Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2006
ASSMANG Black Rock, Manganese Division, part of ASSMANG Limited, has contracted IST Data to upgrade its current version of the MAXIMO Enterprise System for work and asset management to the fully Web architectured MAXIMO release 5.2. The main drive behind the decision is to utilise the lower total cost of ownership benefits offered by the Web-based technology platform.
MAXIMO has been successfully utilised for the past seven years for work and asset management at ASSMANG`s Beeshoek opencast iron mine near Postmasburg and its manganese mines at Black Rock in the Kuruman area in the Northern Cape.
MAXIMO consolidates all of Black Rock`s asset management operations into a single IT system, including maintenance management, equipment tracking and lifecycle management, inventory management, procurement management, labour planning and scheduling. It enables the organisation to apply resources to work execution and link the records to work orders and project costs in MAXIMO. In addition, MAXIMO is interfaced to Accountability, and supply all financial transactions through to the financial system for record keeping and financial reporting.
Johnny Taylor, ASSMANG`s Chief Engineering Planner/Maintenance Analyst at the Black Rock operations, said a decision was made in early 2005 to improve ASSMANG`s productivity through the effective implementation and utilisation of an upgraded enterprise asset management system.
"ASSMANG will utilise MAXIMO version 5.2 to improve control over the maintenance, procurement and inventory within the mine. Maximo`s effectiveness is the result of well defined and implemented business processes for each of the key business areas, maintenance and work management, procurement and inventory management. In support of the business processes are Maximo`s functional-rich application and database.
Taylor said that in order to provide clients with high quality products at a competitive price, ASSMANG strives to utilise and commit resources that will lower maintenance cost, improve plant reliability and therefore produce products at the lowest possible cost per ton on time.
"Performing effective maintenance remains a balancing act between preventive maintenance activities and drive to failure strategies with the financial impact and customer service levels being the driving force between the decisions made. Maintenance strategies are never stagnant but needs continuous revision based on the latest equipment performance and financial history."
Commenting on the MAXIMO Upgrade Project, Taylor said: "The integrated nature of Maximo and the new EAM technology allows us to further develop our KPIs and analysis of equipment trends and the subsequent financial impact. This will allow us to further fine-tune our maintenance processes as well as optimising our MRO supply chain to cut fat and release unused or dead capital from inventory."
Taylor adds that the product`s pure Internet design and distributed component-based architecture contributed to the decision to upgrade. In addition, the pure Internet technology permits universal access from any browser-enabled device, including wireless, for increased mobility.
Among its many benefits, MAXIMO has enabled Assmang Black Rock to:
* Improve the speed and quality of customer service.
* Improve purchasing of goods and services.
* Improve worker efficiency.
* Automate the tracking of materials management and inventory.
* Better estimate new work and track actual project costs.
* Improve billing data analysis.
Gerhard Steyn, IST Data project leader for the ASSMANG MAXIMO Upgrade, says the ultimate goal was to standardise processes and application configuration across the Black Rock enterprise. "From experience during upgrades to the current versions of MAXIMO, we knew the application was flexible and could support the linking of applications and configuration of screens, value lists and fields."
He adds that MAXIMO is the most advanced enterprise asset management software in the marketplace because its architecture leverages the latest concepts and technologies, ensuring optimum compatibility with today`s Internet infrastructure.
MAXIMO will continue to support the core business functions of the mine and will interface with the mine`s financial system.
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