Cradle to grave
Mobility becomes mainstream
The advent of the digital era means that people are empowered to perform what was previously regarded as ‘ desk duties ’ anytime , anywhere .
In a first for Anglo American South Africa , its Zibulo colliery in Mpumalanga introduced outbye Wi-Fi infrastructure and smartphones to revolutionise communication underground . This development has rapidly evolved with the introduction of a series of mobile apps that optimise productivity , speed up decisionmaking , and give employees the information they need , when and where they need it .
This technology was first trialled in 2016 and the full outbye implementation was concluded in June 2017 . “ The fixed underground telephones previously in use were unreliable and reaching them would often require a long walk . Employees would frequently need to return to the surface to get a message to a colleague , report a problem , or access production-critical information ,” says Zanne-Mari Meyer , business improvement manager at Anglo .
“ Smartphones have changed all this . They enable instant communication from underground to the surface , from the surface underground , and from one underground location to the other , but — at their core — they are tools that can be used for so much more ,” she adds .
Two hundred frontline employees are equipped with devices that look and work the same way as an ordinary smartphone . They are , however , intrinsically safe and designed to withstand harsh conditions .
Apart from being able to make voice calls via an app called CSIP Simple , employees can use Cisco Spark to send text messages and photographs . They can send and receive documents like policies , procedures , and section plans .
“ In the past , foremen would sometimes only get around to reporting a machine fault at the end of a shift — now they can get in touch with the responsible people on the spot . And send an accompanying photograph of the issue !” says Meyer .
Work management has also been made more efficient with an app called Fewzion . Underground personnel are able to view all tasks scheduled for the day on the screen , tick them off once they have been completed , and provide status updates on work in progress . At the same time , the supervisor on the surface has an accurate picture of how work is progressing .
The Power BI app provides live data that could previously only be retrieved via the control room . This means that key personnel have round-the-clock access to critical information
that can either prevent or immediately address unnecessary downtime .
Smartphones will increasingly play a role in safety and are already being used to capture underground visible felt leadership interactions on Enablon — a software the company uses to manage and track environmental and social performance . Moreover , the colliery will soon be trialling a checklist app to provide assurance on the quality of the pre-start check . The phone , in conjunction with near-field communication tags on both machines and employee clock cards , will verify the presence of team members during the exercise while flagged issues will go directly into a database for actioning .
The app , to be trialled on behalf of Anglo American , will be fully customisable and can be adopted by a variety of departments for multiple functions . The innovation will soon be rolled out at Goedehoop and Greenside collieries later this year .
“ Underground mobility is enabling us to move the mining industry into the digital era and empower our frontline leaders to make informed decisions regarding productivity . This revolutionary technology also provides for real-time reporting of safety incidents ,” concludes Meyer .
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[ 52 ] MINING MIRROR SEPTEMBER 2018
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