The Associated Manganese Mines of South Africa (ASSMANG) has chosen the MAXIMO Enterprise system for all work and asset maintenance management functions at its manganese and iron ore mines in the North West Province.
Danie van Vuuren, Senior Account Manager: MAXIMO at MST, says ASSMANG has concluded a stringent and in-depth analysis of available systems and vendors, by investing R3.4 million in a MAXIMO project for its Beeshoek open-cast iron ore and manganese mines at Blackrock near Hotazel in the North West Province.
As an affiliate of Anglovaal Minerals, ASSMANG displayed due diligence in its investigation and did not ignore any system of note currently operating in the mining and related industries. To this end both ERP and Best-of-Breed systems were evaluated, as part of an endeavor to satisfy short and medium term requirements, without compromising long term goals and the ability to integrate with other business systems of choice. Roll out to their new Mid-South Iron Ore Mine is also planned, as soon as these operations are commissioned.
MAXIMO`s ability to support unique and diverse organisational requirements suits this environment ideally. MAXIMO will be used to manage the whole ASSMANG asset portfolio, including all static and mobile mining equipment, ore processing plants, as well as the administrative, support and accommodation infrastructure at the mines. Being a visionary company, ASSMANG will be the first in Africa to utilise the MAXIMO Inventory Control and Purchasing functionality to set up a fully integrated e-commerce capability with suppliers of equipment and spare parts.
Part of the current project is the integration of MAXIMO with other business functions of the mines, such as Financial and Supervisory Control systems.
Mr Fanie Burger, ASSMANG`s Services and Maintenance Engineer and MPI (Maintenance, Procurement and Inventory) Project Leader, said an investigation into ASSMANG`s productivity was conducted in 1996. The investigation concluded that the effective implementation and utilisation of a CMMS system would increase productivity. After a thorough evaluation of various CMMS systems MAXIMO was chosen on the following merits:
It has the ability to address the shortcomings in the maintenance, procurement and inventory process effectively.
It does not require special IT skills and should therefore be accepted and used by the end users with relative ease. It is after all the people on the shop floor who will use the system.
MAXIMO`s information integrity will ensure that management receives reliable information. A user-friendly system such as MAXIMO will assist reliable data inputs from end users.
According to Mr Burger ASSMANG`s key maintenance objective is to maximise the contribution maintenance makes towards the mining group`s long-term profitability. This will be achieved by ensuring plant integrity, availability, utilisation and performance at minimum life cycle cost, at optimum life cycle performance, and with due regard to safety and the environment.
"ASSMANG will utilise MAXIMO to gain effective control over the maintenance, procurement and inventory systems within the various mines. MAXIMO`s effectiveness will be realised through a clear understanding of the various processes that support the maintenance, procurement and inventory systems and the mapping of the requirements for each system through the functionality provided."
Mr Burger said that in order to provide their clients with high quality products at an industry competitive prices, ASSMANG strives to utilise and commit resources that will lower maintenance cost and produce high quality products at the lowest possible cost per ton.
"Performing effective maintenance will reduce losses due to unnecessary stoppages and ineffective maintenance. Maintenance costs will decrease, throughput will increase and cost of production will be lower. The effective operation of all equipment will ensure that the production output per hour will increase, resulting in a productivity increase."
Neil Theron, MST Project Leader for the ASSMANG MPI project, says that in order to manage the costs of complex mining operations such as ASSMANG`s, decision makers need accurate and timely real life information. In order to convert the huge volumes of data generated by the business into usable and reliable management information, a mechanism with MAXIMO`s reporting abilities is essential.
"In the words of Professor Andrew Jardine, `the industry is data rich, but information poor`. In this commercial age where information availability is a company`s greatest asset, MAXIMO`s abilities combined with ASSMANG`s culture of continuous improvement can make all the difference," Neil concludes.
Megkon Systems Technology, a high technology software company based in Pretoria, is the Sub-Saharan Africa agent for MAXIMO, which is developed by US Company PSDI.
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