GE Automation
Maximizing Productivity and ROI for Miners

Process variability and unexpected equipment failure is a common scenario that hinders operational efficiency across industries. The reason can be traced back to the lack of right information available at the right time to proactively detect problems, and ultimately avoid downtime and production inefficiencies. When it comes to Metals and Mining industry, GE is one among the leading companies that provide enterprise class mining solutions that reduce operational roadblocks. GE offers solutions—a convergence of global industrial system with advanced computing, analytics, low-cost sensing and advanced connectivity permitted by the internet—to optimize operational performance that drive more profits and process outcomes. GE’s solutions also leverage enterprises’ historical industrial big data on all fixed and mobile assets and process circuits across OEMs to handle both equipment health and process issues to improve asset uptime, minimize variability, optimize throughput and recovery, and reduce energy costs.

GE’s industrial internet software and analytics solutions for mining, coupled with a global team of experts can immensely drive productivity—a key to succeed in today's volatile mining industry. The firm’s Mine Performance solution enables intelligent connections among equipment, processes, data, and people to help mining companies capture critical inefficiencies and uncover hidden performance potentials. With the much required information in hand, mining managers can ensure maximum equipment availability time that increases ROI, and eliminate equipment downtime through quick, planned repairs. “By combining our technologies, services and domain expertise, we are able to provide a total plant solution to deliver an integrated system experience,” says Jim Walsh, General Manager, GE Automation and Controls. “As such, customers can leverage a complete, modular solution from a single partner—something we know they are clamoring for in today’s operational environment.”

GE's software and services help miners switch from their traditional methods of executing maintenance to improved predictive maintenance approaches.

By combining our technologies, services and domain expertise, we are able to provide a total plant solution to deliver an integrated system experience

The Mine Performance software also helps users detect truck degrading and assist maintenance teams to pinpoint problems for faster repair. This effectively prevents the problems from escalating and contributing to operational downtime.

The success story of Lonmin—the third-largest producer of platinum group metals in the world, in attaining a 10 percent increase in smelter throughput is a testament to GE’s expertise in unlocking new opportunities for their clients in metals and mining industry. As a part of its expansion initiatives to maximize efficiency and unlock hidden capacities spanning in-house smelter processes, Lonmin was on a quest to implement appropriate mine performance solution. GE helped them achieve this through implementing Mine Performance solution. Proving more effective than expected, Lonmin expanded the solution’s application to several other sections in the smelter, and further into monitoring of the control systems. “Without the Mine Performance solution we would've incurred additional cost for inefficiencies and equipment damage due to our inability to control the process in the same way as an analytically-driven system,” says Percy French, Automation Manager, Smelter, Lonmin.

Over the course of its history, GE has successfully assisted numerous metals and mining enterprises with their best-in-class mining solutions and has been a central partner in drastically boosting profits and maximizing asset utilization. Walsh believes that companies which embrace technology proactively will be materially differentiated from those that don’t. In that light, GE is all set right for what he calls-the next industrial revolution.