Tag Archives: Dassault Systèmes

Dassault Systèmes adds Strategic Mine Planner and Underground Mine Designer roles to GEOVIA portfolio

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Dassault Systèmes has used this week’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention, in Toronto, Canada, to showcase the latest portfolio advancements of its mining flagship brand GEOVIA.

GEOVIA solutions provide end-to-end virtual twin experiences focusing on the intersection of natural resources, infrastructure and urban planning, the company explains.

The GEOVIA solutions portfolio is transforming significantly to seamlessly integrate with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This integration establishes a unified source of truth, empowering organisations to strengthen their resilience in a swiftly evolving landscape while securing a competitive edge across the entire mining value chain, spanning from pit to port, according to the company.

The latest advancements in the GEOVIA portfolio include the Strategic Mine Planner role and the Underground Mine Designer role, which are available now.

The GEOVIA Strategic Mine Planner role complements the Pit Optimizer role, allowing users to develop a comprehensive strategic plan that is robust and reliable by evaluating critical input parameters through multiple scenario analyses, from development to closure, the company says. It enables the simultaneous or sequential application of several advanced value-adding options for optimising capacity to create a robust mining schedule that prioritises value and ecological responsibility. The role counts with a novel optimisation technology, based on an extension of the Bienstock-Zuckerberg algorithm, which provides increased net present value while significantly speeding up runtimes compared to any other commercial solution.

The GEOVIA Underground Mine Designer role enables the user to rethink the design experience of underground mining by evaluating multiple options thanks to generative parametric modelling, Dassault Systèmes says. Users can generate and evaluate various development designs through a highly automated process, offering an optimal design assessment. Adopting a “Safety by Design” approach allows compliance with requirements and safety standards related to underground excavations, from physical constraints to geotechnical features. The new Underground Mine Designer role allows significant time savings and transparency through seamless process and data model continuity between different mining levels, development areas and practical access designs, it added.

The two new roles complement the GEOVIA portfolio for mining in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which also includes Geology Modeler, Geoscience Referential Manager, Earth Engineering Coordinator and Pit Optimizer.

Mauro DelleMonache, CEO, GEOVIA, Dassault Systèmes, said: “GEOVIA solutions facilitate smooth collaboration, streamlined data exchange and enhanced workflow efficiency, empowering mining companies to make well-informed decisions, elevate operational performance and achieve operational and sustainability objectives. Our motivation stems from the vision of modelling a sustainable planet where technology, knowledge and know how play pivotal roles in advocating responsible management of natural resources.”

The top four business problems the mining industry needs to solve today

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Ahead of her appearance at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) Online, conference organisers spoke with Michelle Ash, CEO of Dassault Systèmes’ GEOVIA division, to get her thoughts on some of the biggest problems the mining industry needs to solve today, and what the mining industry can learn from other industries to gain a competitive advantage.

IMARC: What aspects should mining companies pay attention to in order to prepare for (and accelerate) the industry transformation to a more sustainable future?

MA: The biggest challenge to the mining industry today and in the future is changing opinions, changing expectations of society, of people, and of citizens. Our performance as an industry and the rate at which societies’ expectations are changing is actually widening. This does not mean we are not transforming. As an industry, we are adopting new technology, innovating and doing things differently; however, society’s expectations of us as an industry are so much higher than in previous generations. This is simply the result of seeing ongoing dramatic change in other sectors and expecting the mining sector to change as fast and as radically. This means that not only do we need to increase our rate of transformation, we also need to fundamentally rethink some of our processes.

This translates into the need to adopt completely new ways of working, in order to remain relevant to the community and the emerging workforce. Mining companies need to increase the rate at which they adopt technologies that enable mobility and collaboration to solve problems in unique and transparent ways. These platforms and applications make working collaboratively from anywhere seamless. Mining businesses must also ensure their workforce build new skills, such as high voltage electrical, data science and analytics, robotics, instrumentation in order to attract young talent and remain competitive employers.

IMARC: What are the major business problems the industry needs to solve today?

MA: For me, there are four major problems we need to solve as an industry:

  • Global orebody intelligence: We need to be able to find orebodies faster, cheaper and more completely. We can use satellite imaging to detect orebodies and use physical geospatial and hyperspectral technologies to provide additional data to a geologist;
  • Automation and electrification: We need to understand performance and optimise performance in real time and optimise planning in real time;
  • Precision extraction: We need to be even more precise in extracting the metal that we are interested in without creating excessive waste and subsequently being able to process the metal efficiently. This means using digital twins to create simulations and what-if scenarios before building in real life with sensors in place for analytics. This not only minimises risk but also reduces errors, and waste; and
  • Creation of social value: We need to better use technology to create and distribute value to our communities.

Mining companies’ real competitive advantage is the speed at which they can adopt technology into their business that solves a business problem, while continuing to create value to society. This is where mining organisations need to look at solutions that are already available in other industries and their ecosystem of competition and collaboration in order to build a sustainable future.

IMARC: What lessons can the mining industry learn from other industries for their competitive advantage?

MA: The mining industry can learn from aircraft and automotive industries; two industries which experienced something similar in the last quarter of the last century. Both industries have fundamentally changed from leveraging emerging technology of the time and adopting radically different ways of doing things.

For example, in the aircraft industry, technology has helped in a 91% reduction in development time, 71% reduction in labour costs, 90% reduction in redesign and dramatically reduced design and production flaws, mismatches, and associated errors.

The auto industry has also developed into a segmented network in the last 50 years. For example, no car company makes windshields or rear-view-mirrors anymore – they are always purchased from windshield makers, and rear-view-mirror makers, respectively. This division of labour across the automotive ecosystem enables suppliers to be agile and innovative. This also means that auto-parts can be quickly and easily sourced, and suppliers empowered to design and produce new parts quickly and efficiently.

IMARC: How can the industry attract younger people and sustain diversity?

MA: The only question mining companies need to consider – how do I rapidly change the way we work to enable greater inclusivity, more remote working, whilst also adding value to our communities?

In most of the developed countries, the mining sector has a mature and ageing workforce. For example, in Russia and Australia, three quarters of the workforce will be retiring in the next 15 years. The younger generation does not see mining in the same way. In addition, the younger generation, being digital natives, are also more interested in automation jobs, the robotics jobs, the remote operating centre jobs, or working with drones. This means the sector has to evolve much more rapidly and incorporate new technology and new ways of working with some of this great equipment to solve problems and work in fundamentally different ways in order to attract the younger generation. The younger generation is much more collaborative, much more eager to talk about the issues that they see and find solutions.

Michelle Ash will be sharing further insights on ‘Shaping the Sustainable Future of Mining’ during her presentation at IMARC Online on November 25.

GEOVIA MineSched 2020 receives the 3DEXPERIENCE

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The new GEOVIA MineSched 2020 comes with the ability to publish results to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform with MineSched POWER’BY, and allows users to update the starting point of all development and production activities for underground workflows and more, according to GEOVIA.

The results of a MineSched schedule can be uploaded to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to analyse and share schedule data, the company, owned by Dassault Systèmes, said.

“With report authoring and analytics, users can gain insights and knowledge about the tactical schedule,” GEOVIA said. “More importantly, with dash-boarding and collaboration, you can share those insights and knowledge with other stakeholders.”

Users can quickly and easily update the starting position of the schedule based on survey results and development reports with the new Development Progress Tracking tab, as well.

Mining Locations, created as part of the Surpac Stope Shape Optimizer (SSO), can now be directly imported into MineSched via the SDM Model process. To enable this workflow, a new Locations type option has been added to the Location Grouping workflow, and the option to select Stopes is available.

In addition a schedule can be quickly and easily updated based on survey results and production reports with the new Production Progress Tracking.

Additional enhancements or defect fixes that improve work performance include changes to Location names in Spreadsheet View; changes to Material Movement rules while performing stockpile blending calculations; performance improvements while using the Evaluate Headings process; and replacement of the Spreadsheet tools with a more modern solution.

Michelle Ash to become CEO of Dassault’s GEOVIA division

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Dassault Systèmes says it has appointed Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) Chair, Michelle Ash, as CEO of its GEOVIA software division.

Ash will help shape strategy to build growth across the company’s Natural Resources sector, as well as deliver next-generation solutions based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which integrates all the technologies and capabilities that leverage knowledge and know-how into one “cohesive digital innovation environment”, according to Dassault.

Ash, who has been chair of GMG since May 2018, was previously Chief Innovation Officer at Barrick Gold. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the mining and manufacturing sectors with a focus on business improvement and change management.

It is not clear if she will continue her role with GMG following this appointment.

GEOVIA, meanwhile, became part of Dassault back in 2012 when the France-based company acquired geological modelling and simulation company Gemcom Software International. Dassault renamed the division GEOVIA shortly after the deal was completed.

Dassault and BHP to partner on digital mine developments

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Dassault Systèmes says it and BHP have engaged in a long-term strategic partnership to leverage the application of digital technologies in mining.

“Combining the experience and resources of each company, the ambition is to unlock value by applying technologies proven in other industries to the core mining fundamentals of geoscience and resource engineering,” Dassault said. “The partnership intends to create a new level of understanding of resource and operational potential, underpinned by both companies’ commitment to safety and sustainability.”

Bernard Charlès, Vice Chairman and CEO, Dassault Systèmes, said: “BHP and Dassault Systèmes share the same vision and ambition for the mining of the 21st century. By digitalising all operations from planning to exploitation, our 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides the full ‘digital twin experience’ of the end to end processes; a unique collaborative innovation environment for holistic optimisation.

“This transformational approach provides market agility, improved predictability, sustainable mining innovation, and significant cost reduction all along the life cycle; a proven track record that has transformed the manufacturing industry to date.”

GMG members devise mine automation guideline

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The likes of Anglo American, BHP, Barrick Gold, Glencore, Newmont, Rio Tinto, Teck and Vale have collaborated on the Global Mining Guidelines Group’s (GMG) latest guideline on automation.

The Guideline for the Implementation of Autonomous Systems in Mining offers a broad view of the implementation of these systems, which are being used more and more frequently due to their potential for making the mining industry safer and more productive, according to GMG.

Christine Erikson, General Manager Improvement and Smart Business at Roy Hill, said the guideline “covers all aspects of operations, including people, safety, technology, engineering, regulatory requirements, business process and organisation models”. She added: “The guideline considers all perspectives in the industry, making it relevant and practical in implementation.”

The guideline provides a framework for mining stakeholders to follow when establishing autonomous mining projects ranging from single autonomous vehicles and hybrid fleets to highly autonomous fleets, GMG said. It offers guidance on how stakeholders should approach autonomous mining and describes common practices.

“More specifically, the publication addresses change management, developing a business case, health and safety and risk management, regulatory engagement, community and social impact, and operational readiness and deployment,” GMG said.

“There has been an incredible level of engagement in this project since its launch last year,” said Andrew Scott, Principal Innovator, Symbiotic Innovations, and GMG Vice-Chair Working Groups, who facilitated many of the workshops. “The industry interest reflects the growing importance and relevance of autonomous systems in mining and the industry’s need for a unified framework for mitigating risks and managing change while maximising the value of autonomy.”

Chirag Sathe, Principal, Risk & Business Analysis Technology at BHP – one of the project co-leaders alongside Glenn Johnson, Senior Mining Engineer, Technology at Teck – said the guideline is relevant even to those who have already embraced autonomy: “I would say that even though some mining companies have implemented autonomy, it hasn’t been a smooth ride and there are a number of lessons learned. This guideline would be a good reference material to everyone to look at various aspects while implementing autonomy. It is not meant to provide answers to every potential issue, but it at least may provide some guidance on what to look for.”

Erikson concurred, saying, “Roy Hill’s involvement has given greater insight into industry learnings that we have considered as part of our own autonomous projects.”

The guideline also promotes cooperation between the involved parties as a means of easing the implementation process, according to GMG. Andy Mulholland, GEOVIA Management Director at Dassault Systèmes, said: “Mining companies will need to rely heavily on their technology partners.” This guideline “sets down a great framework to be able to collaborate”, he added.

Sathe said: “As technology is moving very fast, guideline development also should keep pace with the change.”

As a result, the guideline will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, according to GMG.

GMG said: “Although implementing autonomous systems creates new challenges, such as changes to the workforce and the workplace, their successful deployment adds definite value, with improved safety and efficiency and lower maintenance costs. As more operations move toward the application of these technologies, this guideline will be an invaluable asset.

Mark O’Brien, Manager, Digital Transformation at CITIC Pacific Mining, said the process of developing the guideline highlighted “just how much there is to factor into deciding whether to implement autonomy, whether you’re ready for it and what the journey is going to look like.

“Having this all captured in a single, well-considered document is a terrific resource.”

Dassault and IPACS look at IoT sensing and 3DEXPERIENCE platform combination

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Dassault Systemes has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IPACS to jointly pursue technical and business opportunities in key industries in Australia, namely natural resources, defence, marine and offshore, cities and territories.

IPACS is an Australia technology company specialising in the collection, monitoring and reporting of real-time asset performance in various industries.

Dassault Systemes and IPACS went through a value assessment during a pre-qualification phase for the South Australia Government’s marine and defence industry supply chain programme, the “Virtual Shipyard”, to develop a strong domestic defence industry that will support the Federal Government’s Future Submarines and Future Frigates programmes set to commence in 2020.

In the course of the assessment, Dassault and IPACS identified each other as partners with strong and desired skills for technical and business collaboration as they explore opportunities in natural resources, defence and other key industries in Australia, they said. Under the terms of the agreement, Dassault will collaborate with IPACS to create a “first-of-a-kind industrial demonstrator in Internet of Things (IoT) for joint exploration of these business opportunities”, which will leverage IPACS’ IoT sensing technology and Dassault Systemes’ software solutions on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Kailash Nath Sriram, Managing Director and CEO of IPACS, said: “IPACS currently operates South Australia’s pioneering Remote Operations Centre (ROC) for the state’s resources industry. This new industrial IoT demonstrator will be a fantastic platform for IPACS in expanding our expertise to service other major industries.”

The ROC is a collaboration between OZ Minerals, the University of South Australia, IPACS Power and the South Australian State Government that provides an information and communications technology (ICT) platform for remote applications. It examines how vibration analysis of equipment at a distant mine site can indicate impending problems and failures. This enables equipment to be repaired before issues arise and used more intensively for longer periods.

The collaboration also further extends Dassault Systemes’ ongoing partnerships with local companies in Australia for industry capability development and expansion.

Said Masaki Sox Konno, Managing Director, Asia Pacific South, Dassault Systemes, said: “As a technology partner to IPACS, already an established player in South Australia’s resources sector, Dassault Systemes brings its global expertise and best practices in industrial processes and digitalisation solutions to the collaboration.”

ABB twins digital solutions with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform

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ABB and Dassault Systèmes have announced a global partnership to offer customers in digital industries a “unique software solutions portfolio ranging from product life cycle management to asset health solutions”, the two companies said.

ABB and Dassault will, they say, provide customers an end-to-end offering of advanced open digital solutions, enhancing competitiveness of industrial companies, while increasing flexibility, speed and productivity of their products’ lifecycles, manufacturing and operations.

The partnership will combine ABB Ability™ digital solutions and Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and build on both companies’ strong installed base, deep domain expertise and global customer access, they said. ABB has already adopted the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to model and simulate its solutions before delivering them to its customers.

“With this partnership, ABB will develop and provide customers with advanced digital twins, enabling customers to run ABB’s solutions and their operations with improved overall efficiency, flexibility and sustainability,” ABB said.

The companies will, in a staged approach, focus on factory automation and robotics, process industry automation, as well as electrification solutions for smart buildings, with the first joint solutions showcased at the upcoming industrial Hannover Messe trade fair, in Germany, on April 1-5.

ABB CEO, Ulrich Spiesshofer, said: “This game-changing partnership will serve our customers to lead in innovation and growth, fundamentally transforming their entire value chain to tap the vast opportunities of industrial digitalisation. Together, we are offering an open, end-to-end digital portfolio – from digital twin to asset health – that gives our customers a competitive edge, building on our combined offering, domain expertise and global reach.

“ABB is adding Dassault Systèmes to its strong partner network for industrial digitalisation, including Microsoft, HPE and IBM. We look very much forward to working with the entire global Dassault Systèmes team to drive innovation and customer value.”

Bernard Charlès, Vice Chairman and CEO, Dassault Systèmes, said: “The industry of the 21st century is no longer determined simply by the ability to manufacture goods. Today’s leaders will be determined by superior mastery of technical know-how. This is the new competitive differentiator and it’s happening now due to a convergence of digital technologies that are transforming every aspect of industrial business.

“In this industry renaissance, a platform approach enables the real and virtual worlds to inform and reinforce one another. Our partnership with ABB will draw from decades of combined expertise to help customers make the most of this powerful and dynamic trend.”

ABB’s digital solution offering within the industry is tied to its ABB Ability platform, launched in 2017, which offers more than 210 digital solutions to plan, build and operate industrial operations with higher productivity and safety at lower costs.

Dassault Systèmes, meanwhile, works with companies of all sizes in 11 industries to help them meet new challenges. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform integrates all the technologies and capabilities that leverage knowledge and know-how into one cohesive digital innovation environment that delivers digital continuity from concept to manufacturing to ownership and back,” the two companies said. Industrial companies can integrate the platform’s 3D applications to create a digital twin that captures insights and expertise from across their entire ecosystem, to measure, assess and predict the performance of an industrial asset and help optimise its operation in an intelligent way, they added.

The ABB – Dassault Systèmes partnership will initially focus on factory automation and robotics, smart building and process industries.

On the latter, the two companies said: “Competitive pressure in process industries, such as mining, requires companies to continuously look for new ways to increase safety, productivity and energy efficiency of sites, while reducing costs and risk of daily operations. A digital model of the underground environment, in connection with mine planning and control systems, would allow to optimise energy consumption and mine automation, as well as enable mine operators to monitor and optimise production in real-time, while running virtual simulations of future scenarios.”

GMG’s Open Mining Format gaining traction in 2019

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Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) says 2019 has, so far, been a productive for its Open Mining Format (OMF) and the growing community that surrounds it.

GMG’s Data Exchange for Mine Software sub-committee is committed to making OMF implementation straightforward. To this end, it has developed a support document that, as Project Lead Sam Bain, Partner Integration Manager at Seequent describes, “provides easy-to-follow instructions for making the most of OMF in your chosen product”.

The document illustrates how to use OMF with Deswik, Seequent, and Dassault Systemes products currently supporting it, according to GMG.

Bain explained: “OMF is a straightforward format that is easy to implement…The format can be used to transfer points, lines, meshes and regular block models, as well as the metadata on these objects.”

Gustavo Pilger, Technology Research and Development Director at Dassault Systemes, said the document “shows the community that the file format exchange is real as it is already implemented across a few applications”.

Pilger hopes the document will help improve the format and frame its second iteration, while spreading “the word that there is a file format exchange that supports interoperability across applications”.

The community adopting the OMF is widening, according to GMG. Bane Sullivan, a graduate student at the Colorado School of Mines, created an open source viewer for OMF on GitHub, which, GMG says, offers a way to view an OMF file without having to buy a software package.

Seequent’s Bain said: “It is a great sign of a community developing around the OMF. It can only be a good thing if a format can easily be incorporated in a free viewer by a student working on their own.”

The sub-committee will also be kicking off OMF 2.0 at a workshop in Toronto, Canada, on February 28-March 1. OMF 2.0 will focus on block models, chosen in response to feedback from end users. Bain said: “The end goal of the workshop is to agree on what OMF 2.0 will look like and then share this plan with the wider community for review and comment.”

GMG’s Open Mining Format is an open-source file interchange format developed to enable seamless and reliable transfer of data between mine software packages, which can produce major efficiency gains by eliminating the time required for manual and convoluted data transfer across the mine site, according to GMG.

Dassault Systèmes expands Australia footprint with LogiCamms alliance

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LogiCamms and Dassault Systèmes have expanded their software collaboration partnership with the signing of a system integrator alliance agreement.

The agreement will cover both enterprise technology deployments and implementation services for Dassault Systèmes’ industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, LogiCamms said.

Last year, Dassault Systèmes’ signed a software collaboration pact with LogiCamms in Australia, which included the development of South Australia’s Virtual Shipyard programme for the state’s defence industry and mapping of digital capability for large manufacturing projects.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Dassault Systèmes and LogiCamms will establish a teaming relationship and define business processes to deliver innovative and effective solutions to their mutual customers, LogiCamms said.

Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE is powered by 3D design, analysis, simulation and intelligence software in a collaborative interactive environment, while LogiCamms combines intelligent engineering with innovative technology development to improve asset performance, reduce costs and enhance the value of projects.

LogiCamms said: “This marks Dassault Systèmes’ first system integrator alliance in Australia and is part of the company’s broader strategy to expand its footprint in Australia through system integrator alliances, where system integrator partners like LogiCamms will benefit from Dassault Systèmes’ training and from potential revenues from 3DEXPERIENCE platform implementation services.”

LogiCamms Interim Chief Executive, Dan Drewe said the company’s “capabilities and market leadership” would be greatly enhanced with “Dassault Systèmes’ powerful industry solutions”.

Masaki Sox Konno, Managing Director, Asia Pacific South, at Dassault Systèmes, said the company’s Australia clients would be able to “maximise their investment in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform” by leveraging LogiCamms’ expertise and experience in the country.