moneo, a new Industrial Internet of Things platform, is helping mines better harness their data.
As a manufacturer of sensors and controls for industrial automation, ifm efector wanted to future-proof itself.
And as Industry 4.0 began to gather steam, the company found there was still a wide gap between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT).
Following the acquisition of several software companies, ifm efector began developing a platform that could bridge that gap, using sensor data gathered in industrial applications to provide engineers with the tools they need to improve operation.
ifm’s national Internet of Things (IoT) business manager Freddie Coertze said the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform moneo was designed to be easy to use.
“moneo help engineers look after their assets and help them make better decisions,” he told Australian Mining.
“The platform is middleware, which means it can collect data inside the platform, analyse it without any need for set-up or programming, and then send information to other enterprise resource planning systems.
“What helps it stand out is in-built machine learning. Artificial intelligence can examine previous performance to predict when maintenance will be required. This is something that usually needs a data scientist, but we have put it back into the engineer’s hands.”
moneo takes the user through a five-step wizard. This lets the engineer choose a target variable (eg vibration, temperature, flow) and select the support variables (eg current, pressure).
The user can remove data from periods that would affect the data – like during a shutdown – before running several formulas through a neural network decision tree to provide the engineer with confidence bands for predictive maintenance and to detect anomalies.
Coertze said the information can then be automatically sent from moneo and integrated into other systems in use at the site.
“It’s not just a dashboard tool, it can integrate with other systems,” he said. “For example, if moneo detects an anomaly, it can submit a maintenance ticket automatically so that maintenance staff are dispatched as early as possible.”
The platform launched in Australia in 2021 and is already being used in the mining industry.
“Hydraulic units are the heart of mining operations,” Coertze said. “We can use sensors to help predict issues occurring at this critical point to remove the risk or a shutdown.
“moneo can also detect if a roping event occurs in a cyclone. These separators are usually hard to monitor, as everything inside moves too quickly to predict.
“Sensors can help detect if pressure inside is too high or low to ensure no precious metals are lost or production stopped.”
ifm provides consultation services as part of its offering, sitting down with mining engineers to learn more about the problems they are looking to solve.
moneo is just one tool in the ifm arsenal that can help detect and eliminate these issues. Coertze said the company has an application-first mindset.
“In today’s age, there is always a new way of doing things,” he said. “When consulting with customers, they might have heard about the latest technology, but often these are still proof-of-concepts and might not solve the problems the engineer is dealing with.”
Scalability is an important part of this process, with the first system acting as a starter kit loaded with all necessary software and hardware. From here, a mine can add other appliances and systems across the site or organisation.
Digital transformation can be a tricky process and starting small allows mines to remain agile if a change of course is needed. Data gathered from these applications may even show the engineers there is something entirely unexpected on which to focus.
ifm has offices across Australia that can help customers implement, install and operate their sensors and systems.
“Once we start on a project, we set up a project team to assist the mine and ensure everything goes smoothly,” Coertze said. “Inside the software, there is a support line that allows engineers to ask the experts for help if needed.
“We have also designed moneo in a way that we release a new version every three or so months. If a mining organisation purchases it today, that means it will still have the latest version with new features in 10 years.”
This feature appeared in the October issue of Australian Mining.