested.
In 1992, a 6000kN Dartec Universal Testing Machine was purchased and installed in the Willett Green Miller Centre, near the Laurentian University, in Sudbury and was used to test the mine shaft ropes and other materials. The machine used a Dartec M9500 Controller and operated via a PC running DOS software.
In 1998 Dartec joined the Zwick Roell Group and in 2005 it became necessary to modernize the system to remain compatible with the new Windows® operating systems.
Throughout this period of time, Zwick took responsibility for maintenance and technical support of the system. Marcel was so pleased with the expertise and support provided by the service personnel that he decided to buy Zwick’s latest testControl digital controller and testXpert® software. He is keen to mention that “testXpert®, in particular, was found to be far superior to other suppliers and Zwick was able to modernize our out of date machine controller with great success”.
Since the system has been given a new lease of life, it performs like a new product and can be easily configured to handle new test specifications. Because of its advanced digital technology, Marcel is confident that his testing system will help to keep mining ropes safe for many more years to come, and has recently ordered a brand new 100kN testing machine for individual wire aggregate breaking load testing from Zwick. |
