Like most businesses, mining organisations around the world are always looking for the next way to put themselves ahead of their competitors, improve safety standards, or reduce their costs and improve operations. Such thinking sometimes requires rethinking and redesign of the structure of the business and its operations.

Today, many organisations are looking towards digital and mobility, in an attempt to improve their efficiency and reduce costs. Digital is already revolutionising many different industries in different ways, transforming processes such as occupational health & safety (OHS) asset management, quality assurance, inspections and maintenance management.

These systems are working off a backbone Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS), functioning such as a digital ecosystem working behind the scenes of your mine. Often paired with a mobile device, this digital tool can allow mines to rethink what’s important to ensure organisational growth and long-term sustainability.

Modern digital solutions ensure that mine operations are future-proof, allowing updates and data flow to be performed over-the-air (OTA), as well as new industry regulations or organisational standards and processes to be integrated as quickly as possible. Future methods and procedures that become necessary with the natural advancement of technology can be introduced to the business with ease; digital and mobility are made to be kept up to date.

Some of the features of mobile tech in use for mining inspections

Mobile tech can give a plethora of new features for users to take advantage of. Premium inspection applications allow the user to make use of a smartphone or tablet loaded with a paperless CMMS application, running off iOS or Android operating system. Such mobile devices take advantage of hardware features such as the camera to provide the functionality of taking pictures during maintenance, shut down or inspections or even use the camera for scanning barcodes or RFID of assets across the mine.

The touchscreen of mobile devices allows users to annotate their images or make drawings or highlights to add additional detail to a work order or an inspection. The paperless checklists construction can also increase data entry thanks to standardised response or systematic structuring, reducing the needs of certain sections if other data has been already specified. Whilst disconnected from the internet, maintenance personnel and operators can still record data; the only needs for internet connection being the sending of data to the server or downloading fresh inspection or maintenance updates.

Benefits of paperless CMMS in mining

The features of the mobile device are also beneficial for the back-end system. Captured images, readings, or details recorded will be catalogued against the assets in the database, creating a detailed representation of an asset’s performance and trends. This information can be used by maintenance teams to adeptly gage whether a repair is necessary, and the wear an asset may have experienced through its lifecycle. This is made possible because of the full lifecycle cradle to grave tracking that each piece of equipment can be provided with, made possible through the cataloguing of maintenance reports and filing of assets against their operations. Management can also hence perform accurate return on investment (ROI) analysis of each asset or equipment piece, seeing its maintenance downtime, necessary repair costs and uptime against production.

Access to a 24/7, 365 day a year database has many benefits when compared to a filing cabinet at a worksite. Not only is it easier o perform ROI analysis, but all information is accessible at any time, from anywhere. This is particularly beneficial for international or multiregional mines who can allow different teams to access different sections of the database. This helps to ensure that maintenance activities are homogenous across mines spread across geographical areas, a problem many organisations struggle with. Mining firms who also need to update their supply chain or own departments of new industry regulations or organisational objectives can hence also take advantage of the digital transfer of information. With access to the database, maintenance checklists can be uploaded or changed remotely, allowing all stakeholders across the business, wherever they may be located to see how things should work.

Things to consider when choosing and implementing Paperless CMMS in mining

When considering different options for a variety of providers for Paperless CMMS in mining, there are things to consider that can make the choice more straightforward. How you will use your paperless system depends on the mine needs and requirements, including how you measure your key performance indicators (KPIs) and your ROI.

Other things such as the scalability, interface with ERP system, CMMS provider background, Mobile device options, training and support offer, as well as the customisation abilities make a big difference when implementing. For information about paperless CMMS within business in general, or for information about a CMMS provider providing premium paperless CMMS, please visit our website or contact us.

Source: Techs4biz press office