The AST Group has successfully completed the implementation of an information system for Ticor South Africa for its ilmenite smelter, which included the scoping, planning, development and implementation phases.
AST was responsible for the implementation of a business management system, operations management system, management information system (MIS), management cockpit system and laboratory information management system (LIMS) to support the smelter.
AST was also responsible for the implementation of all the information systems for Ticor South Africa (then Iscor Heavy Minerals) during the initial establishment phase of the business at Hillendale mine and the beneficiation plant near Empangeni.
The integrated systems installed at the sites included a SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning system, an AspenTech InfoPlus21 Manufacturing Execution System (MES), as well as interfaces to the operational control environment and various contractor-supplied specialist systems.
"AST was able to provide Ticor South Africa with a complete turnkey solution for its business," explains Phillip Pretorius, MD of AST Integrated Production Solutions (IPS), a business unit of the AST Group. "AST provided, and was able to manage the systems integration from the distributed process control level right through to the SAP business processes."
Ticor South Africa identified the need for systems that would support its core processes from the business process level to the plant level. "The complete integrated systems enable Ticor South Africa to plan its sales and production on a business level, and to implement those plans on the manufacturing execution level," explains Tinus Bos, AST IPS Project Manager.
"The systems have been developed as an integral part of the business and provide a clear insight into the factors driving the business," says Roelof Malherbe, Manager Information Systems: Ticor South Africa.
"The MES went live before the commissioning of the plant and smelter, which allowed us to have a high level of business information before the commissioning of the plant - among the first in SA," adds Malherbe. "Ticor South Africa is a true example of the sensor to boardroom implementation."
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