Operational Readiness | HolisticAM
Industry: Mining Sector
Services Required: Operational Readiness
Location: Kambalda, Western Australia
Holistic Asset Management (HolisticAM) was engaged by a mining company to provide a range of services in support of their preparation to bring the mining company’s Nickle Concentrator back to production after a period of care and maintenance. The objective of this project was to support their operational readiness project by providing specialist reliability engineering services. Holistic AM mobilised a specialist reliability engineering consultant to review , assess, and report on asset criticality, asset integrity, and the completeness of the SAP technical object structure, and to develop baseline maintenance strategies and a list of critical spares. The project utilised a hybrid onsite-offsite execution approach and was developed on time and within budget.
The facility processes ore from several local mining operations. It also performs a critical role in smelting operations by reprocessing nickel concentrates from the broader nickel mining precinct. The facility was placed in care & maintenance in the mid 2000’s and is now being recommissioned to support the resurgent demand for the mineral.
THE CHALLENGE
The mining company was preparing to recommission the concentrator after a five-year period of care & maintenance. The operational readiness manager identified several shortcomings in their preparedness to perform preventative and corrective maintenance during the initial stages of operation including:
- The SAP technical object structure did not accurately reflect the installed assets
- There was uncertainty regarding the condition of many of the mechanical assets in the concentrator
- There was uncertainty in the quality and coverage of basic preventative maintenance strategies
- There was uncertainty in the identification and availability of sufficient spare parts to support the initial stages of operation
As a result, the mining company required specialist support to ensure the maintenance function was prepared to maintain equipment availability during recommissioning and initial operations
THE SOLUTION
Following initial consultation with the client, HolisticAM offered the following services for this project:
- Alignment of existing Functional Location structure to the installed asset base
- Assessment of the operational criticality and material risk for each asset in alignment with corporate standards
- Assessment of the operational integrity of mechanical assets across site
- Assurance that all assets were covered by appropriate baseline preventative maintenance strategies
- Assessment of the description and quantity of recommended critical spare parts
A specialist reliability engineering consultant spent an extended period onsite to collect all required data and information. This was then processed offsite to produce the final deliverables.
THE RESULTS
Key deliverables included:
- Master Data changes including SAP FLOC’s for the mining company
- SME reviewed analysis of multi-criteria operational criticality and corporate material risk for each maintainable unit
- Multi-criteria integrity assessment of each maintainable unit based on observation, work order history, and condition data
- Aassessment and gap analysis of the quality and coverage of existing SAP maintenance items across all maintainable units
- Recommendations relating to the identification and quantity of spare parts required to support recommissioning and initial operations
- FMEA-based maintenance strategies for the belt conveying systems
THE ADDED VALUE
HolisticAM created value for Nickel West Kambalda by:
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Ensuring that SAP accurately reflects the current reality of the installed asset base
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Providing advance warning of specific items of equipment that may require corrective work prior to recommissioning.
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Providing confidence in the readiness of their baseline preventative maintenance strategies and the availability of spare parts to assist in minimising disruption during recommissioning and initial operations
- Nickel West was able to successfully proactively manage the existing risks and maximise the availability of the concentrator upon recommissioning
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