Samarco Mineracao S.A. Implements Meridium for Asset Performance Management Solution

Meridium Inc., the global leader in asset performance management software and consulting solutions, announced that Samarco Mineracao S.A has implemented Meridium software to ensure the stability of its operations and industrial processes with practices that reconcile the best possible availability, with a guarantee of high reliability.

Founded in 1977, Samarco is a pioneer in the processing of low-grade iron ore and the second largest transoceanic exporter of high quality iron pellets to the global steel industry. The commencement of operations of the company’s third pelletizing unit in 2008 has increased production capacity by 54%, securing Samarco’s future leadership status.

Through actions guided by the value of life, a sense of justice and a respect for people, Samarco grows while contributing to the economical, social and environmental development of the regions where it acts, focusing on the excellence and sustainability of its business. This is made possible by Samarco’s team of competent professionals, walking together towards the creation of a world-class enterprise.

“Samarco implemented Meridium to improve asset reliability and reduce costs. The Germano project focused on the use of Meridium Metrics and Root Cause Analysis tools, and currently has over 150 Meridium users,” says Romulo Bastos, project sponsor from the Germano mining operation.

At Ubu’s Pelletizing Operations, “Meridium’s Reliability Analytics was integrated into Samarco’s production tracking system so that our Reliability Engineers can use availability and downtime information to find the best areas to mitigate risk and increase profit,” stated project sponsor Fabio Tessari.

Romulo Bastos echoed the Ubu Operations success, “Finding ways to decrease production downtime is vital in today’s economy. The training and the implementation went very well and we are confident of our ability to identify improvements using Meridium.”

Celso Kovalek, project sponsor from Samarco’s Information Technology (IT) Operations, emphasizes that “Samarco firmly believes that the deployment of software is not the sole factor for success. Meridium’s knowledge base has a wide variety of solutions and good business practices giving it the necessary credentials to help Samarco achieve the goals set for the project: Preventing faulty equipment, increasing the availability of the company’s industrial units and maximizing the life of our assets.”

Samarco has implemented the following Meridium APM software solutions:

* APM Framework for querying, reporting, graphing, notifications and alerts. * Asset Strategy Management for standardizing and implementing equipment best practices and strategies that automate decision making about operations, maintenance and reliability activities. * Metrics & Scorecards for defining and implementing a measurement system to document actual progress against strategic goals. * RCM & FMEA enabling rigorous analysis of individual assets and entire systems for the purpose of identifying the cause of potential failures and then implementing strategies to prevent failures from occurring. * Reliability Analytics for understanding poorly performing assets and system designs and where opportunities for improvement exist. * Root Cause Analysis (PROACT® for Meridium) for helping management better understand the underlying root causes of failures to prevent future failures. * Custom interface to the company’s MES (Manufacturing Execution System) for facilitating the integration of data from the production availability and maintenance downtime reporting system in Meridium.

* SAP Interfaces for enabling the seamless integration of SAP data into Meridium for rigorous analysis, strategy development and then re-execution into SAP, driving continuous asset performance improvements across the enterprise.

“Meridium is excited to support Samarco in solidifying its position among the largest iron-ore pellet suppliers in the world,” says Meridium founder and CEO, Bonz Hart. “We are proud to be at the forefront of helping mining organizations like Samarco manage their critical assets: optimizing production while minimizing risk to their equipment, people and environment.”