Power and automation technology group ABB has announced a series of major orders in recent weeks, ranging from grinding mill drive systems for mines in Liberia and the US, to an HPGR drive contract in South Africa and an energy management system contract for LKAB in Sweden. In Liberia, ABB has an order to provide three single pinion high-speed mill drive systems for the Western Range iron ore greenfield mine owned by ArcelorMittal, an open pit outside Yekepa in the north of the country, close to the Guinean border.
The order includes three 7.4 MW squirrel cage induction motors, ACS6000 frequency converters with mill application controller and remote diagnostic facilities, transformers, medium voltage cubicles, chiller units and system engineering for 3 x 30 ft diameter SAG mills. ABB’s variable-speed ring-geared mill drive (RMD) solutions are designed for reliable, long-life and low maintenance operation and are ideal for ores with varying grinding properties. The contract was awarded in May 2012 by grinding mill and crusher supply major, CITIC Heavy Industries, with deliveries are scheduled for the second quarter of 2013.
In the US, ABB has an order to provide drive systems for the new ore grinding mills at Allied Nevada Gold’s Hycroft gold mine expansion project. The project is part of an overall $1.2 billion expansion that will almost triple the mine’s recovery and production rate for gold and silver by 2015. The contract was awarded in June 2012. The Hycroft open pit is located 50 miles west of Winnemucca in northwest Nevada. Once the expanded mill operations begin in 2015, production is expected to average 582,260 oz/y of gold and 29.1 Moz of silver for the next 10 years. ABB will deliver five dual pinion 2 x 9 MW low-speed mill drive systems for two 36 ft SAG and three 26 ft ball mills, and one dual pinion (2 x 5.5 MW) low-speed drive system for a regrind mill. The drive systems comprise transformers, frequency converters, synchronous motors advanced mill control, operations and maintenance features for dual pinion RMDs. ABB’s innovative dual-pinion mill drive system helps to minimise mechanical wear on ring gear mills, reducing downtime and repairs while increasing the availability of grinding process equipment. Operating on low-speed, with motors driving the pinions directly, no gearboxes are required. The solution also raises the efficiency and overall productivity of the process. Deliveries are scheduled for the third quarter of 2013.
In South Africa, ABB has an order to upgrade Anglo American Platinum’s HPGR drive system at the Mogalakwena North open pit mine. The contract was awarded in the second quarter of 2012 and consists of one HPGR drive system comprising two squirrel cage induction motors, two ACS1000 frequency converters and two converter transformers. The contract also includes a spare motor and transformer as well as ABB supervision for installation and commissioning. This is ABB’s first reference in optimising an HPGR drive system by exchanging the existing ABB fixed speed drive with a variable-speed drive system (VSD). Prior to this order, ABB already delivered, installed and commissioned equipment for the initial Mogalakwena North mine expansion consisting of two complete gearless mill drive systems in 2007 and one ring-geared mill drive systems for the Amandebult concentrator in 2009. Equipment deliveries are scheduled for the first quarter of 2013; with commissioning to follow in the second quarter of 2013.
Finally, ABB is to deliver an energy management system to LKAB that will optimise energy use at its Kiruna and Malmberget underground iron ore mines, and its newest Svappavaara open pit mine. ABB’s award-winning cpmPlus Energy Manager will “improve the energy efficiency of the mines, reduce their carbon footprint and lower their overall energy costs”, says the company, pointing out that in many cases, 15% of a mine’s total production costs are related to energy. Energy Manager helps customers in all industries monitor, manage and optimise their energy usage for maximum efficiency and cost savings.It provides reliable data on energy consumption and costs, to pinpoint potential process improvement targets as well identify the process area with the highest levels of energy efficiency. This data is then used as the basis of future energy saving measures. Energy Manager is completely scalable; this modular solution can start with basic energy monitoring and reporting at a single facility, and later expand to include multiple sites, or be implemented throughout the entire company to optimise energy use and manage energy supply costs.
In a recently published study titled CPM/MES Systems for Process Industries Worldwide Outlook, industry analyst firm ARC Advisory Group ranked ABB in the leading worldwide position for this expanding market. CPM and MES (Manufacturing Execution System) software provides visibility, execution, tracking, reporting and optimization of manufacturing processes to improve product quality, safety, and overall productivity.
According to the study, the CPM market grew in all regions of the world in over the past two years, as all manufacturing organisations need to collaborate and improve their efficiency to operate profitably.
The increased use of CPM is driven by the need to control energy use and costs, new regulations, globalization, standards enforcement, big data analytics demographic changes, and the overall need to reduce manufacturing costs.
Even with economic instability and exchange rate fluctuations, ARC forecasts that industry dynamics will continue to drive the overall CPM for process market growth positively in 2012 and beyond. The increased use of new technologies such as tablets, smartphones and cloud computing as workplace tools have set new expectations for the information access and capabilities provided by CPM solutions.
“ABB’s CPM solutions provide users with collaboration tools to improve productivity and asset availability, while reducing energy and maintenance costs in a rapidly changing business environment.” said Janice Abel, principal consultant at ARC and author of the study. “The acquisitions of both Ventyx and Mincom vastly expanded ABB’s CPM business. With its comprehensive product line, ABB stands poised to grow its presence even further in this market.”
ABB acquired power networking software company Ventyx in 2010. Ventyx then acquired Mincom, a software company focused on the mining business, in 2011. The combination of Ventyx, Mincom and continued strong organic growth of ABB’s existing CPM portfolio allowed ABB to move to the market leadership role. In 2011, ABB also recorded very strong organic growth in the mining business.
“Collaborative Production Management allows our process customers to extend the benefits that they get from the underlying automation they already have in their plant. The software ABB provides has been proven to reduce order to cash time for our customers’ manufacturing operations, improve throughput, reduce inventory and optimize maintenance,” said said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division. “We’ve heard customers talk about the need for complete shop floor to top floor integration for years; ABB is delivering CPM solutions that do exactly that and more.”