According to Robin Bolton, head of sustainability at IsoMetrix – a company that develops software for integrated risk management – one of the major challenges that miners face when it comes to preventing these accidents is that 79% of them use multiple tools in their risk management process. 

In his view, this fragmented approach causes operators to miss interconnected risks or ‘golden threads,’ which are the links between companies’ processes, threats, controls and events. Thus, by not having an understanding of these ‘golden threads,’ mines are more likely to ignore the early warning signs of a tailings disaster.

Operators tend to miss interconnected risks or ‘golden threads,’ which makes then more likely to ignore the early warning signs of a tailings disaster

The key is, then, using technology to continuously track an array of complex site-specific risks and detect these connections. 

“By linking datasets and asset performance data that were previously siloed through a Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solution, mines are able to gain a deeper understanding of their critical tailing controls in line with the global standard,” Bolton told MINING.COM. “By integrating into pre-existing systems, including weather tracking, engineering control monitoring, production rates and more, GRC platforms can detect faults and alert critical stakeholder groups of a potential incident which can then be managed appropriately. Through a unified view of tailing facilities, mines can ensure its processes comply with the new tailing management standards and mitigate potential disaster.”

Besides ensuring safety and compliance while operative, Bolton said miners ought to remember that they are still liable for an array of risks, including security, safety and contamination after a tailings dam closes. This is why he is convinced that remote monitoring through a digital risk management ecosystem is essential to detect faults and alert risk managers if an action is needed. 

MDC: Do you see mining companies leaning towards a specific trend/solution when it comes to tailings management?

Bolton: Over the past year, mines have been focused on integrating new types of data collection and making it quickly available to operators. The new types of data include satellite imagery, data gathered through IoT and more. This gives mines a holistic view of its site-specific risks, allowing them to identify new controls that can mitigate incidents. By tying this data into its overall risk assessment, mines can better assess their operations against new and existing ESG standards, such as the new tailing management standards.

MDC: What, do you think, has changed for miners following the release of the global standard on tailings management?

Bolton: The new tailing management standards are going to have the largest impact on internal management and compliance processes. To meet the standards, mines must update their policies and standard operating procedures. Within these operational updates, they should determine how technology can fit into its larger operational strategy to automate monitoring the necessary controls. Through a holistic view of risk made possible by integrated technology, mines can create a universal tailing management approach to meet the new global standards, while still taking country-specific requirements into account.

MDC: Did IsoMetrix have to change/modify anything in its tailings management solution once the global standard on tailings management was launched? 

Bolton: There’s a close alignment between our tailing management solution and the requirements of the new tailing management standards, especially as it relates to understanding the risks and controls that can minimize a potential event.

However, to ensure that our solution fully equips customers with the resources they need, we are currently advancing the solution’s IoT integration capabilities to ensure that relevant data, such as monitoring and production data, and images from satellites and thermal cameras, can seamlessly flow into the platform. We are also implementing new auditing processes that capture the content of the tailing management standards, so mines can gauge how they are aligned with the requirements, and we are adding-in management of change functionality to better track a mine’s critical controls as well as the skills and training register. 

MDC: How does the solution work exactly?

Bolton: The tailing management solution is a central repository for managing all tailing related information. Through key health, safety and environmental modules, along with emergency preparedness and response modules, mines can ensure their critical controls are in place and monitored. Also, by integrating into already existing systems, the solution imports data from various monitoring modules to manage and analyze risks, such as water, rehabilitation and air quality. This allows the mine to set thresholds for particular metrics in one universal built-in dashboard.

Often, the responsible tailing managers work remotely, and through IsoMetrix’s mobile app and automated alerting system, mining organizations can capture required information in detail in real-time. Through the integrated risk ecosystem our TMS creates, mines can proactively identify missing safeguards to minimize the likelihood and consequences of a tailings incident.

Vale welcomed a small, socially distanced, team into its North Atlantic hub to commemorate the completion of its North Atlantic Operations Centre in Copper Cliff, Ontario, this week.

The event was also broadcast live to Vale’s North Atlantic employees and featured a virtual tour video, giving participants a glimpse into the innovative new space that will serve as the physical and virtual hub of its North Atlantic operations, Vale said.

Vale’s North Atlantic operations includes the Creighton, Coleman, Copper Cliff, Garson and Thompson mines, in Sudbury.

Vale Canada Limited’s CEO, Mark Travers, addressed attendees noting that, by transforming an existing building, the company had found an innovative way to make better use of an important part of the company’s history.

“Its fresh and open design promotes creativity, collaboration and integration – and supports the need to think and work in a more sustainable way to advance our transformation journey,” Travers said to the in-person and virtual audience.

The local architecture firm behind the project was inspired by a city layout in developing the updated design, with “streets” connecting different work zones or “neighbourhoods” flanked by meeting rooms that act as sound barriers to the open concept workstations within, Vale said. These “streets” help to organise different departments but also serve as a way-finding tool, creating a grid that helps staff and visitors navigate their way through the space. So too does the meeting room identification system that borrows the names of trees and shrubs native to Vale’s North American and Brazilian operating regions.

Flexibility was built into the design from day one and provided an unanticipated benefit as the COVID-19 pandemic has required Vale to reimagine and reconfigure the space to address new safety protocols, it said.

Dino Otranto, Chief Operating Officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations, spoke to the group about the careful safety considerations the company is taking as it works towards the opening of the new building for eventual in-person collaboration.

“We are taking a staged approach so that effective pandemic processes and controls are implemented to ensure employee safety and wellbeing,” Otranto said.

Fitch asserts the pandemic will prompt a rethink of operational strategies, supply chain vulnerabilities and investment trends.

Mining and metal players are likely to accelerate the incorporation of technology and automation in operations and to explore their options to shorten and simplify supply chains, the analyst predicts.

Increased social and political risks

Meanwhile, covid-19 is also adding impetus to adjacent structural economic and geopolitical trends, increasing domestic social and political risks, accelerating protectionism, raising further uncertainty regarding future international trade and investment regulations, Fitch says.

“Taken together, these trends will impact significantly the commodities sector, from a demand, supply and investment perspective.”

“The ongoing shift to a low carbon economy and more sustainable manufacturing practices will be one of the megatrends accelerated by covid-19”

Fitch

The ongoing shift to a low carbon economy and more sustainable manufacturing practices will be one of the megatrends accelerated by covid-19, as forward-thinking governments tie post-covid-19 stimulus plans to sustainable development in the commodities sector, the analyst asserts.

Developed markets, and in particular the EU, will put a rising emphasis on this topic, Fitch forecasts. Part of the economic recovery packages passed by the EU will be geared towards climate- friendly policies and funding. Fitch highlights that the bloc is forging ahead with its Farm to Fork (F2F) and biodiversity strategies, two mutually reinforcing strategies that are meant to be at the heart of the European Green Deal.

In Europe’s mining and metals industry, players are increasingly looking at actively reducing their carbon footprint. This can be seen in the ongoing developments of new lithium extraction techniques in Western Europe and in the growing use of renewables in steel production in the EU, Fitch points out.

Metal producers will also look into vertical integration, Fitch says, adding that the mining sector will also be indirectly impacted by the economic and political aftermath of the pandemic.

The rise in international and local political risks will also boost the likelihood of protectionist trade and fiscal policies – including heightened risk of greater royalty and tax policies – as well as the incidences of social unrest, leading to potential mine disruptions.

In the mining and metals sector, Fitch predicts the long-term price outlook remains relatively unaffected by covid-19.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan and Minister for Regional Development Alannah MacTiernan officially opened leading Caterpillar dealer WesTrac’s new Technology Training Centre near the South West town of Collie on August 27, 2020.

The centre is only the second such training facility in the world focusing on the technical skills required to operate autonomous equipment for use in the resources sector. The State Government contributed A$2.7 million through the Collie Futures Fund towards the project.

McGowan said the facility complemented Collie’s rich history as a mining and industrial hub, and was significant for the State. “The WesTrac Technology Training Centre is a key contributor to ensuring Western Australia becomes a global centre for excellence in mining technology,” McGowan said.

“It not only provides future job opportunities for people in the South West and across the State, but as the only facility for Caterpillar equipment training in the Southern Hemisphere, will attract trainees from across the country and globally when our borders reopen. The facility will also play a part in establishing a range of new opportunities for Collie and the broader South West region, and provides a great example of developing STEM career opportunities for the next generation of Western Australian workers.”

Joining Mr McGowan, MacTiernan and retiring local MLA Mick Murray at the launch were board and executive members from WesTrac as well as numerous major mining companies.

WesTrac CEO Jarvas Croome said training had already commenced at the facility and interest from major mining operators was strong. “The initial focus is training in fit-out, calibration and maintenance requirements for the conversion and operation of existing Caterpillar haulage vehicles, which are used at most major mine sites around the country,” Croome said.

“We are also planning to expand the range of courses on offer to ensure the facility caters for the skills that will be in demand as the resource sector evolves and the roles associated with that evolution become more technically advanced. WA has the highest number of automated haulage fleets anywhere in the world and the WesTrac Technology Training Centre is a vital resource to support automation projects, as well as equipping existing and future workers with essential technical skills to drive the industry forward. We are excited to have been able to build this facility in Collie and look forward to working with the local community to make the experience for visiting trainees one they will remember. We have already partnered with various local operators to provide catering, cleaning and various other required products and services, and will continue to buy locally wherever possible. We also see plenty of opportunities for local businesses to get involved providing tourism and other experiences to trainees visiting the area.”

sensemetrics Inc, the global Industrial IoT (IIoT) and cloud technology company whose solutions help to transform sensor data into real-time business intelligence, today launched a tailored IIoT solution that it says gives mining companies and their insurers real-time, end-to-end Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) insights.

“Available globally, the solution drives safety and mitigates risk across the entire TSF lifecycle, providing mine operators with unmatched access to real-time information and analytics for continuous and complete surveillance across TSF construction, operation, and closure phases.” The solution also offers a variety of new features specifically designed for reinsurers and primary insurers, empowering them with critical insights for technical risk underwriting and enabling them to achieve a level of end-to-end TSF assessment not available in the mining industry until now, according to Alex Pienaar, Director of Mining, sensemetrics.

“With this new offering we have taken our core IIoT IP and tailored it to address the long-standing and highly critical challenges of TSF risk and safety, giving our mining company customers and the reinsurers and primary insurers who work with them a level of data transparency and actionable information they haven’t seen before,” said Pienaar. “Now, both parties can work toward achieving shared outcomes, using our best-in-class technology to gain insight into what matters most to their businesses. It’s an exciting moment at sensemetrics as we support our customers and their business partners in building a safer, more successful future.”

New tailored features for insurers and reinsurers include:

• A remote sensing module, which provides a dashboard display of TSF performance – powered by spatially dense datasets from ground and satellite-based systems – gives insurers deep insights into comprehensive risk assessment parameters.
• A secure Application Programming Interface (API) provides a unified interface for exchange of real-time and historical sensor data between the sensemetrics platform and in-house data analytics engines maintained by insurers, facilitating continuous and transparent information flow between all organisations involved in risk mitigation.
• Native iOS and Android mobile apps further optimise field activities, unified data aggregation and visibility of TSF performance, which is key to managing operational risk.

“The aim is to enable further development and customisation of tailored TSF insurance pricing models backed by data-driven risk analysis for one or multiple TSFs over their entire lifecycle,” said Pienaar. “This ultimately secures insurability of TSFs in line with an adequate margin-profile for insurers. We view this approach as a win-win for our mining customers and their insurers.”

The sensemetrics platform supports all of the best practices outlined in the Tailings Governanace Framework, recently published by the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM), which aims to minimise the risk of catastrophic TSF failures. A plug-and-play solution, it relies on the power of real-time sensor data, analytics and state-of-the-art visualisation tools. “It offers manufacturer-agnostic edge connectivity, a true cloud design, an event-driven and scalable microservices architecture, workflow enhancing apps, and an open API interface. Featuring end-to-end sensor integration and asset management, the solution simplifies the complexities traditionally associated with sensor automation and management in the mining sector, while also reducing costs and improving operational efficiency.”

In its recent FY2020 report, Fortescue Metals Group outlined its ongoing focus on innovation and technology. Notably FMG said that autonomous haul fleet conversion was completed at Christmas Creek and continued at Cloudbreak during FY2020 with a total of 170 trucks operating autonomously across all operations at 30 June 2020.

FMG’s AHS deployment has increased productivity, while reducing overall mining operating costs and diesel consumption. Over 49 million km have been safely travelled with a 30% increase in productivity. “Fortescue was the first company in the world to deploy Caterpillar (CAT) autonomous haulage on a commercial scale when trucks fitted with autonomous haulage system (AHS) technology began operating at the Solomon Hub in 2012. Today, our AHS deployment represents the largest fleet conversion to autonomous haulage in the industry and demonstrates our unique capability to manage and operate a multi-class truck size autonomous haulage site.”

The company is also building on its bulk materials handling innovations as phase two of the Cloudbreak relocatable conveyors project commenced construction during the year and was completed in early July 2020. The conveyors now cover 10 km, extended from the initial 5 km length. IM understands that FMG built these conveyors in-house but based on the same NRW-owned (ASX:NWH) RCR Mining Technologies (RCR MT) patented innovative design that was manufactured and installed for the first 5 km of relocatables.

RCR MT has also delivered a fifth crushing plant for FMG in 2019 which is an updated truck dump relocatable 3,500 t/h sizing station inclusive of all electricals and relocated one of its previously delivered FEL 2500 crushing stations.

By connecting the western pits to the OPF, FMG says it has realised the benefits of reduced haul truck requirements, operating costs and diesel consumption, increasing overall productivity and mitigating cost increases due to natural mine expansion aligned with the life of mine plan.

As part of its efficiency improvement program, the Solntsevsky coal mine, a key mining asset of the Eastern Mining Company, has introduced modern high-speed refuelling of mining equipment. The new system allows a reduction in the time for refuelling one piece of equipment of 2.5 times thereby increasing mining equipment productivity.

Australian based cloud integrator SXiQ has delivered a multi-million-dollar project to migrate Orica, an Australian-based multinational corporation that is one of the world’s largest providers of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining industry, from multiple datacentres around the world into the Cloud.

Orica’s impetus for change arose from several key business challenges, including:

• Ageing infrastructure requiring a large capital investment to keep current
• Technology landscape was increasingly fragmented with multiple disparate products adding unnecessary complexity with legacy support challenges
• Traditional delivery model was inflexible and unable to support global application teams’ requirement for speed and agility
• Strategic requirement to lower overall ICT costs while improving responsiveness and consistency of service

To address these business challenges, Orica made the transformational decision to pursue a cloud-first strategy and exit its existing legacy datacentres, selecting Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud platform for all non-SAP applications whilst, in parallel, uplifting its traditional operating model to introduce a more modern Cloud-centric practice.

SXiQ led the solution development and delivery of both the platform and people transformation, which consisted of five key activities:

1. Rehost, Re-platform and Refactoring of over 50 key business applications and 26 infrastructure services, across hundreds of virtual machines, that support business functions including Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Commercial/Marketing, Finance and Digital into a new multi-region AWS tenancy
2. Establish Orica’s “Cloud Centre of Excellence” (CCoE) to provide the cross functional governance framework and innovation hub to enable continuous service improvement and adoption of new technologies
3. Design and Implement an Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) methodology and toolset using Terraform and Ansible to change how Orica’s Engineering and Operational teams manage the lifecycle of cloud resources
4. Perform physical decommission of each datacentre co-lo tenancy including asset inventory, environmental disposal, and removal of physical racking

Orica selected SXiQ for this project based on its experience across large-scale, complex, mission critical systems, combined with its strength in cloud and datacentre technologies, to deliver an end-to-end solution.

“We believe it’s our combination of discipline built over years of implementing large-scale, mission critical systems plus our practical innovation and agility which set us apart”, says SXiQ Managing Director John Hanna. “Orica is innovating on every front and this project will enable the team to drive their transformation at an even greater pace.  SXiQ is proud to be one of Orica’s innovation enablers,” he added.

SXiQ says it delivered this complex, global scale program, in under 15 months with the following results:

1. Cost transparency – Greater visibility of hosting costs, through the decommission of datacentre facilities and transforming 3^rd party legacy services to cloud native services.
2. Simplification – Reduction in the number of disparate technology silos to simplify operational support and provide a more consistent service to the business across each global region.
3. Improved Agility – Enable new workloads to be deployed rapidly based on defined architecture patterns, using automation tools to manage the deployment lifecycle.
4. Enhanced Security and Recoverability – Improved availability and recoverability of applications through adoption of secure builds, a multi-Availability Zone designs and cloud native recovery capabilities.
5. Cloud-First– Orica is now positioned to enable new workloads to be deployed to cloud infrastructure, inheriting the benefits of Infrastructure-as-Code, built-in HA/DR, security and operational automation associated with the new platform. Orica now enjoys a truly modern cloud infrastructure hosting environment.

SXiQ has successfully delivered a significant key pillar in Orica’s IT Digital Strategy, enabling Orica to deliver on its purpose to make their customers successful, every day, all around the world.

Orica’s Vice President – Information Technology & Cyber Security Jamie Rossato stated “This is a crucial, foundational step in Orica’s digital transformation journey. It has unlocked cost savings, business agility & unlimited potential for innovation, delivered with confidence by our partner SXiQ who have played a significant role in helping us achieve this critical milestone on our journey.”

Orica’s cloud journey does not end at a technology uplift. “SXiQ is continuing to support Orica in the uplift of skills and processes, building a new Cloud Centre of Excellence which will deliver a true Cloud DevOps capability in order to ensure the benefits of cloud hosting are realised, and protected as Orica begins to innovate on this platform. The future is looking bright as Orica moves to take full advantage of the public cloud technologies and the innovation flexibility it brings.”

SXiQ Client Principal Paul Campisi said “The SXiQ team have done an amazing job to lead Orica’s move globally, out of the datacentre and into the Cloud.”

Wolff Mining, part of the National Group, is well-known in the Australian mining industry for its implementation and optimisation of semi-autonomous tractor system (SATS) technology. In association with Caterpillar on their Cat Command for Dozing module, Wolff Mining’s technology is a world’s-first application into a mining production environment, providing the ability for one operator to control up to four dozers from a control room.

Mark Ackroyd, National Group Managing Director suggests that “the mining industry faces challenges, some that autonomous equipment will solve. Wolff Mining’s autonomous dozer push for instance continues to increase safety, productivity and mine site efficiency. It has also enabled mine sites to continue to operate whilst some operations elsewhere have ceased due to the current situation. Another key factor that will always have a significant impact on the mining industry as a whole is the value of commodities, which can impact mining companies all the way down to an operational level.”

“If the value of a particular commodity is high, this is an attractive prospect for mining companies and will encourage them to increase their volume of mining for that particular resource, at that particular time. We have seen the price of iron ore skyrocket during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which companies such as Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) have benefitted from. Gold is another stand out, which recently reached over $2,000 per ounce. Mining companies such as Evolution Mining are well placed at the moment due to the high price of gold. But due to the volatility of commodity prices and other known or unknown global factors, the future is not always certain.”

He adds: “National Plant & Equipment, part of the National Group specialises in the dry hire of heavy mining equipment, a model that many companies are adopting versus buying their own equipment. Following a renting model can help mining companies free up capital expenditure, in order to keep something in reserve to pursue other more attractive ventures. Due to this fact, many mining companies are actually choosing to dispose of their mining equipment and rent instead.”

“National Machinery Exchange, part of the National Group caters for the growing need for mining companies to dispose of mining equipment in order to raise capital and reduce costs through leasing versus buying equipment” notes Ackroyd.

But with all this being said, National argues that whether you rent or buy mining equipment, there is another problem that requires a solution. How do you get some of the largest machines of the planet, from one side of the globe to the other, effectively and without incident, time after time? The Liebherr R 9800 excavator for instance can take up to 18 months to manufacture and weighs 800 t. Equipment of this size is unable to be transported in one piece due to the sheer size and the nature of the logistics involved. It is therefore transported in parts and assembled on site at its final destination.

“Few understand the logistics involved in heavy haulage, with multi transport modes often required and global logistics management an integral part of the process. Haulage companies regularly have to liaise with government departments including local councils, with relationships, industry knowledge and extensive planning key to success. Police escorts and road closures are often required in order to move some of the largest loads to some of the most remote places and harshest climates in Australia, and indeed the world.”

“Forward planning is key to the successful delivery of heavy mining equipment” suggests Ian Scott, General Manager of National Heavy Haulage, part of the National Group. “Before we even think about transporting equipment, it is important that we survey the surrounding environment and transportation routes proposed before proceeding to the actual haul itself. All relevant parties must be kept informed, which includes the Department of Transport and State or Territory Police.”

Alongside national heavy haulage, often comes international shipping. Overseas transport poses a whole host of other factors that need to be accounted for and often works hand in hand with domestic heavy haulage when it comes to international transportation.

“International delivery very much operates in a chain structure” suggests Dean Sterling, General Manager of International Global Logistics, part of the National Group. “Each link in the chain of events relies heavily on the next, in order to ensure adherence to tight delivery schedules and more importantly, safety for all parties involved. Multi-transportation modes are common practice, with equipment often reaching the port by road, rail or sea before it continues its journey to its final destination. Like with national transport of heavy equipment, largo cargo for international transport must clear customs and satisfy security laws, with good relationships with the relevant authorities a must.”

In summary, Ackroyd states: “mining is a complex industry where the stakes are high and the rewards great. It takes meticulous planning and flawless execution in order to succeed, with the logistics chain only as strong as its weakest link. The future of mining is both exciting and uncertain. The rise of autonomous mining equipment is promising; it will help improve safety and create efficiencies not seen previously. But past and present global events will forever remind us that the future is not always certain and that planning is key to the long term success of any operation.”

AVEVA Group PLC, a global leader in industrial software, announces that it has reached agreement on the terms of an acquisition of OSIsoft, at an enterprise value of $5.0 billion. AVEVA is in turn 60% held indirectly by Schneider Electric.

Founded in 1980 by Dr J. Patrick Kennedy, OSIsoft is a global leader in real-time industrial data software and services. Its PI System is the system of record for customers for data capture, storage, analysis and sharing of real-time industrial sensor-based data across all operations, enabling customers to connect disparate sources of time-series data in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

The statement added: “Through OSIsoft’s PI System, customers draw insights, make better decisions, optimise operations, and drive digital transformation.” Notably it works with all of the Global Fortune Top 10 metals and mining companies. OSIsoft is headquartered in California, USA, and has approximately 1,400 employees. OSIsoft’s PI System is used by its customers across 14,000 sites in 127 countries. “Furthermore, as businesses deploy increasing levels of sensor-enabled equipment, more assets are streaming more data, increasing the need for and value derived from the PI System.

“OSIsoft’s PI System is a very scalable and robust enterprise level data historian platform, which will be a key enabler of a number of AVEVA solutions, in particular enhancing the Digital Twin, HMI/SCADA, Manufacturing Execution System and Asset Performance, with more inputs and connectivity to feed AI-infused and cloud-based solutions; AVEVA’s and OSIsoft’s solutions will combine to create a leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) portfolio, which will continue to be platform and hardware agnostic, meaning that it will be able to communicate with diverse devices using different operating systems; the combined solution set will optimise engineering, operations and performance, with unprecedented efficiency and value as a result of the integration of both businesses; and AVEVA will be able to accelerate the market adoption and expansion of OSIsoft Cloud Services (OCS) and other cloud-based offerings, which recently entered into an early adopter program and provide OSIsoft’s industry leading data management capability in a native cloud environment.”

Completion is expected to occur around the end of the year. Commenting on the acquisition, Philip Aiken, Chairman of AVEVA, said: “I am delighted that we have reached agreement to acquire OSIsoft. The acquisition has compelling strategic rationale with strong operational and financial benefits. The acquisition will strengthen AVEVA’s position as a global leader in industrial software, whilst a combination of the complementary product offerings of AVEVA and OSIsoft is expected to allow the Enlarged Group to accelerate growth and continue to generate significant shareholder value.”

Craig Hayman, Chief Executive of AVEVA, said: “The acquisition of OSIsoft is perfectly in line with our strategic vision and it will accelerate the Enlarged Group’s role in the digitisation of the industrial world, which is being driven by a need for sustainability, the industrial internet of things, Cloud, data visualisation and artificial intelligence. The acquisition will enable AVEVA to broaden and deepen its relationships with existing and new customers and bring a more comprehensive product portfolio to market.”

Peter Herweck, Vice Chairman of AVEVA and Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric, said: “The combination of AVEVA and OSIsoft will accelerate our AVEVA partnership with significant customer value across process and hybrid automation industries plus the building and infrastructure sectors. AVEVA’s industrial software is a key element of Schneider Electric’s IoT-enabled architecture, EcoStruxure which will be further enhanced by OSIsoft’s PI System and its support for open infrastructure. Schneider Electric is committed to supporting customers with digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability.”

Dr J. Patrick Kennedy, Founder and Chief Executive of OSIsoft, said: “Joining forces with AVEVA enhances and extends our ability to deliver on our key commitments to our customers, partners and employees. Together we will be better able to service the largest digital transformation projects in history, including across industry 4.0+ and IIoT.  The next chapter in PI’s fifth decade will be exciting for our employees and customers, and I look forward to my continued involvement as Chairman Emeritus and shareholder.”