Andritz July 2019

CANADA EDITION JULY 20 19 canada.businesschief.com

S P E C IAL F E ATU R E

DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN THE MINING SECTOR

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LEVERAGING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE EVOLVING MINING SECTOR WRITTEN BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

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ANDRITZ

Arthur Gooch, Director of Innovation, and Sohail Nazari, Business Development Manager of ANDRITZ, discuss the importance of innovation amidst a digital transformation in the mining industry

W

ith a desire to establish a lead in the mining sector through innovation amidst a worldwide digital transformation,

ANDRITZ, which provides industry-specific 04

products and solutions for sectors including mining, has a history of setting the bar high.

With the task of embracing the right technology to drive operations forward vital to growth in all fields, the mining sector is often considered slower to adopt new software. However, ANDRITZ remains determined to enable mining operations all over the world to bridge the gap between concept and production, facilitate operational readiness and stay ahead of the curve. The firm has made a significant impact in the mining space in recent years, winning the prestigious #DisruptMining 2019 innovation competition through its disruptive Digital Twin technology capable of training artificial intelligence (AI). “It was a very exciting experience and a little bit surreal to win the competition.

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1852

Year founded

29,000+

Approximate number of employees

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ANDRITZ

“ONCE WE BECAME A FINALIST, IT’S A SHARK TANK STYLE COMPETITION AND THE FINAL THREE GO ON STAGE” — Sohail Nazari, Business Development Manager, ANDRITZ 06 We couldn’t quite believe it,” says Arthur Gooch, Director of Innovation at ANDRITZ. “There’s a fair amount of pressure associated with the event so it all happened in a bit of a blur.”

The competition, hosted by gold mining giants Goldcorp and now in its third year, had approximately 90 submissions from mining firms to showcase the technologies they have implemented to drive innovation in the sector.

“It was amazing when we were on the stage,” adds Sohail Nazari, Business Development Manager of ANDRITZ. “It’s vital that you spend a lot of time J U LY 2 0 1 9

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ANDRITZ CORPORATE VIDEO’ 07 ensuring that everything on your

dynamic simulator, IDEAS, the tool is

application is correct.”

now enabling operations across the

The competition is whittled down

sector to reduce risk and experience

until three finalists remain. “Once we

considerable cost savings. The

became a finalist, it’s a Shark Tank

software is considered the leading

style competition and the final three go

dynamic simulator for oil sands

on stage,” explains Nazari. “They pitch

operations in the north of Canada

their ideas to the judges with 500

and for hard rock mining operations

people watching in the audience. It’s

worldwide. Gooch explains how

fair to say it’s a high-pressured event,

his company is utilising Digital Twin

and the stakes were really high, but

software. “The first physical model is

after we were announced as the

like a software wrapper for all of the

winner, we all felt a massive relief and

engineering equations that we know

were incredibly satisfied.”

define each piece of equipment,” he

Having impressed the judges with its

says. “For example, if we have a pipe, c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ANDRITZ

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we know that there are correlations

matter of solving a number of equa-

between pipe geometry, surface

tions. Instead, it’s setting the conditions

roughness, the pressure across the

and the operating points – like the

pipe as well as the pipe’s flow rate.

positions of valves and the set points

Those equations, alongside those for

of controllers – enables the simulation

every other piece of equipment, get

to replicate the behavior of real

embedded into objects in the model in

running equipment.”

a graphical format. This allow us to

“Engineers make mistakes like

connect them together, and it means

everyone else in life. However, when

that when someone wants to figure out

you build the simulation model, you

what is going on in the plant, it’s not a

actually go through all these designs

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Dr. Sohail Nazari, BDM

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Dr. Sohail Nazari has worked in various industries including automotive and oil and gas. His current focus in ANDRITZ is to develop the business of applying advanced automation technologies in mining and mineral processing. He was one of the instrumental contributors to the ANDRITZ team that just won first prize in the Goldcorp/Newmont Disrupt Mining competition with IDEAS Reinforcement Learning Artificial Intelligence. His areas of expertise include design and implementation of advanced process control, intelligent condition monitoring, Digital Twin and machine learning algorithms. Dr. Nazari holds a patent on developing a model predictive control algorithm for power optimization in data centers. He received his PhD from University of Alberta, Canada, Department of Electrical and Computer engineering in 2013. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ANDRITZ

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“THE FIRST PHYSICAL MODEL IS LIKE A SOFTWARE WRAPPER FOR ALL OF THE ENGINEERING EQUATIONS THAT WE KNOW DEFINE EACH PIECE OF EQUIPMENT” — Arthur Gooch, Director of Innovation, ANDRITZ

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ANDRITZ

S E PAR ATION

MA XIMIZ E D PRODUCTIVIT Y WITH ANDRITZ INTE LLIGE NT FILTE R PRESSES ONE STEP FURTHER IN DIGITALIZ ATION

With ANDRITZ filter press technology and Metris addIQ control systems, you are prepared for the challenges of digitalization and IIoT – all to the degree that fits your individual needs. Metris addIQ

www.andritz.com/metris-addiq

control systems combine all our extensive operation, troubleshooting, and start-up experience in one tailored automation solution. With the broad portfolio of scalable automation solutions, applicable for

a wide range of purposes (e.g. predictive maintenance, process monitoring, troubleshooting, long-term trending, etc.), ANDRITZ is your full-service provider for filter presses.

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Arthur Gooch, Director of Innovation Arthur is responsible for product development at ANDRITZ. A mechanical engineer by training, most of his career has focused on process automation projects for the mining and pulp and paper industries. From his background in control system configuration and commissioning, he now directs the creation of artificial intelligence and simulation technologies for industrial control.

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ANDRITZ

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and it allows you to ensure the design is going to work. It highlights any mistakes that are made,” adds Nazari.

“We build the model, validate the design and ensure that it includes all the concepts on physics, chemistry, control systems, metallurgy, or whatever the plant is for. It’s all there.

Then, we make sure that the design will work under different scenarios before we connect the model into the control system, even before the plant is built.”

Following its success, Gooch affirms that ANDRITZ continues to take innovation seriously to avoid complacency and ensure it differentiates itself from rivals. “It’s a constant process of trying to review the technology we have and look at how we can take new strides with the things we couldn’t do yesterday.” Reflecting on his company’s achievements, Nazari affirms how teamwork has been key to ANDRITZ’ endeavors. “This success definitely comes down to teamwork,” says Nazari. “The things that we are accomplishing in our division, with regards to AI at ANDRITZ, are made possible by the leadership culture in place to support this and help push for innovation. We are passionate and we c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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ANDRITZ

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“I BELIEVE MANAGERIAL PRUDENCE AND CAUTION ARE CERTAINLY KEY TO ENSURING SUSTAINABILITY” — Sohail Nazari, Business Development Manager, ANDRITZ

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ANDRITZ

are one team working together to

have had to be quite deliberate and

innovate – it is so important.”

restrained regarding how many

With sustainability considered a

people we approach. At some point,

key pillar at ANDRITZ, Gooch points

we could potentially run the risk of

out how crucial it is that, despite

making promises that we simply

success, the company doesn’t take

wouldn’t have the resources to

on more projects than it’s capable of

execute in the agreed timescale.”

delivering. “I believe managerial

Looking to the future, Nazari

prudence and caution are certainly

aspires for ANDRITZ to become the

key to ensuring sustainability,” he

default provider of Digital Twin

says. “We’ve experienced a tremen-

technology in mineral processing

dous flurry of activity; however, we

and pulp and paper. “With our well

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established process simulation

evolution of how the mineral pro-

technology, ANDRITZ is becoming a

cessing and pulp and paper is going

natural frontrunner of this innovation

to work. We’re going to automate and

and is being considered as a pioneer

then optimize as much as possible.

in the use of real time Digital Twins

This is what we at ANDRITZ have at

for optimizing the process and to

the forefront of our thoughts.”

better monitor the conditions from the process point of view,” explains Nazari. “The plan for the next few years is to continue to push innovation through more showcases, and we’re going to undergo a large

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