Digitalization is the key to unlocking $425 billion in hidden value in the MMM sectors by 2025. According to a recent report from the WEF (World Economic Forum) Integrated Operations Management, or IOM, is the essential approach.
IOM uses open architecture to gain precise insights into hidden operational expenses throughout an MMM operation’s entire value chain, from design, to production, to predictive maintenance. According to the December 11, 2020 report at Mining Weekly, the move to IOM is critical for MMM organizations mining for hidden value with:
- Improved operational effectiveness
- increased productivity
- faster decision-making
- enhanced safety
- real-time dynamic reporting
- continuous process improvement
IOM is all about data centralization, and breaking down the old legacy of “data silos”, those old school barriers to overall operational insight. Those silos are created by separate diverse departments, each with their own piles of paper and isolated spreadsheet records that conceal important operational information. Far from streamlined, these outdated practices can exacerbate mistakes, and isolation caused by unshared data is a roadblock to accurate reporting and timely corrective action that can only be achieved with fast decision making.
Even the most precisely collected and carefully compiled data is useless if it can’t be shared dynamically across the entire operation in real time because it’s hidden under a pile of red tape generated by inefficient internal communication. In worst case scenarios, various MMM departments may have severely conflicting perspectives on the actual state of operations in the organization because each department is judging from the limited perspective of their individual data silo.
IOM is the Holistic Approach
IOM seeks to use the “holistic” or comprehensive approach to provide dynamic sharing across the entire organization to identify and correct inefficiencies and improve performance with advanced analytics. With company wide centralization, a much more comprehensive database is compiled for better visibility across the entire supply and value chain by exposing costly bottlenecks and wasteful practices where they occur. For that to happen IOM creates a collaborative environment that results in one single version of the operational truth for all MMM stakeholders including:
- mine executives and owners
- process metallurgists
- production planning and shift supervisors
- procurement teams
- mine operators
- engineering
- maintenance personnel
Asset Performance Management (APM) as an Essential Part of IOM Strategy
APM uses data capture, digital integration, visualization, and data analytics to improve continuous production operations and maintenance timing. APM can identify which maintenance and inspection activities to perform in real time on mission-critical assets. APM software can improve an MMM organization’s ability to comply with regulations that mandate exactly how operational assets are inspected and maintained.
Reactive maintenance, and to some extent even preventative maintenance activities based only on static time tables and estimates from past performance can generate up to 40% of operational costs for organizations in the MMM industries. Maintenance manpower and replacement parts costs can be a major source of hidden value to be unlocked in MMM operations that make the move to centralized Integrated Operations Management.
“Asset maintenance costs will far exceed capital costs over the life of the asset. In some mining operations, more than 30% of the total site workforce is exclusively dedicated to maintenance.” – Craig Hudson, Schneider Electric MMM business development manager
With centralized asset performance monitoring, maintenance decisions can move from reactive to predictive. Mission critical assets are prioritized to optimize maintenance schedules and real time monitoring reduces any guesswork about wear and performance.
APM software can generate spare parts and maintenance strategies to eliminate unnecessary replacements and premature preventive maintenance labor by prioritizing action based on real time conditions and production goals. With precision energy consumption and performance monitoring, mining, hauling, and processing equipment can be used reliably throughout their maximum life cycles, all while reducing the risk of failure for the most critical assets.
And as always, sustainability concerns and energy consumption need to be addressed and documented as political environmental pressure on the MMM industries increases globally.
According to Schneider Electric’s Craig Hudson:
“In order to help support global sustainability goals and to validate their social license to operate, MMM companies must find easier ways to document and report their efforts to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. “Integrated operations management systems can help in this regard, by capturing and analysing energy data across the various stages of the value chain. This in turn ensures that sustainability reporting becomes significantly more precise.”
IOM in Action: Increasing Production and Haul Efficiency in Mining
While the IOM recommendations and $425 billion increased value industry forecasts of the WEF above are impressive, at Resource Erectors we like to see for ourselves how digitalization trends and IOM innovations in our industries are performing in the field on the individual company level. For that we took a look at how Outliers Mining Solutions (OMS) is unlocking value by improving mine performance and efficiency with IOM at 2 mines.
The OMS team begins with a comprehensive 300-point assessment of mining operations. Outlier’s Performance Management tools and Short Interval Control were integrated with an existing Wenco Fleet Management system in 2 Ferrexpo mines at Poltava and Yerestovo. OMS also implemented Value Added Dispatch training for efficient automated dispatching. The results?
- Increased production– Reduced wait times at shovels, equated to over 7.6 million tons per year improvement. Total increase in truck productivity was over 22% from 2016 to 2018.
- Reduced Hauling Costs- Mine managers were able to Increase material movement with a lower number of deployed trucks. Since 2016, 27 trucks have been decommissioned as a result of the sustained improvements.
- Kilotons per truck production has increased each year and haul fleet productivity will continue to improve in the years ahead with these advanced IOM tools still in place.
About Resource Erectors
At Resource Erectors we maintain relationships with the top qualified professionals in mining, minerals, metals, construction materials, engineering, civil construction, concrete, aggregates and more. We recruit and place the best candidates with the industry-leading companies in those sectors in the US, Canada, and Australia.
If your organization has critical vacancies that are disrupting operations, Resource Erectors can locate and place the best qualified professionals to fill those essential positions in your operations while avoiding the high costs and disruptions of a bad hire. We bring 20 years of specialized recruiting experience to the table for matching the best qualified professionals in the demanding heavy industries we serve. 85% of Resource Erector candidates placed are still contributing to the success of their companies 5 years later so please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
