Innovative solution helps mining companies gain a comprehensive view of production environments to improve efficiency, reduce waste and optimize operations.

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has announced the launch of the Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution designed to provide mining companies with an integrated software solution that manages their entire mining operation from resource to market. The solution enables mining companies to optimize plans and schedules, identify risks and deviations, pinpoint inefficiency, and present the right information to the right people at the right time. The solution can increase mining productivity by up to 20 percent by helping mining companies use information to drive operational efficiencies.

“Our supply chain operational data needed an overhaul and in order to measure it properly, we needed to improve it," said Diane Courtemanche, Director of Technology Integration at the Iron Ore Company of Canada, a customer using the IPOS solution. “Since implementing the Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution from Schneider Electric, we have greatly improved our use of data and can now measure and make business decisions using trusted and validated information. This change has contributed positively towards an improvement in performance for our company."

The solution helps mining companies collect, integrate and analyze information across their production environments to gain a comprehensive view of their operations and address the challenges of siloed data and inaccurate and untimely information. The Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution enables data to be leveraged to model the supply chain - including mines, processing plants, stockpiles, transport routes and port movements - to predict how each entity in the value chain will operate. The solution lets companies view their supply chains both as discrete components and as a single system that operates according to unified objectives and metrics. Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution uses data analysis of contextual process information to improve predictive maintenance and identify and resolve bottlenecks.

“Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution helps mining executives identify ‘what-if’ scenarios and run simulations against this data,” said Diego Areces, President, Mining, Minerals and Metals Solution, Schneider Electric. “This solution is a game-changer for leaders in the mining industry by allowing executives to gain intelligence around business scenarios prior to committing to capital investments. We are proud to work with leaders in the industry to achieve improved supply chain visibility and address common delays in their accounting systems.” 

”Mining companies globally are seeking to manage their value chains more effectively in the face of declining grades and fluctuating markets,” said Dick Hill, Vice President at ARC Advisory Group. “The Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution enables mining companies to manage their value chains as an integrated whole. This provides optimization capability from the resource to the market, resulting in incremental revenue gains and efficiency savings.”

Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution utilizes Schneider Electric’s StruxureWareTM for Mining, Minerals, and Metals software, a scalable platform that includes solutions for energy management and asset performance. This platform ensures ease of integration for new functionalities as needed. In addition to StruxureWare for MMM, the Integrated Planning and Optimization Solution leverages Schneider Electric’s consulting, partner and complementary component services.