Siemens has been a leading actor in the story of industrialised mining in South Africa ever since the early days of the gold rush in the Witwatersrand, following the discovery of the world’s largest-known gold deposits there in 1886. Starting in 1895, the company (then known as Siemens & Halske) was instrumental in expanding the supply of electrical power to Johannesburg and the neighbouring goldmines. During Electra Mining Africa, I had a chance to sit down with Siemens’ Claudio Ranaudo, senior vice president for the company’s Digital Industries division for Southern and Eastern Africa, to discuss the present and future of its involvement in this critical local industry.
Having joined Siemens South Africa only last year, Ranaudo nevertheless brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to the table, earned through 15&nbs;years of working in various positions, and spanning a broad geography. He started at Siemens Germany in 2007 as an R&D; engineer and went on to lead global engineering and sales teams. Following that, he was entrusted with heading up Siemens Digital Industries in Qatar and Oman, and led the company’s business development efforts for the Middle East region. This puts him in an ideal position to offer insights into the ways things are done (and perhaps, should be done) in South Africa compared with the rest of the world – on both the sales and technical fronts – particularly in the mining, oil and gas, water, and food and beverage verticals with which he is most familiar.
This being his first visit to Electra Mining Africa, Ranaudo was nonetheless cognisant of the significance of the event, given its status as the biggest of its kind on the continent and the fact that 2022 marked the end of its four-year hiatus forced by the global pandemic. “Electra Mining has always been an integral platform for us to connect with our customers, partners, and key stakeholders to showcase our most innovative end-to-end product and solution offering for mining. We are the only industrial automation partner that has this mining capability which includes Siemens software,” he enthused.
Linking together the mining process chain
Siemens provides a complete field instrumentation portfolio for the processing of minerals, which is key to implementing a cohesive automation strategy that values not only production output, but also operator safety. “As a process control system for minerals operations, we offer our Minerals Automation Standard, which is based on Simatic PCS 7 – one of the leading DCS systems in the process industry,” Ranaudo continued. “Siemens Automation is a seamless, integrated automation solution from the sensor level to complete process automation, which is highly scalable and supports open standards for easy integration of electrical devices, drives, MCCs, process instrumentation and vendor packages. Together with interfaces to plant management-level tools, our globally available, first-class lifecycle service makes Siemens Automation a cutting-edge and future-proof solution for every automation and control task in a mine.
“Digital disruption is also a key factor that’s creating both opportunities and challenges for organisations. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is disrupting economies and the development of digital skills is becoming increasingly vital. There is an opportunity, especially in Africa, to embrace new and cutting-edge technologies, combined with human talent to accelerate industrialisation and drive economic growth.
“Collecting and processing massive amounts of data will be essential for mining companies as they digitalise and automate their operations. Executable digital twins are one of the technologies occupying centre stage in this arena, thanks to how they allow end users to streamline everything from completing capital projects on time, in scope and within budget; optimise mine design and resource utilisation; improve execution; and improve maintenance and support,” he stated.
Further to his point about digitalisation as a driver for change, Ranaudo emphasised the importance of the Siemens Xcelerator platform. Xcelerator is a new, open digital business platform featuring a curated portfolio of IoT-enabled hardware and software, a powerful ecosystem of partners and a marketplace.
Ranaudo, however, described Siemens’ ambitions for Xcelerator much more colourfully as “the Amazon for the process world. The sheer scope of the Xcelerator spectrum is unmatched in the industry. It goes a step beyond digitalisation by considering it as only a means to an end – that being to provide end users with unparalleled freedom to use their own data to effectively identify problems and propose solutions, and to collaborate with their suppliers, vendors, partners and customers to foster innovation and growth.”
By 2050, Siemens envisions all this coming together to deliver fully automated operations using autonomous vehicles, drill rigs and surveying equipment. A comprehensive, completely integrated digital twin of a mining operation will further serve to enhance strategic execution including the life of the mine, business, and short-term planning in the decision-making logic. “Constantly evolving technologies and business models will require mining company employees to develop new skills,” Ranaudo continued. “Skills are a vital component of digitalisation. We believe that digitalisation can bridge the gap and create a more highly skilled mining workforce, thereby increasing safety, enhancing training and development, and making mining an attractive industry to attract new talent and skills.”
Sustainability increasingly sets the agenda
Acknowledging the importance of the role the mining industry must play in decarbonisation initiatives to curb global warming, Ranaudo pointed out that many of the raw materials needed to manufacture more environmentally sustainable technologies are themselves the product of mining. “Simultaneously, their growth will alter demand patterns for upstream mining commodities.
“At Siemens, we want to become a partner to all stakeholders by supporting them on their journey towards a more sustainable economy, and we will do this by creating sustainable value. It is therefore our highest priority to adopt a position of leadership on decarbonisation and responsible business practices, while also helping our customers meet their own sustainability goals with our eco-efficient portfolio of integrated products, services, and solutions in the form of hardware and software. Our focus is to invest in R&D; and innovation aimed at increasing the resource efficiency of our offerings and hence decreasing the environmental footprint of our customers,” he concluded.
| Tel: | +27 11 652 2000 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.siemens.co.za |
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