Global competiveness in mining industry depends on technology

At the Anglo American subsidiary, Kumba Iron Ore flagship mine, the Sishen Mine engineering drawing office is supporting business-critical processes and assuring the safety of employees. Business decisions are made on a minute-by-minute basis and rely on up-to-date information. The process, run on a SAP system, is efficient and productive, but certain challenges were hampering the continuous improvement momentum.

The iron ore market has experienced increased demand over the years, especially in emerging industrial powers such as China, where iron ore is key to growth.

Sishen Mine SA is one of the global backbones of iron ore supply. Running up-to-date machinery, such as plants, excavators, shovels, trucks, crushers and heavy duty tools is critical to Sishen Mine's success in its role as a global leading iron ore supplier. The high quality of these processes guarantees security for all documentation and CAD drawings in the mine.

The need:

There are a variety of needs to be fulfilled in order to optimise the production support processes. The first issue is version control on documents and drawings, which was addressed some 10 years ago by implementing electronic control. When working off of hard copies of documents, however, the origin, status and age of the documents are unknown. Secondly, original drawings in CAD format cannot be viewed by all in its native format, and the rapid change in technology causes format redundancy. Old documents can therefore not be viewed if the software is not available to support those formats. Another issue is that native CAD files are sent out in proposals requests, which leaves Sishen Mine's property vulnerable to be copied.

The need therefore exists for an electronic document control system, which is able to be viewed in a neutral file format, containing less IP and with more longevity of format. Less format degradation has thus been identified. Such a document should not require specialised CAD viewers, but should render information readily available and accessible, timeously and accurately at the point where it is required.

However, the needs did not stop at the drawing office. When SAP scheduled maintenance in the past for the plant machinery, associated documents often did not accompany the order, resulting in loss of time and exertion of extra effort required to obtain the necessary documents in order to fulfil the maintenance order. Proper change control and audit trail of approvals of changes on documentation was also challenging the plant maintenance team.

Furthermore, although goods/parts received were inspected and stored, with a lack of accompanying documents the goods/parts could be of the correct quality, while actually being the incorrect part or being manufactured according to the incorrect specification. A need for integration between the buying and drawing office therefore arose.

The solution:

Due to the various needs and vulnerabilities identified, a project was undertaken to create a roadmap in order to increase the SAP footprint and ensure version control and the digitisation of documents. A software implementation of a supplementary product to the SAP system was undertaken by NokusaEI and CIDEON Software in partnership, to expand existing functionality and include digital handling of all documents and drawings, integrated into the business processes related to engineering, maintenance and goods receiving.

CIDEON Software and the South African document management experts of NokusaEI also added high security features to the Sishen Mine SAP system. A solution formed by the CIDEON Conversion Engine for SAP, CIDEON Output Management for SAP and CIDEON View Manager now ensures the security of the mine's documents and files, concerning engineering, maintenance, repair and quality management. All documents are archived in the SAP DMS system.

All original documents were converted into pdf files using the CIDEON Conversion Engine. Employees outside of the drawing office are no longer enabled to open, view, or change the original CAD files. All information needed is received in pdf format and can be displayed on-screen or printed to view. The current date and status is automatically applied to the pdf file hardcopies, and it is no longer possible to have hard copies on the mine without clear indication of the age and origin of the printed drawing.

An added benefit was a plant maintenance solution, which combines any maintenance orders with supporting documents. With this added module, the maintenance schedule, the maintenance procedure, as well as the safety requirements (such as the need for protective clothing or any other special instructions), automatically accompany the order. The digital intelligence process within the output management application, delivered by CIDEON Output Management, collects all documents related to a maintenance task list and composes the maintenance order. This order is then digitally stamped and printed with the maintenance order number applied to each page.

With regards to goods receiving, quality inspection orders are now automatically accompanied by the latest drawings to ensure that the correct design specifications were used. The system can detect which version is required and it is always printed and stamped to reference the inspection order. This can be handed to the quality controller for inspection of the item. “It is not just a necessity for engineering, design, maintenance or repair to view CAD drawings stored inside SAP DMS. Engineers also work on drawings for new technical equipment or special sets of tools. Suppliers will manufacture these custom-made parts that will be inspected and compared to original drawings by quality management,” explains Odendaal.

The result:

“By ensuring that each process runs according to safety regulations and ISO standards, safety and security risks are lowered,” states Dolf Engels, solution analyst of the repair and maintenance office at the Sishen Mine. “Adding CIDEON Software solutions to the mine's SAP system was business-critical, and part of the continuous improvement initiative to reduce maintenance stoppages. The improved maintenance planning process created additional production capacity, without incurring any capital costs.” The maintenance and drawing office holds responsibility for safety in the Sishen Mine and the security of all documentation inside the information technology system. With the support of CIDEON Software, the Sishen Mine standardised its processes according to ISO 9003. The result is an extremely high and proven safety level for employees and contractors working in the Sishen Mine.

“Changing to the new system is also a huge improvement to the maintenance timescale. Processes were sped up, efficiencies were enhanced and value-add was received through additional compliance and risk reduction components,” says Engels. “The maintenance schedule is literally a task list inside the system. It is of utmost importance and ensures that any change in the task list is under control. Any changes made are inspected, supervised and proven before being released.”

Gerhard du Plessis, consulting director at NokusaEI, says it was a pleasure for NokusaEI to be involved in Sishen Mine's business process improvement programme. The NokusaEI expertise around document management and SAP was a perfect fit for CIDEON Software in its quest to standardise the production platform for the mine and adding the requirements to be able to stamp the drawings.

“For the documentation associated with maintenance work, we relocated the information from certain functionalities out of plant maintenance to the central document management system inside SAP and object linked them,” explains Du Plessis. “The concept of the document management system does not allow persons other than the authorised users to view, print or change documents.”

As Du Plessis points out, the conversion of CAD files into pdf lowers the mine's risk of loss of intellectual property. “The system keeps track of all historical data used or viewed by any employee,” he concludes. “Furthermore, systems ensure that not a single document can be used or viewed without authorisation.”