FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
work after blasting as soon as possible.”
Nankivell gave some specific examples of the
difference the system makes: “A good example is
with our stope bogging. We don’t have a clear
picture of the productivity of those loaders other
than what they report at the end of the shift.
MineStar for underground gives us a real time
view of the productivity at the drawpoint, to
identify those areas where we can change the
design, we can change the deployment, and make
sure we are maximising that activity. Another
fantastic element of MineStar for underground is
the way that it integrates with our planning
process. Your whole front end mine planning
schedule is already built into the software, so this
isn’t just a tool that captures what’s happening,
this is a tool that’s actually integrated in what
should be happening. The real benefit for Cat
MineStar for underground is the way that is
captures and presents data. Any system can
capture a lot of data but if that means someone
has to go an interrogate that data days or weeks
later, you’ve lost the opportunity to intervene and
use it in a useful way. MineStar for underground
presents the data immediately, its capturing it in
real time and there’s an interface there that
supervisors can use straight away to intervene
and make decisions.”
Actionable insights based on
advanced analytics
Another up and coming player in this space is
Essen, Germany-based talpasolutions whose
mantra is “delivering transparent and actionable
insights for the heavy industry by making data
accessible and understandable” and was founded
in 2016. It told IM it enables mining companies to
utilise operative data, collected from sensors
embedded in assets, planning software, ERP and
other contextual data sources. “Our digitalisation
experts offer their customers holistic solutions,
starting with the acquisition, processing, analysis
and visualisation of the data,
through to the derivation of
recommendations for action
and automation.” Its
customers and partners to
date have included quarrying
operations, underground salt
and oil shale mines, well-
established equipment OEMs
like GHH, and fellow high-tech
mining solutions company
indurad.
While delivering automation solutions in some
projects, talpasolutions says it believes in
empowering people by utilising benefits of digital
applications and leveraging synergies between
machine and operator more efficiently.
As an example, talpasolutions equipped 11
underground machines from various
manufacturers in an Estonian oil shale mine
operated by VKG with talpacortex. This state of the
art processing unit collects, records, pre-
processes and transmits all machine data in high
quality. The customer infrastructure allowed the
pushing of the data into talpaplatform
(talpasolutions' operating system) which was then
analysed and the results were made available
online to the customer continuously. Optimised
task management and operator feedback then
increased productivity sharply. “Our system led to
a statistically proven increase in overall equipment
efficiency by 13%. Operations became more
productive with less operational expenditures by
utilising assets more efficiently and increasing
their effective working time.”
On FMS specifically, Mirko Liebetrau, Chief
Sales Officer states: “Fleet management systems
of established companies have been utilised for
decades now. The technology applied and
functionalities provided have not kept up with the
development of IT. Nowadays, many more
functionalities can be provided, especially when
talpasolutions aims to deliver transparent and
actionable insights for the heavy industry by
making data accessible and understandable
accessing additional data sources like the
machines themselves or other data silos.”
Liebetrau argues that even if big mining
companies have a super sophisticated main
control room and have spent millions of dollars on
it, the information flow is not optimal. “As an
example – there is a super advanced control room
where all data and information runs together and
is assessed. Still, the company most of the time
looks at single data silos and isolated analysis.
And if some information is identified to be crucial
for operations or needs immediate attention, the
responsible person is called or contacted via a
separate communication channel. Why not provide
the information on-site colleagues are lacking
directly to them?” He adds that mining was and is
challenged by the complexity of operations. “It
makes this business hard to manage. Our
applications provide a comprehensive and
unbiased overview on productivity, events and
performance. Any mine manager can improve his
efficiency and economics by having a better
overview as well as detailed information. The
challenge for most fleet management systems
remains the fact that information and task
dispatching is good, but actionable insights are
better. To provide those you will need
MAY 2020 | International Mining 27