ERDI TestLab Kicks Off First Major Industry Sponsored Project - AMIRA P1208
The University of Western Australia’s Industry 4.0 Energy and Resources Digital Interoperability (ERDi) TestLab team is proud to announce that the AMIRA P1208 Enabling Interoperability in Natural Resources Project has secured project partners and has now commenced.
Industry partners Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), Gold Fields Australia (GFA) and South32 have all committed to the P1208 project that will see four proof of concepts (POCs) conducted over the next 12 months that directly address some of the key areas of value that can be unlocked via i4.0 based interoperability and technology advancement.
The four POCs are:
- POC 1 - Event Based Information Exchange between Short Term Mine Planning, 2 Week to Daily/Shift Scheduling, Fleet Management and Spatial Production and Materials Tracking
- POC 2 – i4.0 Standards Based interoperable data platform POC
- POC 3 – Open Process Automation Standard – Modular, Interoperable, Plug and Play Process Control Architectures – Proving OPAS for Mining
- POC 4 - Standards enhancement rate of change POC – Reducing the cycle time to enable standards to keep pace with industry and technology
“The fact of the matter is that we are no longer seeking to establish nor develop interoperability standards to support a large number of information exchanges critical for mining, as a significant amount of that work has been completed, tested and proven in real mining operations. Rather, we will focus on enabling mining companies and technology suppliers to apply these standards and realise benefits in the short term, whilst enabling and being a catalyst for high value R&D in a plug and play paradigm ” said John Kirkman, ERDi TestLab co-founder.
The P1208 project POC 1 includes opportunities for a selected group of mining software suppliers to enhance their software as required to support the most up to date i.40 interoperability standards, as well as demonstrate the solutions being able to work together ‘out of the box’ (with configuration only), tested against realistic data sets that characterise our industry partners’ operations.
Our industry partners will have the opportunity to actively participate in the POCs and work alongside and engage with the TestLab subject matter experts and vendors, meaning they will not only benefit from observing these concepts being proven at scale, but will also possess the critical opportunity to learn exactly how they can implement such architectures into their own operations.
"Due to the fact these approaches are so ground-breaking and new, being able to witness these architectures working in the TestLab will be a significant factor in mining companies considering operational roll outs. With respect to implementation, mining companies will require the skills and knowledge needed to do this successfully, with the Lab catering for this need through providing a platform for education and hands on application of these approaches” said John Kirkman.
The ERDi TestLab provides an offering in which industry partners can participate in a project (that does not have the pressure of an operational implementation project), in which they can learn and get hands on with interoperability enabled approaches.
The UWA team will be involved to ensure that the critical knowledge is captured over the life of the projects, so that training and course materials can be documented and formal education capabilities established in the medium term, contributing to upskilling the current and next generation of employees in this field.
Joining the AMIRA P1208 project however is not the only avenue for industry and technology suppliers to engage directly and take advantage of the ERDi TestLab. Companies can engage the TestLab team directly for various services offered by clicking here.
Furthermore, companies can become members of the ERDi TestLab. Member benefits include access to exclusive member only content, business opportunities and 20% discount on all Lab services. To review all the benefits and to become a member of ERDi, please click here.
Want to know more? Visit us at www.erditestlab.com or the ERDi TestLab in person at 191 St Georges Tce, Perth for an introduction to the ERDi team and overview of the services on offer. We look forward to hearing from you.
UWA i4.0 ERDi TestLab - Ground Floor, 191 St Georges Tce, Perth, WA 6000