Sustainable solutions through digitalisation

Alistair McKay, vice president of site and service sales, subSaharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia, explained the type of digital solutions customers are currently looking for. “There is a lot of development on the technology side, but it takes a period of time to get past pilot skill testing and to get these types of technologies widely implemented into the mining environment.”

How can the existing installed base be optimised? How do we look at the existing equipment, existing technologies and then start utilising all the aspects of artificial intelligence? Can they be brought together in terms of a platform that improves the efficiency of the technology? But then over and above that, how do we start bringing together the entire flow sheet?

These are the questions McKay often asks while looking at the digital space, adding that the mining industry has, for too long, focused on specific items of equipment rather than on the holistic approach in terms of what makes a processing plant work. Moreover, linking digitalisation with expert services for FLSmidth’s mining customers to help them reduce energy consumption, lower resource consumption, and improve efficiencies are also major factors in driving digitalisation.

On-site safety is also important, said McKay, adding, “I think it is important to have improved safety on site and improved skills transfer. Online training to access the equipment remotely to be able to give guidance remotely when there's a shutdown, even when there's an emergency problem on the site and to bring in experts around the world specific to that.”

With regards to technology, McKay said that “the PerformanceIQ Services is something we believe to be the future… because it's all encompassing from data to all the way through to the training of personnel on site.”

Meanwhile, FLSmidth is also heavily focused on sustainability efforts for its customers. Deon de Kock, president of sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia region, explained that sustainability targets also need to be linked to digitalisation in a way that services are all integrated.

“I think the sustainability agenda is more than lowering the carbon emissions, reducing water waste and reducing energy consumption. The technology already exists to monitor, to analyse, to do remote conditioning, remote monitoring or even running remote diagnostics.

But if you combine all of those technologies in the flow sheet with digitalisation as the enabler, that's when you can optimise it to really take in the marginal improvements of energy.” de Kock also explains that digitalsation is linked to PerformanceIQ Services. “It's not rocket science, but it's just about how to integrate that, and how to extract the information, so that you can optimise the plant. I don't think there's one silver bullet for optimising a plant. It's the sum of many small things. But the enabler to put it all together is digitalisation.”

Away from the traditional Speaking of innovation in technology, de Kock explained that nowadays, digitalisation is built into the equipment.

“If we talk about a dry grinding as opposed to a wet milling circuit or the REFLUX flotation technology, digital solutions are built into the equipment. The way we monitor it, control it and the way we analyse the data links in with remote diagnostics and monitoring.

“Whereas in the past if you had a piece of analog technology, it couldn't communicate in the digital space. It was basically a piece of hardware and you had to monitor it.”

Adding to the conversation, McKay said that there is a shift away from traditional technology. “New technology now comes with a digital platform that's already established.”

Giving an example of KREBS

SmartCyclone, FLSmidth’s cyclone sensor technology, McKay said that “It is an optimisation and condition monitoring solution that we have developed which is really a digital application onto a standard cyclone.”

These sensors can report the wear status of the cyclone components, allowing for more precise planning of part purchases and maintenance operations.

A growing business

With regards to business expansion outside of Africa, the company is focused on growing in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “In the past four years, we've done significant transactions with our customers here, which means that our installed base has grown and we have to support that installed base,” explained McKay.

“So we are certainly expanding into Saudi Arabia. Besides, we are also strengthening our position in Ghana and West Africa. And we will do the same now, but on a smaller scale in Zambia and Central Africa. We are already well established in South Africa and in India.

“But our focus would certainly be in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East to support our fast growing install base, which is predominantly in copper, gold and phosphate.”

Both McKay and de Kock confirmed that the company has continually added value to its existing customer base in the Middle East, which requires local expertise, understanding of the operating conditions and the nature of the customers.

“It is because the value that we've demonstrated was not on greenfield projects; it was on existing brownfield projects, where as a technology partner, we could optimise that operation,” said de Kock. “Step one in the sustainable operation and green transition is to just use your asset better,” he concluded. ■