Epiroc is already known globally in mining as one of the leading suppliers of autonomous solutions. What is less known is that in the past few years, it has put a lot of effort and investment into building new innovation environments dedicated to autonomy around the world. Known as Surface Mining Automation Centers, or within Epiroc already shortened to SMACs, these locations have already had a significant impact in how it interacts with autonomous mining customers, both existing and new. IM Editorial Director Paul Moore recently caught up with Chris Blignaut, Epiroc Automation Manager, Surface Mining at Epiroc to learn more about them.
The first part of the discussion focused on the basics – what exactly are Surface Mining Automation Centers and what is the rationale behind them? Blignaut: “I would say first and foremost, that our Epiroc Surface Automation Centers were built in order to bring together all of our automation-related development, testing, training and operational support at a group of decentralised locations that can serve the global mining industry.”
Chris Blignaut, Epiroc Automation Manager, Surface Mining at Epiroc
Blignaut said that prior to their establishment, Epiroc was still executing all of those functions, but they were being done in separate locations and with disparate teams. “Bringing them together improved our ability to first shorten the time to develop new autonomy solutions but then also shorten the time to translate them into value for the customer. Autonomy is an ever more competitive space today, with rapidly growing opportunities. So, we are heavily invested in shortening the time to value.”
He also emphasised another important role of the centres, in that they give mining customers a place to come and experience automation together with Epiroc as the technology provider – that helps in terms of helping Epiroc shape its automation solution development roadmaps but for new and existing customers these visits also help prepare their people and operations for the change management that happens during their automation journey.
As things stand today, Epiroc has four Surface Mining Automation Centers – one in Garland, Texas, that is primarily focused on autonomous drilling technology; one in Logan, Utah that is focused on autonomous haulage as well as the OEM-agnostic LinkOA technology, plus another at the Epiroc facilities in Orebro, Sweden, and finally one in Perth, Western Australia.
There is also a strategic element to all of this in terms of Epiroc’s roadmap. As things stand today in installed base terms, its real strength is in autonomous fleets of its own brand Epiroc drills, which number in the hundreds. But increasingly, it is also automating other brands of equipment through its LinkOA platform (which also today serves as the command and control platform for Epiroc drills); and is growing its autonomous haulage influence as well – Epiroc and Hancock Iron Ore some time ago completed the conversion of 78 haul trucks from manual to autonomous operation; and these trucks (Hitachi and Caterpillar) passed 300 Mt hauled earlier this year.
Epiroc SMAC in Garland, Texas with autonomous Pit Viper on-site
Blignaut: “These automation centers are not about just autonomous drilling – even though that’s a big part of what we do today, they are also a really good way for us to demonstrate our investment in the overall goal of Epiroc to be a system integrator for the connected autonomous mine.”
He added: “You are correct in that we see LinkOA as foundational to our strategy to orchestrate autonomous surface mines, and as part of that we are looking where we can to expand the scope of what LinkOA can offer across mixed mining fleets and different machine types. This type of evolution we have already demonstrated with developments like our Common Automation Panel and are continuing on that path. On truck autonomy, we actually see it as a positive that we are not a surface haul truck OEM ourselves as increasingly the industry is moving towards more agnostic and open solutions, because mine operators need that flexibility.”
What do these SMAC locations actually consist of on the ground and who staffs them? “You can think of our full autonomy product development lifecycle being run through the SMACs. So, we have system integration engineers, developers and testing teams then we also have product management, so we can take a product or a new feature end-to-end through the SMAC – we can develop it there, and with all the tools that support an agile process are there. That includes lab rooms for testing hardware in the loop as well as simulated testing. We also have a demonstration room where we have all our latest versions of the software stack running. Finally, we can even operate real drills from the SMAC from a control room.”
The SMAC locations also have a training room where Epiroc can bring internal and external people to take them through a kind of autonomy boot camp, where it provides hands on training on the latest technology – how to implement it and use it.
The SMACs are globally important locations for autonomy training
Blignaut: “That’s actually been a strong return on investment for both us and our customers as we’ve had hundreds of customers now visit us in these SMAC locations. The goal is to ultimately build their confidence with the technology, as they can see it, feel it and use it themselves before it is live at their sites – they can sit in the control room and operate the machines. They can see that it is not that intimidating. And we can talk them through the change management needed plus help them see how to start their automation journey and the potential of where it could go.”
At the Garland and Orebro locations there are also real autonomous machines on-site so they can see the sensors and control systems and understand how they work.
Then there are existing customers who can use the SMACs to talk about new product development – new features and new products that Epiroc is developing, where they get to be part of that process to help Epiroc itself decide on which direction to go with those products to bring the greatest value.
Another aspect that customers can use the centres to see what the technology looks like and take that onboard in their own ideas about how to build their control rooms and remote operations centres.
Epiroc has also brought remote drill operation, data analytics and application support together in these automation centers in order to create a deeper connection between its own specialists and the Epiroc teams that actually help running customer fleets. “And customers can actually draw upon that capability throughout their automation journey. It can include hands-on help operating their drills when they need it. In these control rooms, we have an operations centre where we would have a data analyst or a performance analyst sitting alongside an application support specialist. Then we have a control room desk where we can connect to and operate remotely equipped customer drills around the world, with the customer’s agreement and the required connectivity in place. It’s there for when our customers need it.”
What sort of scenario would result in Epiroc controlling a drill from a SMAC location? Is it mainly a troubleshooting type of situation? Blignaut: “Yes it can be that for existing autonomy users. But another example is when a customer is transitioning from conventional operations to remote or autonomous operations and maybe they don’t have yet the change management in place to operate from their location. Maybe they have not yet set up their control room or they don’t have trained operators yet – it could be a greenfield mine. Then there’s a transitionary period where they may need support operating remotely. And in that case, we can provide interim remote operating support, with the necessary site infrastructure and support personnel in place.”
These centres remain a relatively new concept but as time goes on, the potential value they can bring is growing all the time. “If I were to summarise the benefits, I would say the SMAC is really a place where customers can best experience Epiroc’s autonomous mature and new mining technology and to collaboratively workshop how to develop and implement the technology.”
As mining moves towards greater use of open autonomy and true mixed fleets, facilities like Epiroc’s SMACs are likely to continue to increase in importance. And in the future that is likely to cover Epiroc’s increasing role as a full autonomous mine integrator, not just a provider of Epiroc autonomy for Epiroc machines.
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