The companies says that the new solutions developed on GE's cloud-based Predix platform will leverage FLSmidth's expertise in cement and minerals processing and GE's Industrial Internet of Things capabilities to maximise the potential of connected equipment units, helping the cement and mining industry to increase productivity.
FLSmidth will build its solutions on top of GE's Predix platform with applications for managing process flows, thereby allowing customers to leverage process data and analytics for monitoring, benchmarking their performance and predicting maintenance of their equipment.
Operating costs account for around 80% of the total cost of ownership for a cement plant or running a mining operation, and energy is the single largest component.
An ongoing monitoring of processes makes it possible to increase productivity significantly.
“Cement and mining companies already collect significant volumes of data, but currently, only a fraction of it is used. This will be the first available solution for a full coherent process monitoring to leverage optimization solutions offered by a full service provider like FLSmidth,” says Jens Almdal, head of global R&D in FLSmidth.
“By connecting our control applications with GE's platform, we can bring FLSmidth's proven expertise in resource optimisation and productivity together with GE's monitoring and data analytics solution to create an unrivalled combination that will dramatically improve the productivity in the cement and minerals industries.”
John Manison, general manager of GE's Mining Solutions business says: “FLSmidth and GE are bringing together the best from two worlds: GE's digital industrial expertise to help customers to be more productive and FLSmidth's deep insight into processes and maintenance of cement and minerals plants. Our collaboration will form a strong foundation for the development of a greater digital ecosystem.
The FLSmidth control applications integrated on GE's Predix platform will be launched in Q3, 2016.
