The mining value chain that includes extracting raw material to delivering products to customers—is the backbone of the industry. In the mining industry supply chain management is not only a key trend driver but also unique in its application. Historically, comprehensive management of the inbound and outbound logistics and warehousing, and value chains has not been a priority for mining companies. This oversight has resulted in siloed operations (logistics and commercial services) and organizational setups in which responsibilities are distributed to optimize individual steps (mining, processing, rail, or shipping), rather than a comprehensive whole. Miners face a considerable challenge to manage logistics from a remote hinterland. And, since logistics in mines use multi-modal transport systems- railway rakes, containers, trawlers etc., mining companies need to have end-to-end visibility to ensure that the extracted ore reaches the consumption point in time and avoid the risk of theft in transit.
To date, the mine-to-market value chain has often been handled within organizational silos, which have limited coordination and real-time data exchange. Understanding the mining value chain as a single integrated process, however, can allow companies to take a truly comprehensive view of performance. Smooth and seamless supply chain management can aid businesses in eliminating any kind of excess costs and delivering products faster for the required purpose. All this involves a stringent and tighter control of inventories, production, distribution, and sales, and here is where automated weighbridge systems have been a boon for improved supply chain management. Mine-to-market performance enhancements aim to unlock greater potential than optimizing operations, the value chain, or commercial services independently.
Weighing automation is the future of weighing operations. End-to-end transparency and data-driven innovations can define the ultimate competitive edge, offer the potential to operate with more agility, increase control, and unlock adjacent value pools. A key component of the mining value chain is the management of the stock from extraction to transportation for achieving pit-to-port optimization. Worldwide, up to 15% of all minerals extracted are lost due to theft and mismanagement. One of such problems that have been simmering for decades is the issue of coal theft or coal pilferages from illegal mining, trafficking, and transportation of coal either from railways transportation or trucks ferrying purchased coals to plants and manufacturing units. The latest example is the alleged theft of 4.5 lakh tonnes of coal from the Baranj open-cast mine in Karnataka by the coal mafia. Understanding the gravity of the problem, Coal India began using technology to tackle and reduce cases of coal theft and pilferages through unmanned weighbridge and vehicle tracking system.
Unmanned Weighbridge Systems are a stand-alone system that allows 24/7 weighing operations without the need of a human operator enable through the use of smart emerging technologies like AI and RPA. The user-friendly interface enables easy operation by the truck driver which in turn reduces operational costs and ensures high efficiency in the entire process. The systems are designed to manage and track the critical information created at the time of weighing and labelling the mines and minerals easily and flexibly for smooth evacuation. It enhances a mine-to-market performance that relies on two underlying factors of organizational enablement, and data and tech architecture. Through the integration of the legacy system with all segments of the mining value chain that run in silos and restricting business units, it transforms the mining value chain into one integrated process rather than a series of individual steps. Finally, it introduces lean and agile processes as well as continuous improvements in technology and advanced analytics. This checks pilferages in the whole mining supply chain which increases the profitability. Unlike existing conventional systems where weight captured in digitizer requires human intervention for capturing and generating e-transit pass, this system is completely automated. It provides a secure and reliable channel for data transmission from equipment to Minerals Management System. This eliminates the scope of any clerical errors or tampering in the e-transit pass generation process.
Benefits
- Parking lot management and tracking vehicle movement in and out of the mining stockyard help in avoiding congestion facilitating smooth movement
- Assigning vehicle to permit generated from Mineral Management System
- Collecting, processing & storing data of the vehicle, tare weight (without mineral) and gross weight (with mineral)
- Dynamic route planning and task allocation based on availability 0f weighbridge
- Integration with vehicle guidance and positioning sensors on weighbridge along with active feedback Public Announcement (PA) system
- Visual information of weighment process on large LED screens
- Integration with GIS and GPS for tracking of vehicles within mining area (optional feature)
