70% of mining organisations agree that IoT will play a vital role in remaining competitive.
According to the 2018 Inmarsat report, which gathered data from 100 large mining companies across the globe, Mining businesses identified IoT initiatives as essential to gaining, or maintaining their competitive edge.
Mine operators and their supply chain identify that IoT will help them retain their market share, or provide a point of differentiation, as competition in the sector intensifies, the forecasted quality of seams becomes questionable and profit margins are scrutinised.
The report notes that 41% of mine operators said they would use IoT to increase the automation of business processes, and 44% said that it would help them to identify cost saving and efficiency opportunities.
At Operator level, IoT will play a critical role in helping to increase the level of automation and improve production efficiency. This is particularly important to mine operators in developed countries like Australia, where they face competition from rivals operating in lower cost markets.
Drilling down to the equipment level, these organisations can drive efficiencies through asset utilisation and ‘live’ reporting metrics. GPS tracking and Connected Monitoring Devices become more cost effective and accurate every day. For example, if you have a fleet of remote generators powering vital equipment, you can now monitor fuel levels centrally. This cuts down on sending manned teams to each asset to visually check the fuel levels. If you have mobile assets spread of 50km² you can remotely monitor now often these assets are used, or if they are being used when they should be offline.
This digital transparency is providing a level of clarity to Mine operators and contractors which has neve been seen before. These seemingly simply devices drive cost reduction initiatives and increase productivity over the short and long-term.
IoT provides a level of digital transparency never seen before, particularly for mine operators in developed countries like Australia, which face competition from lower cost market rivals. Speak to us to find out about our ONTRAK™ GPS Equipment solution – 13 40 40.
