MINING SOFTWARE can now receive real-time equipment visualisation with timely alerts about hazardous areas for people and machinery . Workers and equipment are protected from injury-threatening events by being forewarned of no-go-zones .”
Daw also has an example from the company ’ s planning portfolio , related to short interval control and the continued integration between activity scheduling and operations .
“ Mines must make decisions quicker , more proactively and with the insight afforded by a full holistic picture of the mine ,” he said . “ Short interval control helps bridge those gaps between a strategic plan , a tactical plan and execution of tasks in moving material . Greater control at a sub-shift level delivers even greater insights and aligns company strategy with execution .
“ Our customers are seeing great benefits in this area from the integration of our scheduling solution and our fleet management solution . The data produced by that connection can pay huge dividends when it comes to productivity .”
Mark Palmer , General Manager of Product Management and Marketing for MST Global , says the software and hardware company ’ s roadmap focused on ‘ mining solutions ’ rather than a ‘ component ’ approach , with integration to other platforms a major consideration .
“ In terms of the whole value chain for the mine , in addition to tracking , our digital infrastructure AXON will be the data enabler for automation and autonomous operations for the mine , connecting systems as needed ,” he told IM . “ Our software platform , HELIX , brings the application side of the solution to life , allowing us to provide the mine with the solution that best meets their needs , wherever in the mine ’ s lifecycle they sit .
“ Our visualisation package , HELIX 3D , provides the base . Using the actual coordinate system of the mine , this geospatial software solution allows the mine to ‘ see ’ the underground space in as much detail as the user needs – existing , past , or future workings , relationships with surface , infrastructure , etc . Using our tracking engine , people and equipment can be located in real time .”
The company ’ s other HELIX solution modules are added to this base as required to enhance safety or productivity for the mine , he says .
“ For instance , where the data we collect or generate needs to be shared with other systems then we have the protocols available to us to communicate with them – on a two-way basis as required ,” he said . “ This approach allows data to flow as needed .”
While breaking down functional silos is vital , Modular ’ s Du Plessis says the company approaches software integration on a more expansive scale .
“ In addition to connecting the dots from one department to the next , we look to correlate data among all mining processes , machines , systems and technologies ; and leverage synergies to achieve wider interoperability , automation , optimisation and value ,” he said .
The company can point to recently released Public APIs that , Modular says , enable “ bi-directional data sharing ” among its DISPATCH Fleet Management System ( FMS ) and / or the ProVision Machine Guidance System , and related external systems .
RPMGlobal ’ s Beesley acknowledges the company ’ s move into an enterprise software environment as a catalyst for its own technology advancements and innovation in this new , collaborative environment .
“ This has provided a platform to share real-time data among systems , as well as open avenues to cloud-based infrastructure ,” he said . “ There are a number of advantages for customers that occur as a result of the move from desktop application to cloudenabled solutions , particularly in the collaboration and data security space .”
Defining the data paradigm
In this quest for breaking down data and operational silos through integration , not all data is seen as equal , according to Eclipse Mining Technologies .
The US-based company , which has a vendoragnostic integrative software platform called SourceOne™ , has tasked itself with educating the industry about this as miners prepare for whatever new technologies and challenges the future might bring .
Against this backdrop , extra attention needs to be paid to both the quality of data and how that data is managed and handled , according to Rudy Moctezuma , Chief Business Development Officer at Eclipse .