Dispatch & crew scheduling · Mining & aggregates
Fill every shift and keep every truck loading.
A no-show on the night roster means a loaded haul road and an idle excavator. The dispatcher chases callouts on a whiteboard while the dig face waits.
The reality
An empty seat is an idle machine.
When a haul truck operator calls in sick, someone has to know who is task-trained and competent on that class of equipment, who is inside the site's shift-hour cap and fatigue-management rules, who has had their rest break, and who will take the callout — all before the shift change. Miss it and the load-out plan slips, the crusher starves, and the day's tonnage target is gone by 10am.
The operator owns the roster and the fleet end to end. It detects the gap the moment leave or an absence lands, ranks qualified, rested, MSHA-current cover, places the callout, and confirms the swap. It also assigns trucks to shovels and dump points as fleet status changes, so the site board, the dispatch system, and the timekeeping system all show the supervisor a full crew and a balanced haul cycle, not a hole.
How the operator runs dispatch & crew scheduling
Night roster · Pit 3 · Shift NS-0612
gap found- Haul fleet — 6 of 7 seats covered
- Operator absence logged — 19:00 start
- Cat 785 haul truck — seat open
01Detect the gap
Watches leave, absence, and the equipment plan, and flags any shift that drops below safe crew or starves a loading unit.
Cover pool · 785 task-current
calling- Filtered to 785-competent operators
- Excluded operators inside rest break
- Callout sent — top-ranked operator
02Source qualified cover
Ranks operators by task-training currency, rest break, and shift-hour caps, then places the callout to the best fit.
Shift NS-0612 · Confirmation
confirmed- Operator accepted callout
- Cat 785 assigned to Shovel 2 · East dump
- Site board, dispatch, timekeeping synced
03Confirm and dispatch
Locks the accepted swap, reassigns the truck to its shovel and dump, and updates the site board, dispatch, and timekeeping.
The outcome
50% of scheduling and dispatch work taken off the team
Zero idle shifts, full site coverage.
- Gaps are filled before shift change, not discovered at it
- Only task-current, rested, MSHA-compliant operators are placed in a seat
- Trucks are assigned to shovels and dumps as fleet status changes
- The site board, dispatch, and timekeeping always match who is actually on site
Common questions
Dispatch & crew scheduling
- What does the Dispatch & crew scheduling operator do?
- The operator owns the roster and the fleet end to end. It detects the gap the moment leave or an absence lands, ranks qualified, rested, MSHA-current cover, places the callout, and confirms the swap. It also assigns trucks to shovels and dump points as fleet status changes, so the site board, the dispatch system, and the timekeeping system all show the supervisor a full crew and a balanced haul cycle, not a hole.
- What impact does the Dispatch & crew scheduling operator have?
- 50% of scheduling and dispatch work taken off the team. Zero idle shifts, full site coverage.
- How does the Dispatch & crew scheduling operator work?
- Watches leave, absence, and the equipment plan, and flags any shift that drops below safe crew or starves a loading unit. Ranks operators by task-training currency, rest break, and shift-hour caps, then places the callout to the best fit. Locks the accepted swap, reassigns the truck to its shovel and dump, and updates the site board, dispatch, and timekeeping.
More operators in Mining & aggregates
See the full catalogue →