and the use of conditional virtual alarms,
operational sensor context and snapshots,
can determine use of brakes, gear
selection and engine throttle position.
This provides a black box type analysis,”
Boak continued.
In addition to specific situations, data
from Jmineops’ general equipment time
utilisation and availability can be
analysed to identify areas of
improvement in planning. The
equipment states and time aggregations
allow transparency into decisions by
management, shift supervisors and
maintenance concerning the use, rotation
and requirements for equipment
throughout operations both presently
and historically. Equipment and
operators have a specific purpose and
function. Tracking these details to
reduce idle time, fuel burn, engine hours,
tyre wear and other metrics increases
efficiency and saves time and money.
Monitoring mining activity
Besides maintaining a consistent
material feed to the mill through
truck-and-shovel production, there are
other critical operations that benefit from
the FMS and BI. Drill-and-blast
operations can directly affect production,
as well as haul road maintenance and
construction, material stockpile
supervision and many other auxiliary
equipment and activities, as Boak
explained. “Drill-and-blast operations
are a critical path in most mining
environments," he continued. "Every
day, we have drills out there drilling
holes and the supervisor needs to know
this process is on track, details on
progress for the drilling of a pattern,
accuracy in hole positioning and depth
control and even consumable wear.
When the blast occurs, fragmentation
distribution is critical and the entire
drill-and-blast process leads to the
material removal and crushing. Software
tools that provide information on such
mining activities in one integrated
platformmake such data a lot easier for
supervisors to visualise.”
By using telematics and FMS
integration, blast hole drills can be
positioned to survey drill patterns
without marking. Supervisors can in turn
monitor accuracy and progression of
activities from any location.
In the field
Pushing information to the field has
always been an issue. It is vital that
supervisors receive the information so
they can make decisions on the spot, out
in the field. With many new technologies,
such as smart phones, tablets and 3G
networks, data can be pushed out more
efficiently to the field by sending the
information to these devices. Interface
layout and design is critical, because
visualisations are viewed differently on
various devices and situations. Visual
analysis contributes significantly to the
discovery, interpretation and insight into
a mine’s operations. Matching content
with users’ skills and purpose enhances
interactivity and engagement.
“The goal is to make the information
more manageable and accessible to
people out in the field. Not everyone can
always be in the dispatch centre, building
or even in their own office to look at
information on those computers. We
issue our shift supervisors tablets and
they are able to pull up reports, while
they move around the mine,” Boak said.
Conclusions
As operations and technology evolve
and become more complex, control and
monitoring will become even more
vital. Demands on the FMS systems
and BI will continue. There is always a
pull between operational intelligence
with real‑time data vs business
intelligence with collection of large
historical data sets used to validate
performance, discover event correlation
and compare metrics over greater time
ranges. The FMS will need to evolve in
order to capture more data and store it
for later analysis. When it is understood
that there is vast amounts of data
available in the FMS, the information
can be used to make innovative
changes to operations beyond industry
standards.
Organisations will then combine the
gut-feel and experiential wisdom of
employees with engaging self-service
information delivery tools. Problems
will be solved, anomalies discovered
and appropriate action taken.
Operations must continue to cultivate a
data driven culture, which envisions
new business rules, realises value in the
information and grows with these tools.
Knowledge is gained by using data
from these systems together with
enhancing or implementing new
processes and procedures. This method
tests and validates current procedures,
metrics and processes by involving
users with driving new features and
advances in the FMS functionality. The
outcome: the data is transformed into
information, which leads to actionable
insights and knowledge, thus resulting
in better control. From dispatcher, to
analyst, to management, Jigsaw makes
it possible for individuals and teams to
control the environment and discover
the information they need, while subtly
hiding the fact that they are using data
and instead gaining knowledge.
User interacting with data.
September 2014
|
World Coal
|
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