Having maintenance history in one structured system lets us test the link between unactioned preventive work and unplanned failures, and act on what the data shows. Matthew Bridger, Head: Reliability Engineering
Key challenges
Building an effective asset management strategy for mining operations at scale means navigating a unique set of obstacles — here’s what Afrimat needed to address:
- Inconsistent maintenance workflows across business units.
- Customised and site-specific asset care plans lacking standardisation.
- Limited ability to act on feedback from maintenance work orders and perform reliability analysis.
- Complex integration requirements across multiple ERP databases.
- Change management and requirements across the various Afrimat entities.
- Erratic internet connectivity due to factors like site location and lack of improved technical infrastructure.
Value add
24.3 % average increase in schedule attainment vs. first 10 months post-implementation
79.8% average % tactical hours split on work orders
To date, 10 out of 11 business clusters have been successfully onboarded with 100+ sites. Each deployment included:
- A complete hierarchical asset register with maintenance flags and metadata
- Custom interfaces to streamline work order creation and improve detail for follow-up work
- Enhanced planning and scheduling functionality for effective resource allocation
- A complete hierarchical asset register with maintenance flags and metadata
- Integrated procurement processes with ERPs with On Key as starting point for maintenance activities
- The Work Portal Feedback application to improve feedback quality and user experience
- Accurate tracking of maintenance costs at asset level
- Improved data quality through robust configuration standards and best practices
- On Key Insights to:
- Identify trends in asset health, maintenance backlog, and cost performance
- Focus improvement efforts where they have the greatest impact.
Our intervention
With these challenges identified, we delivered a structured asset management strategy built around standardisation, integration, and internal capability:
- We partnered with Afrimat to align their asset management practices with international best practices using On Key and supporting applications and went live in 2022.
- Defined a standardised asset hierarchy (asset tree and asset type tree).
- Developed and documented standard detailed maintenance workflows.
- Provided targeted training for super users to drive internal capability.
- Delivered integrations to align On Key with Afrimat’s diverse ERP and supporting application landscape.
- Deployed supporting On Key applications:
- Work Portal Feedback
- Material Manager App
- Service Request App
- Deployed management and analysis reports for improved decision-making and control.
Afrimat background
Afrimat is a leading mid-tier mining and materials company. The Afrimat group was listed on the JSE main board in 2006 and is currently listed in the Basic Materials: General Mining sector.
The group supplies a broad range of products ranging from construction materials (aggregates, bricks, blocks, pavers and ready-mix concrete), industrial minerals (lime and lime products), bulk commodities (iron ore, anthracite and manganese) and cement.
Afrimat’s vision: To be globally respected for excellence in unlocking and enhancing the earth’s mineral potential to build a better world.