Modern Quarrying Q2 2022

Modern Quarrying spoke to Theo Hendricks – Product Manager Comminution at Weir Minerals Africa about the Synertrex® intelligence platform that can be integrated into quarrying customers’ existing systems to optimise the performance of the Weir Minerals equipment in their processing plants. In addition to the improvement of safety, this platform pre-empts wear part replacement, and allow mines to remotely monitor and, by advanced data analytics, gain the right insights for further optimisation of the operating parameters. “A s a leading OEM, Weir Minerals has a strong customer focus, well aware that customers need continuous improvement and innovation,” says Hendricks. “That is why we are investing in intelligent equipment – The Synertrex technology informs customers when something is wrong while it also predicts a problem before it happens. In a way we are teaching our products to speak.” SYNERTREX ® IIOT INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM ALLOWS PRODUCTS TO ‘SPEAK’ Synertrex® technology involves sensors that are fitted onto customers’ equipment in critical positions which enable the capture of critical data on a continuous basis. The platform’s IIoT data is cloud-based and then used in reports in a format that customers can understand so that they can make informed decisions. “Weir Minerals has a state of the art network of monitoring centres that can review customer data wherever our equipment is digitally-enabled,” says Hendricks. It offers an advanced level of understanding and allows operators to monitor every aspect of the equipment’s operation. Primary digital response Hendricks says that Synertrex® technology is part of Weir Minerals’ pri mary digital response. “It is our primary goal to optimise the performance of our equipment, to give a timely, proactive and correct response to the right person and at the right time to improve the performance of the equip ment,” Hendricks says. The Intelligence platform achieves this with the real-time data it collects as well as being connected to other data sources, such as maintenance data and equipment design data . This is factual and actual and allows remote monitoring and predictive analytics. “This data is available to customers anywhere, at any time and on any device including PCs, smartphones and tablets,” Hendricks elaborates. “Information is

CRUSHING & SCREENING

Theo Hendricks, product manager comminution at Weir Minerals Africa.

displayed on a simple and easy to understand dashboard on these devices or integrated into the existing systems on customer operational systems,” he says. Safety and Synertrex ® technology Safety is integral to Weir Minerals and of paramount importance in quarrying. “With the Synertrex platform we have developed algo rithms that can predict plant prob lems before they happen to allow timely and appropriate response. Manual tasks can be automated, thus removing the risk of human intervention where people can be exposed to safety risks,” says Hendricks.

MODERN QUARRYING QUARTER 2 | 2022 24