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Get 40% more tons to surface in 9 months

GroundHog Short Interval Control gets you more tonnes from face-to-stockpiles by connecting people, equipment and sensors throughout your mine and mill. Because providing on-demand access to critical information is required to make data driven decisions at the face to sustain maximum mining intensity, safely.

What is GroundHog
Short Interval Control

GroundHog SIC is a state-of-the-art Short Interval Control system used to maximize sustainable mining intensity in underground and open pit mining operations. The system was designed from the ground-up using principles of User Centered Design. It is built to work out of the box and has native support for most of the mining methods in use today. GroundHog controls production, schedules and tracks workforce, and delivers deep insights to increase process efficiency.

GroundHog’s Short Interval Control system uses Open APIs that easily integrate with 3rd party mining software providers, including Deswik, Vulcan, DataMine, acQuire, SAP, and various other software and hardware that is used in mines.

GroundHog Short Interval Control is part of the GroundHog platform that includes :

Short Interval Control Software Components

SIC
Scheduler

SIC
OpsCenter

Supervisor
SIC App

Mine Manager
Apps

LineUp
App

How mines use
GroundHog Short Interval Control

Daily & Weekly Planning and Backlog Grooming

GroundHog SIC is a state-of-the-art Mining Short Interval Control system used to maximize sustainable mining intensity in underground and open pit operations. The system was designed from the ground-up using principles of User Centered Design. It is built to work out of the box and has native support for most of the mining methods in use today. GroundHog controls production, schedules and tracks workforce, and delivers deep insights to increase process efciency.

GroundHog SIC is part of the GroundHog platform that includes the GroundHog Fleet Management System, Real-Time-Location-Tracking System, Peer-to-Peer Networking System, Telematics, IoT, Material Management, Digital Environmental, Health and Safety and Learning Management Systems.

GroundHog SIC uses Open APIs that easily integrate with 3rd party mining software providers, including SAP, various mine planning tools, fleet management systems, HRMS and maintenance management systems

Greedy Algorithm based Task Assigments and Line-up Meetings

Shift supervisors use GroundHog’s Greedy Algorithm based autoscheduler to automatically allocate eqiupment and personnel to maximize utilization of equipment and personnel. Some supervisors choose to manually allocate equipment and personnel to tasks using a simple drag-and-drop interface. Once all the allocations are complete, these tasks get distributed to TV monitors in line up rooms, to supervisor tablets and smart phones and to tablets mounted on production and support equipment so every miner knows their first task, where they need to perform the task, the location of the equipment and the last known location of the eqiupment.

Crew supervisors use GroundHog’s Line-up app to streamline line-up meetings.

Monitoring Production Plans vs Actuals in Real Time

OpsCenter personnel (or Dispatch) monitor production in real time and make changes to the shift plan depending on actuals reported through the Supervisor’s Short Interval Control app, or the Fleet Management System. In operations that do not use a Fleet Management System, the OpsCenter uses radio comms to update the actuals in the SIC app.

The OpsCenter receives notifications about re-supply requests, and heads-up that an activity is about to be completed so personnel that need to perform the next activity can get ready in order to maximize face utilization, and hence maximize mining intensity. Short Interval Control is a Continuous Improvement process that is pretty widely used in the Manufacturing industry, and has now been adapted for mining.

Dealing with Downs and Delays

As downs or delays get reported, Shift supervisors assess reasons, evaluate the impact to schedule, and determine whether equipment or operators need to be reassigned to a new location. While supervisors make all attempts to clear a delay so work can continue in the current location to meet current shift production and maintain the weekly plan, they can easily reassign work at a diferent location and communicate those updates accordingly. In the case of a down equipment, maintenance gets notified, along with the down reason codes (and pictures), and an impact to production so they can assign a technician to bring an equipment back online to meet shift goals.

Automated Shift Logs and Reports

At the end of a shift, supervisors review an automatically generated shift report. Production planners and the subsequent shift supervisor uses these reports to make informed decisions regarding future plans.
Shift logs KPIs such as advance rates, tonnes mined, material routing consumables, % of activities completed, production losses due to downs and delays, availability and utilization of the fleet, broken ground inventory and other KPIs that the mine management uses to measure production.
Shift logs also include details on individual tasks, their completion rates, variances to plan for each activity type, incomplete tasks, production losses due to downs and delays, hazards identified, equipment exams, workplace exams.

Cost Accounting

Last but not least, mine planning can assign cost codes to mining locations, activity types, equipment and personnel so mine management has an up-to-date view of budget spend by cost code. Short Interval Control is primarily used to optimize shift time and maximize asset utilization (headings / stopes, equipment and miners). The end goal of all these process improvements using GroundHog Short Interval Control is to increase tonnes mined every shift and to reduce cost per tonne mined.