Australasian Mine Safety

SELF-SERVICING GROWING BY 50% BY 2020 We will start seeing a lot more augmented reality (AR) experiences used to put the customer in control of operating or servicing their own assets. Just think of a Nespresso machine or a Dyson vacuum cleaner. Both companies have invested significant sums in helping consumers – with the aid of their smartphone and a QR code – to access visually overlaid step-by-step instructions on usage and repair. The same kind of model could be applied to more complex systems within a mining environment, providing detailed and highly customised plans for users to work from – without any of the superfluous information usually found in manuals. This AR vision shares many of the same benefits as the IoT and digital twin approaches listed above. It will help maximise the time of a limited pool of service engineers, but also create a better customer experience. We can't underestimate the Apple eff ect here: with AR being built into iOS handsets, it's only a matter of time before the firm democratises and monetises such capabilities via an intuitive, user-friendly platform. As well as downloading apps and music, think of downloading an AR experience. HOW TO GET THERE IN REALITY There is clearly plenty of opportunities to drive better service delivery, but for mining companies to reap the benefits a few things need to happen. It is important not to think of innovative technology as an end goal. First up, make a value-based business case for any new approaches. That might mean wanting to increase first-time fix rates, off er new outcome-based contract types or simply reducing costs by ensuring engineers are only dispatched when strictly necessary. Once you have established the business case you might need to break down traditional organisational silos between engineering, design and service. An AR experience, for example, is only as good as the engineering data you are able to populate it with. It works two ways, though, as the feedback from product sensors will help engineering teams design and build better assets going forward. It is much easier to ensure that data flows throughout the organisation if everyone is using the same enterprise system. The last thing you want is new technologies creating their own data silos. New technologies will deliver greater benefits if integrated with your ERP software, and those benefits will be easier to measure. Ideally, you should be able to calculate the actual value delivered by new technology and compare it with your business case, to maximise the value of future investments. Ultimately, you need the people, processes, data and systems all optimised to capitalise on these emerging approaches and reap the full benefits. 51 www.amsj.com.au / Winter 2018 / AUST R A L AS I A N M I N E SA F E T Y J O U R N A L

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