thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions Middle East & Africa

DIGITAL MINING EVOLUTION

We speak to Dr. Wilfred Barkhuizen, CEO of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions Middle East & Africa, about the company’s delivery of industry plants and systems across countries, and its expanding digitalisation in the field

Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Joshua Mann

Compared to other areas in the world, I would say the African continent is probably one of the most challenging environments, but also probably has the most untapped and unexplored minerals deposits globally,” begins Dr. Wilfred Barkhuizen, CEO of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions Middle East & Africa (thyssenkrupp). “The long-term outlook for Africa is also very promising, considering the battery minerals and hydrogen potential of the continent.”

It is fair to say that the African mining sector is an exciting place to operate within. thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions is a business segment of thyssenkrupp, an international group of companies comprising largely independent industrial and technology businesses.

In collaboration with its customers, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions is a leading partner for the engineering, construction and service of industrial plants and systems. Top-quality solutions and a global network ensure the delivery of efficiency, reliability and sustainability over the entire life cycle of each project, and set benchmarks in terms of value added and resource-friendly technologies.

“We deliver such projects across multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco,” Barkhuizen informs us. “Our mining business, with around 3,500 employees, is distributed with offices around the globe in all the major mining hubs.

“We partner with our clients who range from the largest mining companies in the world to the junior miners. Our product focus is on comminution (crushing and grinding), materials handling and providing state of the art digitalisation and automation solutions. Our products are supported by our international service network, including 12 service centres around the globe with very unique manufacturing and machining capabilities.”

LEADING WITH TECHNOLOGY

For thyssenkrupp Mining Technologies, digitalisation offers great potential for improving process efficiency and competitiveness in engineering, on both the construction site and in services. New and innovative solutions such as digital twins or Building Information Modelling (BIM) are much in demand and are elements of operation that place companies ahead of the competition in the space. Dr. Wilfred Barkhuizen

AFRICA OUTLOOK:

HOW DID YOU COME TO WORK IN THE MINING SECTOR?

Dr. Wilfred Barkhuizen, CEO:

“I started my career at the underground platinum mines in Rustenburg. Thereafter I joined Joy Global, now part of Komatsu Mining Corp, mostly focussing on life cycle management for opencast mining equipment.

“During that stage of my career I wanted to get closer to engineering and product design and joined thyssenkrupp in 2004 as an electrical and electronic engineer for cement plant and mining projects, and during the next 17 years with thyssenkrupp I was fortunate to be exposed to engineering design and implementation, operations and business development in the mining industry.

“I only realised later in my career that I did not specifically pick the mining industry, but the mining industry fascinated me, offering me all the challenges and inspiration I looked for in an engineering career.”

Continental Conveying Solutions

Continental is the most comprehensive, high-performance conveyor belt systems provider in the world.

We offer a wide range of products, services and technologies for mining and industrial applications. Our fullservice capabilities include planning and commissioning, technical advice, training, digital monitoring and on-site maintenance for the life of the conveyor operation.

As your global innovation and development partner, we strengthen mining, mineral processing and construction projects around the world. We do this by exceeding your specific needs and requirements. That’s because we push the boundaries of what’s possible by developing solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.

Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent, and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. In 2020, Continental generated sales of €37.7 billion and currently employs around 233,000 people in 58 countries and markets. In 2021, the company celebrates its 150th anniversary.

www.continental-industry.com

“We offer products with future technology through our skilled and experienced teams today, and alongside continuous service support as close as possible to our client’s locations,” Barkhuizen tells us. “In most instances our products are market leaders, and therefore are normally part of the critical process streams in minerals processing plants which also demands the highest level of agility from our service teams.

“We have a strong focus on digitalisation and sustainable solutions, and our In Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) systems and innovative application of High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR) technology in process design, are just some of the examples to showcase our green technology.”

Along with the engineering and process know-how of the company’s engineers and its digital competencies, thyssenkrupp Mining Technologies combines decades of experience from the worldwide installation of thousands of plants and machines with state-of-the-art data-based solutions. To increase the availability and productivity of plants and processes the main levers are identified to offer customers suitable solutions. This is what the company calls ‘Digitalized Expertise’.

“Being a technology driven company, we aim to continuously improve our products through technological advances and incorporating experience gained from our numerous global installations,” Barkhuizen affirms. “At the top of this list is also our new Eccentric Rolls Crusher (ERC®) and HPGR Pro. The advances on these products will have dramatic effects on plant

ADVANTAGE THROUGH DIGITALISATION

thyssenkrupp’s digital products and services cover two main areas: evaluate and predict, and automate and optimise. Within evaluate and predict, the company combines solutions such as drone inspections, remote maintenance, or performance and conditioning monitoring. In this way, individual components and complete industrial plants can be monitored and their operations analysed over their entire life cycle – from the initial idea to development, production, use, maintenance, and recycling. Condition-based predictions allow preventive measures to be taken, malfunctions avoided, and both availability and productivity significantly increased. Automate and optimise comprises solutions for automated operations, for example fully automated storage systems, remote-controlled ship unloaders and bucket wheel excavators, or digital inventory management. These solutions help to increase the productivity and safety of plant and machinery while simultaneously reducing operating costs. Digitalisation brings a major innovative boost for the plants and machinery of thyssenkrupp’s customers in the chemical, fertiliser, mining, cement and other industries — and this leads to higher performance and product quality. While production and technologies used to be the main focus, the development of service offerings will play an increasingly important role in the future. This opens up enormous potential for both plant manufacturers and plant operators alike.

Meyerton Engineering

Meyerton Engineering (Pty) Ltd is a highly established mild steel and stainless steel fabricator. This family business was found in 1980 and has flourished over the last 41 years both nationally and internationally. Their mission is to provide customers with professional technical support and reliable products.

Over the years the company has not only expanded to a 33 000m2 site but also in its capabilities to service the ever increasingly demanding market place. Their scope of supply has broadened over the years covering diverse environments including chemical, mining, power generation, air pollution control, iron, steel and aluminium production to name but a few. There are dedicated workshops for steel fabrication, with the capacity of around 250 – 300 tons per month and all painting and blasting is done in-house.

Meyerton Engineering prides themselves in many high standard certifications such as a Level 2 B-BBEE, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 3834-2, and ISO 3834 and ISO 45001. Coupled with working hard to maintain these high quality standards, Meyerton Engineering believes in investing in its employees through the provision of on-going training on a regular basis.

Meyerton Engineering has a high esteem for their client base as they are reliable and play a pivotal role to the success of their company.

www.meyertoneng.co.za

Zengear

Azispex trading as Zengear identified a shortage of key skills in the South African and African mining, process and materials handling markets leading us to establish a team of skilled competent atrisans and profesionals, including, but not limited to alignment, bearing and gearbox specialists. Our primary goal is to service value into these industries by reducing project lead times, increase equipment uptime, reliability and reduce downtime.

Zengear have established strategic partnerships with leading OEMs i.e. Thyssen Krupp Industrial Solutions to achieve our goals. Zengear belives in customer satisfaction, there is always room for improvement and scope for growth. We pride ourselves in the assistance with any request or problem our clients might have.

Testing facility

www.zengear.co.za

throughput and performance and will open the opportunities for innovative process flow sheet design, due to the capabilities of these products. Together with the digitalisation and automation products, there is an exciting outlook for the ‘mine of the future’.”

EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT

As part of its plan to grow its services, thyssenkrupp has focused investment on the aforementioned digital side of service, but also its multiple sites and facilities, in order to move forward as the optimum choice for industrial plant and system projects in the mining space.

“The main service hub for Africa was established in 2008 in South Africa, to service the large population of HPGRs within the continent,” Barkhuizen explains. “During the last decade, our service centre in Chloorkop has continuously grown and expanded its capabilities to service and refurbish our complete product range.

“In November of 2018 we opened our training academy; a location at which we develop exceptional skills in Africa. We aim to produce the best artisans for the continent, we are registered with merSETA, and following a 36-month training period related to grinding, crushing and materials handling equipment, our apprentices qualify as fitters, turner machinists and boilermakers. We are very proud of them all.”

On top of this, thyssenkrupp opened service outposts in

AFRICA OUTLOOK: CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE

PEOPLE BEHIND THE COMPANY’S SUCCESS?

Dr. Wilfred Barkhuizen, CEO: “Simply put, our companies’ employees are critical to our business. Their capabilities, expertise and reputation are well known in the industry, the sought-after skills of our employees is the reason why we are seen as a technology leader in the industry.

“The necessity of a unique, skilled and agile team that can swiftly adapt to industry changes is core to success. With teams such as ours we are able to come up with innovative solutions to often complicated engineering challenges and stay ahead of the industry.

“We create partnerships with our clients and suppliers to ensure the sustainability of the whole value chain of the solutions we offer to clients.”

Providing field services and engineering solutions to industry specifications. Specialized gearbox and bearings services.

Design

Machining

Drive solutions

On site alignment

Consulting

Field services

Process equipment

Drive train assembly and installation

zengearengineering www.zengear.co.za

Jody Germishuizen +27 71 402 1465 jody@zengear.co.za Magde-Mari Delport +27 66 300 5576 maggie@zengear.co.za

Inside the Service Centre

Mozambique, Zambia and Ghana, highlighting the company’s ambitions and aims for growth in the places where its services are most in demand.

“For the Middle East and Africa region we have also established a service centre in Turkey,” Barkhuizen informs us. “Backed with highquality products and customised technological solutions, the Turkish service centre enabled us to meet our customers where they are.

“With commitment and highly skilled personnel, this service centre is also capable to manufacture and service a wide range of thyssenkrupp products, and we already see that this is producing a positive impact for both us and the customers in the region.”

FACILITATING CHANGE

Moving forward, thyssenkrupp is targeting a growth strategy in the next few years as a result of many opportunities presenting themselves in the market, as well as pursuing innovative approaches to seeing company services engage closely with clients.

“There is definitely a focus on our digitalisation and automation products as well,” Barkhuizen says. “This is with a specific goal to show clients that they can optimise plant performance and lower operating costs through this optimisation.”

Tel: 010 215 6300 info.tkissa@thyssenkrupp.com www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.co.za