Another important challenge that Arizona-based FMS provider, Model Mining, is working to overcome, is that FMS can be prohibitively expensive and/or complex to install, operate and maintain. This can act as a barrier, precluding smaller operators and contract miners from accessing the benefits that these systems provide.
Marcelo Romero, Founder of Model Mining, explained: «We know these solutions are needed in the industry, but their complexity often requires too many people and resources, and a big investment either to deploy or upgrade existing versions. This makes FMS only accessible for a relatively small group of mines or corporations.
«There also needs to be more scalability and interoperability in these solutions. If a customer with an existing FMS wants to expand the solution to all fixed or mobile assets at a mine, they will usually have to spend a fortune. Most well-known supliers focus their software developments only on trucks and shovels, and don’t have affordable solutions for auxiliary equipment, light vehicles and fixed assets, like light tower trailers. If a customer wants to integrate two or three FMS solutions into a single operation, it culd be very difficult.»
The business case needs of smaller operators and contractors can differ significatly from those of tier one and mid-tier miners. «Existing FMS on the market don’t necessarily fit medium or small operations because they don’t have the budget and resources to operate complex and expensive solutions,» Romero told E&MJ. «This is where our solutions can help.»
Model Mining’s mission is to reduce FMS complexity, wich is why its flagship solution is named ‘SimpleFMS.’ «Our hardware is so simple that customers can install it themselves with minimal remote supervision,» said Romero. «Our customers don’t always have people to maintain an FMS system, which is why we have tools to monitor the system remotely and advese the customer af any necessary changes.»
The SimpleFMS comes with native data storage and forwarding capabilities. This technology allows mobile assets to work is areas of the mine with little or no communication for hours, even days, and update the stores information when the device regains connection to the network. This capability reduces the need for staff to contantly move wireless trailers around.
«SimpleFMS automatically tracks equipment activity, eliminating manual entries and reducing distractions,» Romero explained. «Customers can install the SimpleFMS black box first, ald later, when they decide, they can install the SimpleFMS app. Because SimpleFMS can run as a «black box,» there is no need to train operators. It’s a webbased solution, so users can see the application from their computers or mobile devices from the mine or home.»
Model Mining currently has customers in Papua New Guinea, the Dominican Republic, Chile, and Bolivia, and is soon expanding to Peru and the US. Its clients are mainly medium and small mining operations and earth-moving companies.
Romero told E&MJ: «For SimpleFMS customers, the solution has brought many direct benefits, including increased productivity and better visibility of total material movement, hour by hour or shift by shift. Understanding clearly how truck and shovel availability and usability impact the production (basically having an SIC overview during the shift) is really important. The information SimpleFMS generates lets customers see which machines are most productive based on production cycle conditions.
«They can also control and monitor equipment availability and usability. The solution provides one source of truth for operations, maintenance and planning departments, and it can be used to monitor contractor’s equipment availability.»
«As part of our 2025 technology development roadmap, we will soon offer high-precision management solutions for shovels, drills and dozers, as well as payload monitoring systems and fuel level sensors,» said Romero. «We also want to add more automated logic based on sensorized eqipment. The solution should be like a smartwatch that detects whether a person is running, walking or swimming.»
«We will have a new user interface-user experience (UX-UI) office application to help users manage production cycles and increase equipment productivity,» Romero added. «And, of course, we will continue to add more machine learning to our solution.»
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