The simplified asset management offering from Mainpac and SYSPRO promises to deliver significant cost savings to mining companies through the reduction of maintenance costs and improved plant reliability.
The pre-integrated solution incorporates enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provider SYSPRO and enterprise asset management (EAM) software provider Mainpac.
SYSPRO general manager Asia Pacific Shaun Butler said the joint offering will give customers control over key assets and business processes.
“Both Mainpac and SYSPRO have had a single solution focus for more than thirty years and both have invested heavily in ongoing development and continuous improvement.
"This partnership now enables SYSPRO ERP users to gain interactive dashboards, workflow capability across an entire enterprise, accessibility from anywhere and anyhow, flexibility in deployment, total scalability, and a complete out of the box solution that works seamlessly across all areas of the business without the need for any customised integration,” Butler said.
Mainpac’s executive chairman James Kirk said the combined offering is unique in the mining industry.
“Mining is an asset-intensive business and maintenance can account for anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent of a mine site’s overall costs. This makes it a key area in which companies can gain efficiencies and a competitive advantage,” Kirk said.
“As well as being asset intensive, mining is also a heavily regulated industry. Equipment is frequently audited to make sure the correct parts are in place and the equipment is well maintained. For example, it’s essential to manage AFFF or FFFP fire suppression systems and on board fire suppression systems to prevent sparks or flames that could lead to fires or explosions.
“Maintenance managers must be able to provide accurate records for compliance and auditing purposes. This process becomes much faster and less labour intensive with the use of an effective, best-of-breed EAM system,” he said.
A recent Aberdeen Group report suggested that a mine’s performance is directly affected by the management of its assets.
The report highlighted that performance can be characterised by overall equipment effectiveness, unscheduled asset downtime, maintenance costs and return on assets.
“Many ERP providers offer a solution that includes asset management capabilities, but the asset management component is usually an afterthought and is often inadequate to meet the requirements of asset intensive businesses.
“The initial outlay and ongoing costs of these ‘all-in-one’ solutions can be very high, especially when the purchased solution is inadequate, and the company must return to market to find an asset management solution that meets their needs,” Kirk said.
By partnering with SYSPRO, Kirk believes the company has created a ‘best of both worlds’ solution.
“With a comprehensive ERP system and a specialised, best-of-breed EAM system working together in a pre-integrated solution, mining companies will start seeing benefits almost immediately,” he said.
Pre-integration also makes implementation of the system both easier and more efficient, it also allows for scaling so companies can start small and expand use of the system across multiple sites or divisions as needed.
According to Kirk the ability to track and manage asset availability and performance and apply maintenance strategies according to an asset’s criticality to the business delivers substantial cost savings and operational efficiencies.
“The integrated system lets you see everything down to the finest detail so you can make smarter decisions about maintenance, faster,” he said.
“You can balance maintenance costs against replacement costs, for example. With a best of breed asset management system in place you can identify warranty opportunities, reduce unplanned downtime and reduce the number of spare parts and consumables held across multiple sites.”
The SYSPRO/Mainpac solution is available from January 2013.