Track 2 Session 9
8:00 to 9:00 a.m. Friday March 27, 2009

Taking Strategic Decisions to Improve Iron Mine Production Through Reliability Engineering

Using the concepts of Life Data Analysis, Reliability System Analysis (specifically, the Reliability Block Diagram methodology) and Monte Carlo Simulation, an iron mine was mathematically shaped in a model where it was possible to represent the iron production. Once this model was validated, the specialists in the process started to come out with several ideas to improve the line production. Those ideas were based on two concepts: 1) Improve the reliability of the equipment (reduce the quantity of failures and events) and improve the maintainability (reduce the time to repair); and 2) Change the layout of the process and buy new equipment.

With the ideas defined, several models were created to represent those changes. Each model was simulated using the Monte Carlo methodology to estimate how much production could possibly be gained with the modification. From the results of each scenario, the managers could choose the best options and spend money on the actions that they could expect would really help them to attain their objective, which was to improve the iron mine production.

Key Words: Warranty, Service Life, Maintenance, Performance Degradation, Safety

Claudio Span
ReliaSoft Brasil
Brasil