Despite the Mozal project still awaiting completion, business management systems are already being used in certain areas, reports Isis Information Systems project manager Duan Fourie. The plant is already using the system to run certain operations, such as materials management and procurement, as well as using the system to capture master data about the employees for payroll purposes, he elaborates.
The SAP package, which was part of a R55 million contract the company secured in August last year, is due for completion in September 2000. Fourie explains that the SAP package is used in the support of all business processes, from inbound logistics - such as vendor selection, the procurement, receipt and management of raw materials - to outbound process support - which includes the storage, shipping and delivery of the finished product. It also supports the financial and management accounting processes, as well as the plant maintenance processes, he elaborates.
The contract secured by the company included the integration between the STM/SEM and the SAP systems, as well as integration with external systems, reports Fourie. The SAP system is a business management system, whereas the STM/SEM are operational systems; the integration ties the two together so that the data that resides in the operational systems are the same that resides in the business management system. This means that the financial picture that you can get out of the business management system is the same one when looking at the production data in your operational system. For example, the system can show the management procedures that need to be followed by taking into account how many scrap anodes were produced, which would be a report that would come out of the operational system. This would be compared to the world standard for scrapping anodes, and together with the report of where the plant is at with anode scrapping, and the world standard, the plant manager can look at what needs to be done to equalise those two figures, explains Fourie.
He reveals that the Hillside smelter was used as a basis for the system, with improvements being made based on the lessons learnt from the Hillside smelter and according to guidelines lay out by the Mozal team. Fourie reports that one of the improvements that has been made has been the introduction of more automation in Mozal, with the criteria being taking the environment in which the system will be operated into consideration. Since the Mozambican environment is not as highly supported as Gauteng, we focused on the robustness of the solution and used the technology that was readily available. This ensures that if a server goes down, the whole system can still be run on a second server until a specialist can be brought in to fix the problem. We also tried to keep a balance between complexity and robustness, which encouraged us to use a stable and robust clustering technology on the servers for the business management system, instead of going for the newest and greatest technology, which requires a lot of support to keep the system running.
Our focus was on keeping the system as maintenance free as possible, while keeping the maintenance reaction time as low as possible, stresses Fourie. He explains that another contributing factor to greater automation was the fact that Mozal has fewer personnel than Hillside, which necessitated having less manual tasks that needed to be followed to run the system. Fourie reports that the SAP system has been used throughout the rest of Africa, but this is the first time it has been used in Mozambique. He attributes the requirements for SAP and operational systems only coming to the fore now to the fact that Mozambique is only now recovering from civil war, and has just begun to build up its economy again. He reports that while Mozambique is not the most difficult country to work in, from a logistical point of view, the company did encounter problems, such as the number of flights available to Maputo for example, as well as the high expense of accommodation.
Another problem is the risk of malaria and other diseases; with highly skilled people being sent in and exposed to these diseases. You can^1t expose people in a high risk fashion to malaria and expect them to choose to work in Mozambique, especially if they can choose where they want to work in the world. I do think something drastic will have to be done about the health situation; there has been talk about a malaria eradication program, but I don`t think the government cannot respond to the threat of malaria while expecting the country`s economy to grow. However, there has also been progress on a logistical front, with Mozal working to ease the import process of equipment into the country, with none of the controls being lost in the process - but with a lot of the red tape being cut down. We are dependent on getting equipment into the country extremely quickly, and from that point of view things have improved, Fourie reports. He enthuses that he believes that Mozal is the greenfield project of the year, and the advantage of this is that one can start afresh, without constraints from existing infrastructure, and expresses that since the system for Mozal was based on Hillside - which was a big success - there is the opportunity to improve on something that has already worked. The role of the business management system and operational management system is quite critical and fairly key to the success of the smelter. They are active tools in the management and running of the business, and so far we have been able to deliver against extremely tight constraints. We have faith that the whole project will keep on delivering at the planned rate, and that we will be part of one of the most successful projects in the world.
The company is starting to invest in skill development and establishing a technological base in the country; since it views it as a focus for future growth, he concludes.
Share
