Category: Manufacturing

FLSmidth

Copenhagen, Denmark

Challenges

Remote monitoring needs - Required centralized monitoring of global mining/cement customer assets to avoid downtime and increase uptime
Alert system requirements - Needed automated event alerts and notifications to Monitoring Control Centers for immediate issue response
Technology integration - Required ready-made solution that fit Microsoft-based technology stack and was easy to configure/maintain

Results

Prevented major downtime - Successfully identified oil leak in customer crusher through dashboard monitoring, preventing significant asset downtime
Sustainability impact - Remote monitoring reduced operational energy consumption and carbon footprint, supporting MissionZero emission goals
Scalability achieved - Planning to expand from 230 plants to 400 plants monitoring ~10,000 assets using Azure-integrated GENESIS platform

“The GENESIS Suite is a critical application in our portfolio regarding the health of our customers’ assets. We use Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions' GENESIS in our Monitoring Center to monitor and report on potential failures in our customers’ assets which in turn allows us to quickly respond and fix any problem. ”

— Sriram Seshadri, Head of Smart Products | FLSmidth

About FLSmidth

Since 1882, FLSmidth has been providing innovative engineering, equipment, and service solutions to the global mining and cement industries, so their customers can improve operational performance, thereby reducing costs and environmental impact.

With the belief that even a small discovery can lead to great potential, the company has used their experience, expertise, and passion to change the rules for processing natural resources to help create the world we live in today.

Additionally, FLSmidth is committed to building a sustainable future and plays a key role in delivering sustainable productivity to the mining and cement industries through their MissionZero initiative, which is designed to enable their customers to move toward zero emission by 2030. The company aims to achieve this goal by embracing advanced technology, digital solutions, and strong partnerships.

Today, FLSmidth provides their customers with increased output and quality, reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), and optimized productivity, which they refer to as Sustainable Productivity.

— Sriram Seshadri, Head of Smart Products | FLSmidth

Pump Dashboard Overview

Project Summary

FLSmidth operates multiple worldwide Monitoring Control Centers from which its teams can remotely and centrally monitor the asset health of its global Mining and Cement customers. The company was primarily seeking a solution that would:

Monitor customers’ assets in real time
Provide event alerts and notifications to Monitoring Control Centers to avoid downtime and increase sustainable, profitable uptime
Be ready-made, easy to configure, and simple to maintain
Generate operational reports to provide insights into asset health, including:
- Event reports for emergencies that could be immediately communicated to customers
- Periodic KPI reports for ongoing performance tracking
Fit seamlessly into their existing technology stack, which is mainly based on Microsoft technology

FLSmidth chose Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions because it develops IoT and cloud-ready solutions that:

Take maximum advantage of Microsoft Azure cloud services
Deliver global visibility, scalability, and reliability
Integrate smoothly into Microsoft-based environments

Pump Dashboard Overview

Recirculation Historical Data

Software Deployed

GENESIS64™
Hyper Historian™
WebHMI™
AlarmWorX™64
BridgeWorX™64
KPIWorX™

Recirculation Historical Data

Predictive Models KPI

Realized Benefits

FLSmidth saw significant benefits after deploying GENESIS64, the automation and digitalization software from Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions. The company can now:

Visualize customers’ assets through remote monitoring
Support and troubleshoot operations remotely to manage asset alerts and notifications
Reduce downtime and increase uptime and asset life
Contribute to sustainability goals by lowering operational energy consumption and carbon footprint

Example in action: Using a GENESIS64 dashboard, the company identified an oil leak in a customer’s crusher and prevented significant downtime.

GENESIS integrates seamlessly with the Azure platform, making it highly scalable and reliable. FLSmidth leverages GraphWorX64 to create dashboards for monitoring key metrics, such as:

Specific power consumption
Hydraulic oil moisture content
False air detection in mill circuits
Hydraulic system oil leaks

Additional capabilities include:

Alarm limits that trigger emails to monitoring teams for rapid response
Access to trend values of signals, enabling teams to analyze data and proactively contact customers
Use of AlarmWorX64 and ReportWorX64 to generate and automatically deliver periodic reports to customers

Predictive Models KPI

Conclusion

Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions plays a critical and compelling role with respect to FLSmidth’s ability to remotely monitor their customers’ assets. This capability allows the company to assess the performance of their customers’ assets and generate reports that outline these results.

FLSmidth plans to expand its use of GENESIS64 Hyper Alarming to enhance monitoring capabilities even further. Leveraging advancing IoT connectivity, the company aims to increase coverage from 230 to roughly 400 plants, encompassing about 10,000 assets.