AVEVA and Schneider Electric partner to drive sustainability in global mining companies

Arun Shankar
July 16, 2021 6:35 am

Schneider Electric, and AVEVA, announced their combined technology offerings are supporting the sustainability initiatives of mining companies in four key pillars: energy efficiency, yield improvement, low greenhouse emission technology adoption, and new green processes.

Global decarbonisation is heavily reliant on the sustainable production of minerals and commodities. A thriving and healthy mining and metals sector is crucial for the global economy and to support the innovation of new technologies and materials needed for climate change reduction, environment protection, and the circular economy.

Schneider Electric and AVEVA are providing the tools required by organisations to make informed decisions that will empower people across the mining, minerals, and metals value chains to be more strategic in their choices based on sound advice with sustainability in mind.

They are assisting operators and managers in these choices leaving these organisations well positioned to tackle some of the challenges associated with adopting sustainable practices, potentially resulting in reduced operating costs and thus providing the rare ability of appeasing all stakeholders.

According to an IDC Technology Spotlight, sponsored by AVEVA and Schneider Electric, Transitioning to Sustainable Mining, Minerals and Metals Practices, the top three market pressures driving the sustainability agendas of mining and metals organisations are: need to improve brand equity; reduce the risk of an adverse event; ensure compliance with current and future regulations.

Efforts to hit sustainability targets and gain greater visibility and control over operations will enable corporate insight and action relating to energy, water usage, and management of the operational environment.

IDC’s global analysis of the revenue growth and profitability of industrial companies shows that those with a committed and ongoing sustainability-based strategy combined with a long-term, funded, digital transformation agenda considerably outperform their competitors.

The IDC Technology Spotlight also reinforces the fact that as the industry continues to experience backlash from its perceived stagnant position on sustainability, platforms with added analytics are enabling improved operational efficiencies while enhancing the visibility of the changes being made.

Increasingly virulent cyberattacks and a growing mandate for decarbonised minerals have further emphasised the importance of having high data availability and embracing a secure, cloud-first approach to visualise and contextualise enterprise-wide processes across global operations.

According to the IDC Technology Spotlight, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure platform combined with AVEVA’s Digital Mining and Metals Transformation solutions can provide the operational and organisational insight required to make sustainable operations and improved decisions through the collection and analysis of data.

The partner companies aim to decarbonise the mining, minerals and metals value chains through the provision of an industrial IoT platform with technology and software elements supporting the capability for energy management and automation.

(Left) Digitally integrated operations can address key areas of an organisation’s sustainability agenda by combining power and process intelligence and controls, said David Willick, Vice President, North America, Mining, Minerals and Metals Segment, Schneider Electric.

(Centre) Although the benefits of digital transformation are crystal clear, the mining industry has thus far been limited by legacy infrastructure, data inadequacies, and piecemeal optimisation programs, said Martin Provencher, Industry Principal, Mining, Metals and Materials, AVEVA.

(Right) Technology has a critical role to play in supporting mining companies, said Ben Kirkwood, Senior Research Manager, IDC Energy Insights WW Mining.

Key takeaways from IDC Technology Spotlight: Transitioning to sustainable mining practices

  • Sustainability strategy improvement is the number one driver for the future of mining organisations.
  • 71% of mining organisations support sustainability goals with established formal programs endorsed by executive sponsorship.
  • 87% have business processes that are standardised and transparent across all functional groups
  • Despite 56.5% of organisations having implemented operational metrics linked to sustainability goals, only 37.1% utilise sustainability scorecards, impacting the ability to create value and success from those initiatives.
  • Yet, 27.4% of mining and metals organisations see improving brand equity as a top driver for sustainability, compared with the overall industry average of 18%.
  • Mining, minerals, and metals companies are on the road to delivering impactful outcomes outside traditional power purchase agreements, but have a long way to go.
  • Digital integrated operations can address key areas of the industrywide sustainability agenda by combining power and process intelligence and controls

 

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