Tag Archives: AVEVA

AVEVA launches Predictive Analytics software to boost reliability, performance

AVEVA, a leader in industrial software driving innovation and sustainability, has announced the launch of its latest AVEVA Predictive Analytics software release, purpose-built for predictive monitoring of industrial assets in oil and gas, power, chemicals, mining and minerals, and manufacturing.

The software helps industrial operators achieve the highest possible levels of reliability and performance of industrial assets while improving sustainability and increasing workforce productivity, the company says.

This software release makes it significantly easier to deploy, validate, maintain and clearly interpret the results of predictive models, enabling asset stakeholders to make better, more timely and informed decisions to improve profitability.

The new release features automated model building. This new capability enables users to autonomously deploy new predictive models in a single action, greatly reducing the time required to deploy and scale the predictive maintenance solution while reducing errors and ensuring consistency in model development.

Inderpreet Shoker, ARC Advisory Group, said: “With rising market pressures industrial organizations must find ways to facilitate agile, resilient, and profitable operations. The predictive analytics market continues to evolve as the technology has advanced to a point where the data can be leveraged in such a way that asset stakeholders can easily operationalize predictive monitoring of their assets at scale enabling rapid improvements in asset reliability and performance.”

Shoker added: “Key for success is connecting data, systems and processes, enabling people throughout operations and maintenance to make, and act upon, decisions confidently. Scalability of predictive maintenance efforts for maximum return on investment will definitely be seen as a must have for many industries going forward.”

AVEVA continues to deliver on market and customer requirements with a bring your own algorithm capability. This enables data science teams to add their own artificial intelligence algorithms and intellectual property to the solution. Furthermore, deep integration with the AVEVA PI System ensures AVEVA’s customers are continuing to capture increased value from their existing industrial software investments.

David Bleackley, Value Chain Optimisation Lead at AVEVA said: “Data is the new currency of the industrial world and an effective predictive asset monitoring strategy is predicated on the ability to continuously transform massive amounts of sensor data into clear and actionable results. Operationalising a predictive monitoring program at scale has never been easier than it is now with AVEVA’s PI System and latest predictive analytics software release.”

Bleackley added: “This latest update demonstrates AVEVA’s continued leadership in creating innovative solutions that transform the global industrial analytics market.”

FLSmidth to accelerate MissionZero ambition with AVEVA partnership

FLSmidth and AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, have signed a global partnership to deliver, the OEM says, cutting-edge digitally enabled solutions and services to the mining industry.

The agreement will accelerate the digitalisation of mining operations and allow miners to benefit from improved performance and productivity globally, according to FLSmidth.

With the new partnership, FLSmidth will work with AVEVA, using its technology to securely integrate and provide various digitally enabled services to customers. The AVEVA PI System will serve as the central digital platform across FLSmidth’s operations. The vast majority of large mining companies around the world use the PI System to support data-driven decisions today and can now leverage their existing investments to gain new advanced insights from FLSmidth, the company added.

The partnership will accelerate FLSmidth’s delivery of its MissionZero ambition of sustainable productivity through connected digital services by leveraging AVEVA industry software and large customer install base.

AVEVA PI System’s robust data infrastructure collects, enhances and shares information about operational processes across equipment and operating systems in real time, from edge to cloud, FLSmidth explained. With its smart product portfolio and process and service knowledge, FLSmidth can bring new insights to the data to allow mine operators to optimise key areas across the flowsheet, for example, in predictive maintenance, process optimisation, improved recovery and resource efficiency, it added.

Mikko Tepponen, Chief Digital Officer at FLSmidth, said: “The partnership means AVEVA and FLSmidth can accelerate the customer’s digital journey with a more secure, standardised and connected mine. It is a significant step that enables miners to move from the optimisation of individual pieces of equipment to full flowsheet efficiency: this is where the major benefits of digital solutions lie.

“We are extremely excited about what we will soon offer customers in terms of improve uptime, operational efficiency, productivity and, of course, sustainability.”

Peter Herweck, CEO of AVEVA, said: “AVEVA and our strategic partner Schneider Electric have deep experience in developing data-driven innovation to enable safety, sustainability and profitability across the global mining industry. Our new partnership with FLSmidth will accelerate the transition to more sustainable mining operations by integrating world-leading processes and energy technologies for enhanced asset performance at every level.”

FLSmidth and AVEVA will immediately begin to integrate various AVEVA technologies and solutions with the FLSmidth IoT platform and smart product portfolio. A select number of customers have already agreed to form part of a pilot project around equipment availability and optimisation, with customer value expected to be proven in a short timeframe, it said.

Weir Minerals taps XMPro digital twin solution for Synertrex development

Weir Minerals has announced a new partnership with XMPro, a digital twin platform, to enable intelligent equipment and services and support miners to achieve higher performance while also reducing the environmental footprint of their operations, the mining OEM says.

The XMPro platform – as a part of the Synertrex® digital ecosystem – will facilitate the delivery of event intelligence, predictive analytics and real-time insights, Weir Minerals said. It allows for data orchestration and value creation from multiple sources, including sensors, miners’ digital ecosystems and data only available to Weir Minerals as an OEM, like maintenance data and 3D engineering models, it said.

The platform identifies critical events by applying artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, which will provide Weir Minerals’ customers with the next generation of predictive services and recommended actions. XMPro facilitates easy collaboration between reliability engineering and operations by providing real-time information and equipment insights, viewed via mobile devices and the Synertrex intelligence web portal, according to the company.

Weir Minerals also recently signed a digital partnership framework for strategic cooperation with AVEVA, an end-to-end pioneering industrial software provider. 

Ole Knudsen, Weir Minerals, Director Digital, said: “XMPro takes an actionable and collaborative approach to data that closely aligns with our Synertrex digital ecosystem. It is a platform ensuring maximum customer value from all the data we collect, ranging from equipment and process data to the in-house data we have access to as an OEM. We see the multiple data source approach as essential to build the holistic digital twins providing ‘intelligence’ to our customers in terms of insights, predictiveness and recommendations allowing for a proactive approach to maintenance planning and execution.

“Within the foreseeable future, we see these platforms and the building of the multiple data-source digital twins providing even more value for Weir Minerals and our customers, which is enabled by closing the loop between real-time operations, equipment design and manufacturing.”

Pieter van Schalkwyk, CEO XMPro, said: “The partnership between Weir and XMPro creates a unique opportunity for mining companies to accelerate their digital transformation journey for complex assets. It combines Weir’s deep domain expertise and rich asset information models with XMPro’s class-leading real-time, operational digital twin platform. This combination provides unique insights, prescriptive maintenance and operations recommendations for users of Weir’s extensive range of mining equipment.

“It has been a pleasure working with Weir’s engineering team, who are not only deep domain experts on mining processes but also have a clear vision of their roadmap for digital solutions that provide real-time operational intelligence for the overall mining value chain. We are excited that XMPro is the platform that Weir chose to deliver these capabilities to end-users.”

Weir Minerals and AVEVA team up to offer secure access to Synertrex IIoT hub

Weir Minerals has signed a digital business framework with industrial software provider, AVEVA, with an aim to use the AVEVA PI System™ as the data foundation for the OEM’s Synertrex® digital ecosystem.

Weir Minerals intends to use the AVEVA PI System to collect, contextualise and analyse data streams wihtin the context of Synertrex, its advanced Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform.

The objectives of the agreement include:

  • Digitally enabling the mining industry by simplifying data access and data sharing with easy and secure on-premises or cloud integration between Weir Minerals and its customers;
  • Establishing the data foundation for technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to optimise equipment and processes and thereby maximising sustainable performance; and
  • Pioneering new and innovative digital solutions supporting our common customers digital transformation and adoption of intelligent solutions.

The use of AVEVA PI, along with AVEVA Data Hub, a cloud-native hub for aggregating and contextualising on-premises and remote data, will offer the mining industry a unique solution for securely connecting mining operators with Weir Minerals as an OEM, the company said.

The business model will provide a variety of flexible integration solutions – from on-premise to cloud – that will make it easier for miners to integrate with the Weir Minerals’ Synertrex digital ecosystem. It uses a secure and simplified approach to access and share real-time and historical operations data, according to the company.

These shared ecosystems will provide miners and Weir Minerals with full data transparency and an easy-to-access, real-time 360° view of all Synertrex-enabled equipment and processes. They will also be the basis of the further development of digital twins and predictive algorithms, which will provide decision makers with recommended actions and real-time decision support, Weir Minerals said. This will lead to less power and water consumption and extended equipment life.

Ole Knudsen, Weir Minerals, Director Digital, said: “The AVEVA PI System is an established industrial data management solution that is currently used by nine of the top ten Fortune 500 mining companies. The proven and secure PI System enables us to build a series of Asset Framework templates for our equipment, making it a secure yet simple plug and play exercise to connect our equipment to our customers’ digital ecosystems. This will enable the critical first steps of a structured and standardised data approach.

“With the addition of the new AVEVA Data Hub and Weir Minerals’ Synertrex solutions, we’re in a unique position as an OEM to offer our customers a real game-changing approach to a flexible data sharing strategy. This will be the foundation of our data and intelligence driven digital optimisation solutions; this is how Weir Minerals will transform and enable more sustainable mining operations.”

Rónán de Hooge, AVEVA’s Executive Vice President of Information Management, added: “We’re very excited to work with Weir Minerals to deliver mining operators smart analytics to drive industrial transformation. AVEVA’s ability to collect real-time performance data in any location and deliver it securely to the Synertrex platform will give operators new insight into the health of their assets and help them optimise maintenance and avoid costly downtime.

“AVEVA is deeply committed to providing industrial companies with an open platform that is their trusted system of record for industrial data. Our products help companies harvest diverse types of critical industrial data across their distributed environments, enrich it with contextual information, and make it easily available to the people, applications and tools that will deliver transformation and sustainability.”

Amira Industry 4.0 interoperability project highlights ‘digital mine’ opportunities

Independent global not for profit organisation, Amira, says its global members are set to reap significant benefits from the finalisation of the Industry 4.0 interoperability project P1208 undertaken in Perth, Western Australia.

The Interoperability Enablement for Natural Resources project concluded in November and was sponsored by miners South32, Fortescue Metals Group and Gold Fields Australia.

The Amira project, which was conducted at the University of Western Australia’s Energy & Resources Digital Interoperability Industry 4.0 (UWA ERDi I4.0) TestLab, was designed to realise “the digital mine”, which requires mature interoperability standards to improve information flow.

The project ran multiple proofs-of-concept using interoperability standards (ISA-95/IEC 62264 and B2MML v7.0 (plus process centric event extensions)) that were originally developed to support the manufacturing industry.

These standards had benefited from many years of work (originally with contributions from BHP and continued by ETP and vendors such as RPMGlobal) in enhancing the standards to support mining requirements.

The resulting updated standards were used in P1208 as a means of exchanging information between common mining software packages from Datamine, ABB, AVEVA, RPMGlobal, Wenco and Manufacturing Intelligence. Each of these vendors played a critical part in the project’s success, according to Amira.

Managing Director at Enterprise Transformation Partners (ETP) and the P1208 Project Lead, John Kirkman, said the project was highly successful, demonstrating manufacturing standards could be adapted and used across various mining methods and commodities.

“In terms of benefits, miners should first note ‘interoperability’ is simply a means to an end, with that end being optimal management of their operations,” Kirkman said.

“By enhancing the core specialist software packages used by geologists, mine planners, mine execution/control, materials tracking and maintenance personnel, etc to work together as if they were always engineered to do so, you are thereby implementing the cornerstone of automating and optimising the processes used to manage your mining operations.

“This is just one of the reasons why interoperability is one of only three core pillars of the Industry 4.0 vision as the idea of achieving highly automated and optimised operations without interoperability is simply not viable.

“Industry 4.0 also recognise ISA-95/IEC 62264 as the standard for supporting modular operations management interoperability, while also recognising OPC-UA as the standard for level 2 (machine/process control) interoperability.”

Benefits of Industry 4.0

Kirkman said Industry 4.0 solutions remove a significant amount of manual effort that are currently an accepted part of the mining process.

“This, in turn, increases data quality by eliminating manual entry errors and aligning semantics, improves timeliness of access to new information and enables users to spend more of their time on the quality of their work,” he said.

“This enables the automated capabilities of the software packages to be fully utilised and opens opportunities for the vendors to develop additional high value automated decision support capabilities within their software packages.”

During the course of the P1208 project, this was most clearly and broadly demonstrated via the materials inventory tracking/management software packages, which were able to automatically receive material movement events (from fleet management systems and fixed plant) and material sample analysis results events (from a Lab Information Management System) and update block and stockpile quantities and grade, then send the updated block and stockpile quantities and grade to a mine planning software packages and data warehouse, all without any user intervention.

“With respect to major successes, the fact that we have been able to demonstrate that standards exist that are able to be applied to mining software packages that can exchange information regardless of what commodity you are mining, by whatever mining method, using whatever equipment, whether you are an open pit or underground mine and also supporting multiple areas of the value chain (ie geology, drilling, blasting, mining, processing, railing, port and shipping) is significant,” Kirkman said.

“With P1208, we have successfully demonstrated that standards do exist and that they can be applied to mining with great success and that miners can now begin to include the application of interoperability in their improvement/transformation strategies and, as a result, maximise their return on investment from future technology projects.”

Interoperability in action

Kirkman said this was exciting news for mining companies looking to make technology investments that have a much higher likelihood of achieving a meaningful return on investment.

Project sponsor Gold Fields Australia took part in the AMIRA P1208 demonstrations sessions at the UWA ERDi I4.0 TestLab in Perth, Australia, recently, examining how interoperability in the mine plan, scheduling, execution, and materials and tracking functions can improve performance.

One of the sponsors said: “I don’t think many mining companies really appreciate the magnitude of the inefficiencies and lost opportunities that exist in a typical mine as a result of systems not working together; I think it’s almost just accepted as we have no other choice today.

“The Amira project has really shone a light on this area and demonstrated how interoperability can significantly improve the way of working across the business.

“To witness schedules being published from one vendor’s software and being received by multiple other vendors’ software, and the same again with actuals and inventory balance updates in real-time, is quite exciting and even more so when you consider that none of the vendors worked directly together; they just applied the standard interfaces to their software under the guidance of the ETP/ERDi team and it all works.”

The ETP team and various vendors involved in P1208 are already implementing these solutions into an open-pit and an underground mine further validating the work, with case studies likely to be produced through 2022.

The ERDi TestLab has noted a recent uptick in interest from both Australia-based and overseas mining companies, which bodes well for the vendors whom can now take advantage of their investment in interoperable solutions.

The ERDi team has already commenced work to extend these solutions across asset management and maintenance, fleet management/autonomous haulage solutions to machines and open process control interoperability via integration of OPAS-based solutions from the Coalition of Open Process Automation (COPA), who have together built the world’s first commercially available OPAS-based control system.

Project findings

Some of the key findings from the project include:

  • There were no instances of an information type required by the end customer or other systems not already catered for by the B2MML v7.0 + process centric events schemas;
  • All vendors were able to enhance their software to support the standards successfully;
  • Software performance would likely be the limiting factor in how much data could be exchanged, not the standard itself, which can be addressed by vendors through various approaches;
  • That being able to receive accurate, real-time information from other systems exposed opportunities for vendors to implement new and advanced features that would not have been useful in a manually updated solution;
  • Though the standard supported all requirements and was able to be implemented by vendors, a number of areas were identified in which the standard could be improved to make it much easier for vendors to implement, maintain and update over time as well ensure it is sufficiently explicit to certify products. ERDi has already kicked off work to address these improvement opportunities;
  • Education is likely the greatest barrier to adoption today. As these Industry 4.0 approaches and opportunities are not yet commonplace in the mining industry, miners will need to make an investment in upskilling their workforce to be able to successfully implement and take advantage of these solutions. Industry 4.0 education and workforce enablement has also been identified by platform I4.0 and the world economic forum as major factors in successful industry 4.0 adoption; and
  • It is possible to establish standards management and governance processes to enable more rapid and frequent update of standards.

AVEVA completes OSIsoft acquisition

AVEVA has now joined forces with OSIsoft to, it says, meet the expanding information management needs of industrial companies and accelerate their digital transformation.

The combined portfolio brings OSIsoft’s data management together with AVEVA’s industrial software to unlock Performance Intelligence.

AVEVA announced the planned acquisition of OSIsoft for an enterprise value of $5 billion back in August.

“Providing greater operational agility and resilience, Performance Intelligence connects information and artificial intelligence (AI) with human insight, to enable faster and more accurate decision making, helping industries boost sustainability,” the company says. “By pairing the trusted capabilities of OSIsoft’s PI System with the leading industrial software of AVEVA, Performance Intelligence gives the people behind essential processes the rich, reliable data they need to better measure and understand the entire industrial lifecycle. Areas where Performance Intelligence is likely to have the most impact will include organizational productivity, operational agility, and sustainability.”

Craig Hayman, CEO at AVEVA, said: “Together we’re redefining the capabilities of industrial software. Through Performance Intelligence, we can see worlds of data from bold new angles, and inspire better understanding of complex value chains, to boost performance and drive sustainability. The combined impact of AVEVA and OSIsoft will enable our customers to manage complex industries more efficiently. Our expanded capabilities elevate AVEVA’s commitment to deliver operational agility that turns opportunity into business value for our customers.”

Philip Aiken, Chairman, AVEVA Group, said: “AVEVA’s sustained performance and growth has laid the groundwork that enables the acquisition of a market leader such as OSIsoft. Our joint portfolio of offerings and potential new capabilities will help deliver AVEVA’s long-term strategy for growth and market leadership in industrial software and information management by accelerating the solid growth trajectory and continuing to help customers on their digitalisation journeys.”

OSIsoft Founder, Dr J Patrick Kennedy, said: “We stand in awe of the innovation of our customers – the people who operate our society’s essential industries – who use our technology every day to improve performance, protect health and safety, keep the lights on and make the world run more smoothly. They have inspired us to join forces with AVEVA so that we can broaden our scope and increase the value we can bring to their important work.”

Hayman concluded: “This acquisition is a major milestone for AVEVA, enabling our team to draw on Dr J Patrick Kennedy’s vast leadership experience and domain expertise. We are honoured to continue the journey together with Pat in his new role as Chairman Emeritus. With Performance Intelligence, we can confidently say that AVEVA is paving the way to become the industrial software and data leader, heralding the start of an exciting new chapter for the industrial software market.”

AVEVA is 60% held indirectly by Schneider Electric.

AVEVA expands mining offering with Select digital transformation program

AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, has launched a new program that, it says, is designed to help customers accelerate their digital transformation agendas by leveraging the breadth of the AVEVA software portfolio across its install base.

AVEVA Select has programs designed to suit every product and solution specialisation and industry, according to the company, aligning with both market and technology trends to help companies simplify design, optimise production, reduce energy and maximise performance.

The program will expand AVEVA’s reach to a wider distribution of industries, outside its previous core customer base of mid/downstream oil & gas, heavy chemical, power generation and distribution, to incorporate many other sectors including mining.

The expanded AVEVA Select customer base will be able to leverage their installed Monitor & Control (M&C) and Planning & Operations (P&O) solutions from AVEVA to address new challenges, create opportunities and improve the performance of their industrial operations, the company said.

AVEVA’s engineering, P&O, asset performance, and M&C solutions deliver proven results to over 16,000 customers across the globe, according to the company. Its customers are supported by an industrial software ecosystem that includes 4,200 partners and 5,700 certified developers. This includes mining customers such as MMG and Black Rock Mine operations.

Bob D’Agostino, President of AVEVA Select North, said: “The AVEVA Partner Network continues to grow as a hub for the latest thinking on performance management of manufacturing operations and today it is utilised for the sharing of best practices with the partner community as well as harnessing their collective insights to help solve some of the world’s most complex industrial manufacturing issues.

“The launch of the new AVEVA Select Program comes at a time when industrial customer demand for digital transformation is growing exponentially and it will create new opportunities for the customer base.”

Kerry Grimes, Head of Partners, AVEVA, said the company’s Partner and Channel Network was already one of the most active and supportive global networks in the industrial and manufacturing sector.

“The passion of our people is to bring communities together in order to overcome everyday business challenges as well as develop innovative new ideas,” Grimes said. “This is particularly relevant in times like these where many organisations are feeling the effects of the economic downturn in the COVID-19 world.”

AVEVA project delivery software to unlock mining EPC cost benefits

AVEVA has introduced integrated engineering software designed to help customers transform the way capital projects are engineered, executed and integrated into operations and maintenance, it says.

The integrated portfolio comprises three software solutions: AVEVA Unified Engineering integrates process design with front-end engineering and detailed 3D based design; AVEVA Unified Project Execution links and streamlines procurement and construction processes for capital projects; and AVEVA Enterprise Learning enables the rapid skilling of operators and engineers using Extended Reality (XR) and simulation tools. The latter ensures efficient startups and shutdowns, normal operations, and the ability to handle abnormal situations, it says.

Within mining, AVEVA says it already helps mining operations overcome daunting challenges such as cyclical market demand, ageing production assets, and a workforce in transition with its software solutions.

Craig Hayman, CEO, AVEVA, said the launch builds on the recent news describing AVEVA’s capabilities as “the first company in the engineering and industrial software market to comprehensively address the end-to-end digital transformation imperatives with an integrated portfolio of solutions that deliver efficiency, unlock value and empower people across the lifecycle of capital assets and operational value chains”.

He explained that the solutions would change the way that owner operators engage with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies in designing, building, commissioning, and operating their capital assets.

The company said: “The functionality provided in these integrated solutions enables the realisation of an EPC 4.0 strategy for owner operators, central to digital transformation in the capital-intensive process sectors. This allows collaboration on a global scale, through hybrid cloud architectures and on a common platform. The entire manufacturing process can be traced, tracked, and linked – from engineering and design, through procurement and construction, to handover and to operations and maintenance, as a comprehensive digital twin for the capital asset.

Hayman added: “With the launch of AVEVA Unified Engineering, a first of its kind solution, we are breaking down the silos between engineering disciplines and enabling our customers to turn conceptual designs into 3D models quickly, accelerating engineering to estimation and ensuring designs can be operated before committing billions of dollars.”

New AVEVA Unified Engineering enables the integration of the process model and plant model lifecycles from concept to detailed design, delivering collaboration for multi-discipline engineers to collaborate in the cloud.

The net result, according to AVEVA, is a minimum 50% improvement in engineering efficiency in front-end engineering and design and up to 30% in detail design, which can yield a 3% total installed cost improvement. “These savings can be re-invested to ensure engineering quality, accuracy, and maturity for downstream project execution business processes,” the company said.

“AVEVA Unified Project Execution solutions integrate with AVEVA Unified Engineering to further break down the silos within procurement and construction by combining key disciplines covering contract risk management, materials and supply chain control, and construction management into one cloud based digital project execution environment,” AVEVA said. This could deliver up to 15% reduction in material costs, 10% reduction in field labour costs and reduce unbudgeted supplier change orders by up to 50%, according to the company. This translates to 10% total installed costs savings opportunities for customers.

AVEVA’s Enterprise Learning solutions combine traditional simulation-based learning with 3D connected learning management solutions, according to AVEVA. It extends process models and 3D models from AVEVA Unified Engineering to fast track DCS panel operator training, field operator training, process and maintenance procedural training, and process safety situational awareness training using cloud and XR technology to deliver up to 2% total installed cost reduction by improved operations readiness.

Amish Sabharwal, SVP, Engineering Business, AVEVA, said: the company’s engineering portfolio enhancements will deliver increased agility for its customers, enabling them to reduce cost, risk, and delays, minimising errors and driving rapid capital project execution.

“The cost savings are realised by mitigating capital investment risks at the process design stage, cutting engineering man-hours by up to 30% in plant design, reducing material costs in procurement by up to 15% as well as reducing field labour costs in construction by up to 10%,” he said.

“With these new solutions AVEVA is providing integration across all stages of the capital project, from conceptual design to handover, to optimise collaboration and break down silos between both engineering disciplines and project stages.”