By Freya Purnell
BHP Billiton Iron Ore (BHPBIO) has selected the Loc8 cloud-based asset maintenance, service and job management platform for use at its Mooka Facility, to supplement the Maintenance Management capabilities of its corporate SAP system.
Against a backdrop of plummeting iron ore prices, the platform has been selected to help with “cost containment”, and underpins a $1 billion capital productivity project that involves full automation of manual processes.
Loc8 will be used for the automation, data dissemination and control of over 200 business process rules managing 67 robots forming a Rolling Stock Reliability System (RSRS) employed at BHPBIO’s Nelson Point and Mooka Ore Car Repair Shops (OCRSs).
The Mooka OCRS, in particular, is an integral part of BHPBIO’s overall expansion strategy, with the ore car fleet being significantly expanded to cater for increased throughput.
According to Loc8, BHP Billiton was seeking an innovative, best-of-class platform to manage full robotic automation of its rail car maintenance tasks, such as replacing bearings and lubricating moving parts, in a productive and capital efficient manner.
This deal builds on an existing relationship between the two companies.
“Every company, no matter how large or small in the service supply chain, strives to run as efficiently as possible. BHP Billiton’s newly created iron ore car maintenance facility in Mooka, WA, has taken the opportunity to set a high standard in efficiency from the ground up in using Loc8 effectively as its ‘digital oil’ to run its maintenance operations,” said Owen Batt, chief technology officer at Loc8.
The Loc8 platform is used by aviation, rail, mining, public sector, maintenance, facilities, retail, hospitality and other industrial organisations across Australia and Europe.
Image: BHP Billiton
