Autonomous & Safe Mining Operations
Case Study: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency in Underground Robotic Mining Operations
Client Overview:
Our client, a mine owner operating a complex underground autonomous mining environment, relies on a sophisticated IT infrastructure to support the safe and efficient operation of robotic mining processes.
The mine owner has outsourced several service elements and business functions, including the operation of mining equipment, to a sub-contractor. Ensuring seamless integration and real-time visibility between these interdependent services is crucial for maintaining operational quality, safety, and productivity.
Challenges:
- Complex Interdependencies: The underground mining environment involves multiple interdependent services and operators, making it challenging to maintain consistent service compliance and operational standards.
- Safety and Productivity Concerns: Maintaining optimal safety and productivity conditions in an environment where operators control underground processes from above ground requires stringent monitoring and compliance.
- Service Compliance Visibility: Both the mine operator and sub-contractor needed a way to view service dependencies in real-time to ensure that all IT service elements supporting the mining processes were aligned with contractual and operational KPIs.
Solution:
The client partnered with Ikara to implement the Service Compliance platform, which provided the tools necessary to monitor and optimize their underground robotic mining operations. Key aspects of the solution included:
- Real-Time Service Dependency Monitoring:
- Ikara’s platform enabled both the mine operator and sub-contractor to view service dependencies in real-time, improving operational quality, safety, and efficiency. This real-time visibility allowed for immediate action when service conditions deviated from set standards, ensuring continuous, safe operations.
- Benchmarking and Monitoring IT Service Elements:
- The Ikara platform measured and benchmarked all IT service elements involved in supporting the mining processes, ensuring that service compliance thresholds were met. This protected the safety, productivity, and cost conditions necessary for sustainable mining operations.
- Resilient Network Infrastructure:
- The underground mining services were monitored according to Ikara’s underground mining service standards, ensuring a highly resilient network infrastructure that provided optimal conditions for robotic applications. This infrastructure resilience was crucial for maintaining uninterrupted operations in the harsh underground environment.
- Service Compliance and KPI Management:
- Ikara Service Compliance allowed the client to meet the conditions of their internal KPIs, enabling the operator of the underground mining equipment to meet their SLAs for mining production. This alignment between internal KPIs and external SLAs ensured that both parties could operate efficiently and meet their contractual obligations.
- Single Dashboard for Compliance Reporting:
- The Ikara platform provided a single dashboard that reported explicit compliance conditions, allowing both the mine owner and the sub-contractor to maintain a strong and productive working relationship. This transparency and shared visibility were critical for managing the complex dependencies between the two parties.
- Real-Time Service Dependency Monitoring:
Results:
- Improved Operational Efficiency: The implementation of Ikara’s platform led to significant improvements in operational quality and efficiency. The real-time monitoring of service dependencies allowed for immediate responses to potential issues, reducing downtime and ensuring continuous mining operations.
- Enhanced Safety Standards: By benchmarking and monitoring IT service elements, the client was able to maintain optimal safety conditions, protecting both human operators and robotic systems.
- Optimised Productivity: The resilient network infrastructure and real-time service compliance monitoring ensured that mining production targets were met consistently, optimising the overall productivity of the underground operations.
Conclusion:
Ikara’s Service Compliance platform played a critical role in enhancing the safety, efficiency, and productivity of our client’s underground robotic mining operations. By providing real-time visibility and monitoring of service dependencies, the platform enabled both the mine owner and the sub-contractor to maintain stringent service compliance standards, ensuring the continuous and safe operation of their complex mining environment. This case study highlights the importance of integrated service compliance in managing high-stakes, technologically advanced industrial operations.