Big Data Comes To Mining - Mesabi Daily News

LAS VEGAS — When the concept of “Moneyball” broke through baseball in 2002, it was revolutionary. Here’s was one guy, Billy Beane, and one team, the Oakland A’s, operating off the same set of data available to every other team, but looking at it differently and winning with far less money.

What happened after 2002 was the real revolution in baseball. Fourteen years later, teams have dedicated analytics departments for the sole purpose of crunching numbers to exploit a weakness in their opponents, the player market or find hidden strengths to help their team.

They’ve turned baseball, through sometimes complex mathematical equations, into a game of numbers. They’ve designed their own systems, new statistics and compile brand new data sets everyday.

The analytical revolution isn’t limited to sports. It’s happening in media, politics, medicine, and mining is getting in on the act now.

“Hang a sensor on everything that’s valuable,” is how Ted Blackburn, a pre-sales solutions architect at General Electric Digital, explains the energy giant’s basic analytical motto.

Blackburn was showing off GE’s Predix cloud-based analytics software, which is designed to connect with industrial assets, collect and analyze data and deliver real-time insights for infrastructure and operations.

If it sounds complicated, it is, but it’s part of a big data push to control costs, increase production and implement information and technology into mining operations for longer equipment life and safer work environments.

In GE’s case, Predix can link up with any system not on GE’s network and help create complex analytics specific to the operation.

So let’s say Mine A has an internal system to track its machines’ wear and tear, but can’t sync that data with its next year’s operational plans. That’s where Blackburn says Predix can step in, giving Mine A access to the cloud’s resources for the software to get all its systems moving in one direction.

“Customers that don’t buy our equipment can still benefit,” he said. “Emerging thinking is how to connect with other original equipment manufacturers to benefit customers, and those in mining.”

Caterpillar is also in the business of big data with its Minestar technology.

Much like Predix, the idea is to take the information, work with the company and figure out where hidden cost and production measures can be implemented.

CAT recently took Minestar for a large-scale test drive with a customer that owned 44 mining trucks, said Michael Murphy, chief engineer of technology enabled solutions for CAT Global Mining.

He said the company gave CAT one year’s worth of data from its mine sites, which included production, activity, sampling, weather and more. CAT’s goal was to determine operational improvements to reduce cost and prevent costly repairs.

“By actually understanding what was going on, we estimated the customer could save between $10 million in terms of repair costs,” Murphy said. “Huge savings, especially in these days.”

CAT is also working on a system to keep its operators safer, said Gary Cook of CAT.

Fatigue and distraction are the two biggest components in accidents on mining sites, accounting for 60-70 percent.

CAT’s research also found that 40 percent of nighttime operators begin to nod off during their shifts.

It makes sense, Cook said, explaining the 12-hour shifts, isolation of the hauler trucks and long commutes back and forth to the site.

CAT’s Fatigue Risk Assessment system is built to monitor workers.

It places a CAT Smartband on drivers and workers, which reports data for 30-90 days to build an assessment of that worker.

A Driver Safety System monitors in-cab fatigue and distraction, the Smartband identifies quality and quantity of sleep, and also prime times for the individual worker’s fatigue to set in, and the Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool takes all that and develops optimal work schedules based on the data.

The data can correlate with Minestar and other CAT systems during implementation.

Behind all the data of CAT and GE is reducing unplanned downtime for mining companies, and that sensor-on-everything approach isn’t limited to equipment.

The more the companies know, Blackburn explains, the easier it is to plan for the future and streamline the process.

From mining plans to equipment to workers, the software gives companies an edge against the everyday wear and tear of mining.

“You want to see trouble coming,” he said. “Mining operational plans used to take months to make. We still have companies doing them on paper. Our goal is to shorten that up.”