Komatsu is aiming to be a steward to collaboration in the mining world, providing a more open digital world for miners where it can bring a range of capabilities together and look at solving problems that are not just related to a specific make or model of machine, but analytics solutions that are equally valid across other makes and models. The focus is to create more openness and a more democratised data environment, including bringing in different domains of expertise from inside and outside mining and solving problems by converting data into useful information and getting that required information back to the customer in a consistent way, right down to the right people who can really use it in the mine to make key decisions and judgements.

Miners want consistency in terms of the processes and the look and feel of the information that they receive and being able to provide a consistent approach in terms of how this drives the the work management and different processes in the mining environment. Komatsu is making progress towards these ends – recently the Komatsu Technology Interoperability Center of Excellence was created. This group, based in Tucson, Arizona, focuses entirely on driving product strategy and developing roadmaps for technology and automation. Some of its recent work is geared towards an interoperability-focused ISO standard that, it says, will help make interoperability of automated equipment a reality. Many miners have started to digitalise their processes, but the greatest optimisation occurs when silos are collectively broken down, data is shared and solutions are integrated.