Company Announcement - Multotec is playing an important role in helping its customers to improve the throughput and efficiencies of beneficiation circuits with innovations such as Hawkeye®. Literally named after the expression of keeping ‘a hawk’s eye’, this tailored monitoring system allows Multotec customers to carry out predictive maintenance on critical wear items such as screen panels, flotation wet ends, mill lifter bars or cyclone liners. With regard to screening, panels are essential in maintaining a constant high quality throughput on a beneficiation circuit. “Screen panels are an integral part of the process,” Ian Chapman, engineering manager at Multotec Manufacturing, says. This is one of the reasons Multotec offers Hawkeye® as part of its field service and maintenance contract offering for customers.

Hawkeye®, based on monitoring the aperture growth of screen panels, allows management of screen-product size distributions. The system features graphic interfaces for easy interpretation and visualisation of results including MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and wear patterns. It is possible from the historical data to predict the life of replacement panels with reasonable accuracy.

An added benefit is that Multotec itself is able to conduct comparative analyses during field trials, which proves valuable for product development and enhancement. “Hawkeye® plays an important part in our ongoing innovation and continuous improvement initiatives,” Chapman says. Hawkeye® is available in both Classic and Lite versions, with the latter allowing for off-line batch loading and posting to the dedicated Hawkeye® server, typically for use whenever bandwidth constraints are an issue. This means that Hawkeye® Lite is ideal for customers operating in remote locations in Africa, Chapman points out.

“We use technology such as Hawkeye® to give our customers advance warning on any potential problems or maintenance issues. This means our customers are able to plan in advance, reducing downtime and minimising any maintenance or repairs,” Chapman says. “With commodity prices under pressure, such planning windows are important for our customers to manage their plant availability.” Customers are also assured that Multotec is updating the system constantly. “We are always adding enhancements to improve the overall functionality,” Chapman says. The most recent additions include improved reporting to customers, additional fields added for more accurate measurement and a service module which assists with job card generation by specifying item quantities and the times required for specific tasks.

“We have also integrated it with Multotec’s overall stockholding system,” Chapman says. “This provides a better insight into consumption and inventory levels and allows us to reduce urgent requests to our production facilities. “In most cases, our customers want to try and run their plants for as long as possible in order to increase the availability, and Multotec has to be cognisant of all the issues that our customers face. We also have to be sufficiently flexible to be able offer our customers the benefit of our considerable experience in a range of commodity sectors and beneficiation circuit options. Now more than ever, Hawkeye® has allowed Multotec to enter into true partnerships with its customers,” he says

Chapman says it is important to note that Multotec is an integrated solutions provider and it is not just about product. “We have been developing Hawkeye® since 2005 as a value added service for our customers.”