MOBILE APPS
In January 2017, Hexagon Mining acquired MiPlan, an Australian tech firm,
specialising in mobile apps for the mining industry. Hexagon’s Neville Judd
recently caught up with Rob Daw, Managing Director of MiPlan on the
technology and developments since the deal
NJ: How big a role are apps playing in the mining industry at present?
RD: The mindset of mine sites is starting to change and more and more
businesses are embracing the concept of utilising mobile devices to manage
staff and collect data. However, apps are typically created for a specific
function, meaning mine sites trying to adopt apps will end up with lots of
disparate data sets. Hexagon’s Mobile Solutions cover the full mine life cycle
including manual activities meaning an operation can maintain and manage all
the data collected from the various apps in a single platform. For apps to
succeed at minesites this must be the way forward.
Working with a company that can provide a mobile platform from which new
apps or the scope of apps can be increased quickly and easily and data
generated is instantly available to the entire business is the way forward to
ensure apps are successfully introduced to mine sites for the long term.
NJ: What were the drivers behind Hexagon acquiring MiPlan specifically?
RD: The acquisition of MiPlan aligns perfectly with Hexagon Mining’s strategy
of providing solutions that are easy to use, easy to implement, and easy to
support. Applied to Hexagon Mining’s suite of technologies for planning,
operations, and safety, MiPlan solutions will empower customers to act – not react
– on real-time data at any stage of the mining value chain, no matter their location.
Hexagon Mining recognises that safer, more productive mines depend on
making sense of their data. MiPlan’s range of apps represents a scalable, real-
time mobile production management solution. MiPlan’s unique and comprehensive
MiiNT platform was particularly attractive to Hexagon Mining and will be significant
for Hexagon Mining customers. MiiNT supports the data management, analysis,
and reporting needs of any sized operation. The solution streamlines data flows
between traditionally disparate systems and departments, simplifies on-demand
data interrogation, trend analysis, and reporting over live operational data.
Blast engineers will welcome the addition of MiPlan’s MiD&B application, which
will provide immediate enhancements to Hexagon Mining’s blast design solution –
closing the loop on design, field data capture, reconciliation, and reporting.
development team, will be part of a
comprehensive suite of applications that provide
a platform for mine operators to see "Equipment
Health at a Glance", recommend a course of
action, and then track the progress through issue
resolution, all from their mobile devices.
One of the first and core pieces of
functionality to launch is the Trakka Insights™
application. Trakka Insights gives site users an
overall site view of equipment health, along with
the ability to drill down into the condition of
individual assets and components. The user can
‘Monitor’, ‘Investigate’, ‘Review’, ‘Select’, and
"Escalate" the planned maintenance activities
for any equipment under their responsibility.
Created with the future in mind, Dingo
told IM it will be “collaborating with its
customers to develop a series of new functions
to continuously meet their evolving needs, while
empowering them to manage the health and
maintenance of their equipment on the go.”
NJ: What key benefits will this move bring to both MiPlan and Hexagon’s clients?
RD: Apps are only as good as the systems they are connected to. The mobile
apps developed by MiPlan depend on high quality design and scheduling
information. The Hexagon acquisition means design applications and apps can
be linked directly, allowing changes to the plan to be communicated instantly
throughout the business. Linking a client’s design package to the apps allows
clients to reduce the timeframe between drill and blast activities from four
days to under a day. This was achieved by engineers gaining real time access
to field conditions and re-designing blasts based on the information. The
redesigns can then be published instantly to the team on the ground who can
immediately action the changes. There is no lag between receiving and
entering data from paper to the re-design.
In regards to managing fleet, the synergy allows the businesses to take the
best of both fleet offerings and combine them to provide clients with a
comprehensive offering which can be deployed rapidly, is easy to use and
simple to maintain. MiPlan has been interested in finding a way to connect to
vehicle health systems to collect additional metrics. Hexagon already has this
technology so we have a huge leap forward in this space.
We have also been interested in providing solutions with a low or no
network cost setup. Hexagon already has a peer to peer network solution
which is in used across 25,000 vehicles around the world meaning another
leap forward in the capability of our apps and our overall platform.
NJ: In five years’ time, how big a role will apps play in the mining sector? What
will they be capable of?
RD: The buzz words these days are predictive maintenance, optimisation and
autonomous mining. I believe apps play a role in these areas:
n Apps collect and present data to the right people in a timely manner so
they can make proactive decisions. As the scope and capability of apps
increases, employees will be empowered with the necessary information to
ensure continuous business improvement
n A platform managing the data from the apps can be used to blend
information for predictive analysis and optimisation on the fly
n Apps which create and maintain their own peer to peer network and can be
connected to the machine are the first step towards a realistic vehicle
intervention model, the gateway to autonomous mining
Dingo has developed a new Trakka Asset Health Management App™ that will enab