From reactive response
to proactive planning…

Digital and Services

Platinum mining is defined by operational complexity and environmental pressures. Thickener underflow pumps play a critical role in the ‘flocculation’ process, where flocculants (polymeric chemicals) are used to aggregate fine particles, speeding up settling to aid extraction. This process produces a high-density waste byproduct typically 40-70% by weight.

Bredel heavy-duty hose pumps, by Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS), operate hour-after-hour in the most demanding mining applications, handling abrasive sludge, paste and slurries, removing these byproducts to help deliver operational continuity. At the same time, they support environmental compliance, with waste being properly treated before reuse or discharge.

Every Bredel hose is precision made to ensure flow stability and pump performance in tough fluid handling applications, but when in constant use in mining operations, even the hardest working pump will need to be replaced.

For one platinum mining customer in South Africa, the anticipated need but unknown timeframe to replace these critical pumps was creating unplanned downtime, resulting in a reactive maintenance approach. With no visibility into failure patterns, the only solution was to keep replacement pumps on site to ensure downtime was minimised and avoid significant production losses.

To break this cycle, we deployed our CONNECT Pump Insights Service. By understanding customer needs and adapting our approach to one of proactive data capture over reactive product replacement, we identified patterns, helping the customer optimise pump operation and anticipate failures, allowing it to shift from emergency fixes to planned and preventative maintenance.

We set up a pilot, connecting the pumps to a digital dashboard accessed through CONNECT, a safe, secure and scalable IIoT solution that hosts modular, value-driven applications. Our customer now has access to real-time data and can continuously track its pump performance. The pilot quickly pinpointed configuration improvements to minimise excessive strain on the pump and hose. With this data our team was able to combine their technical expertise and process knowledge to support our customer in optimising operating conditions, increasing service intervals.

Through this pilot our customer gained visibility into pump health, laying the foundations for proactive maintenance and reduced downtime.

By understanding root causes and adapting to best support the customer in the long term, this digital approach has fostered a new customer-centric model that will generate enablement sales, as well as recurring annual ‘software as a service’ revenues, in addition to creating pull through opportunities for WMFTS.

“This pilot demonstrates how leveraging digital technologies can unlock deeper connections with our customers.

“The data and insights gathered through our connected pumps have helped us understand the challenges our customers face at a much deeper level. We’re not just looking at the lifecycle of a pump but the unplanned nature of failures. For our customer, and others like it, it’s about having the confidence to plan work and maintain operational continuity. That’s the real value digital brings.”

Matthew Thomas
Head of Connected Products