ABB Ltd. (ABB) recently unveiled a novel service product – Hoist Performance Fingerprint – designed to aid clients in evaluating and optimizing the performance of the mine hoists. The news, coming on Nov 20, did not provide much momentum to the company shares which remained flattish.

A mine hoist system is a crucial carrier in the mining process as it ensures smooth operation by carrying out the transportation of mining staff under the ground. As such, one of the primary requirements of a mine operator is efficiency and reliability of the hoist system.

ABB has designed this Hoist Performance Fingerprint keeping in mind the requirements of the industry. The product includes all electrical and mechanical parts in the structured and integrated hoist systems so as to enable a consistent and safe hoist operation. This consulting and audit service is based on the data collected from more than 20 pre-defined points. After the data collection, a structured custom analysis tool analyses and tests the data to provide comprehensive and detailed insights for the optimization of the process. Moreover, this whole analysis process can be completed in as little as a week making it reliable yet cost-effective for customers.

Initially, the product will be available only in Australia, Sweden and South Africa but from 2015 onwards it will be rolled out in other regions as well.

ABB holds a unique position in the underground mining business, having installed over 700 hoist systems across the world since 1937. The company boasts expertise in catering to the requirements of the engineering, delivery, installation and performance management services of diverse mechanical and electrical mine hoist systems.

The aforementioned product, as a comprehensive solution, is one-of-its-kind in the underground mining market. Moreover, increasing standards and regulations for mine safety in a number of countries are likely to bode well for ABB by pushing up the demand for the safe and reliable hoist products.

ABB currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks that can be considered at present include Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc. (PPSI), AO Smith Corp. (AOS) and Middleby Corp. (MIDD). While Pioneer Power Solutions sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both AO Smith and Middleby carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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