Orange Business Services and De Beers Co-innovate Geofencing Solution to Enhance Crew Safety in Offshore Mining
September 01 2020 - 4:00AM
Business Wire
- Successful pilot used digital IoT technologies and wearable
sensors to monitor crew proximity to heavy machinery
- Co-creation approach supports De Beers’ ‘zero harm’ health and
safety objectives in a heavy industrial environment
Orange Business Services, a network-native digital services
company, and De Beers Marine South Africa, a division of De Beers -
the world’s leading diamond company, have jointly installed and
tested a customized IoT solution to provide geofencing to maintain
safe working distances for crew around the heavy machinery involved
in marine diamond mining operations. The new solution was
successfully piloted on board the MV Mafuta, currently the world’s
largest offshore diamond mining vessel owned and operated by
Debmarine Namibia and operating up to 150 km off the coast of
Namibia, in southern Africa.
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Co-creation approach supports De Beers’
‘zero harm’ health and safety objectives in a heavy industrial
environment (Photo: Business Wire)
Diamond mining vessels bring crew and heavy machinery into
relatively close proximity, and De Beers is committed to ensuring
the highest standards of operating safety for all personnel. The
Orange IoT solution was developed in response to De Beers’ ‘zero
harm’ objectives. It followed an initial engagement and joint
exploratory workshop with the Orange Business Services team in
South Africa and focused on IoT technologies, such as Bluetooth Low
Energy locators and wearable sensors, as a precision crew locator
tool, integrated with onboard antennas and an Orange software
engine.
In the pilot, Orange Business Services imported the Mafuta’s
AutoCAD files and undertook an onboard site survey to map antenna
locations to geofence a predetermined area on the vessel. Ten crew
members were equipped with wrist sensors. If one of the crew
breached the geofenced area onboard the vessel, the ship’s bridge
was alerted immediately.
De Beers Group Technology SA, an R&D arm of De Beers Group,
is now further exploring additional applications, such as a breach
alert function to link the sensors directly to the mining machinery
via a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) control
system and PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), to facilitate a
failsafe cut-off in the event of a breach in the geofence.
Gerhardus Theron, Vessel Manager of the MV Mafuta said:
“Debmarine Namibia has a very clear aim of ‘zero harm’ across all
our operations, and we are constantly looking at ways of enhancing
employee safety and especially around the heavy machinery required
for diamond recovery operations. The initial engagement
consultation and joint workshop with the team from Orange Business
Services was very productive and quickly identified the potential
for an IoT solution to ensure the wellbeing of personnel onboard
the vessels. We quickly moved to a pilot phase, which has now
confirmed the potential of this innovative approach that we could
embed within our existing safety processes and procedures.”
“This smart IoT solution developed with De Beers is a great
example of innovating and co-creating with our customer. The
geofencing pilot has already proved successful in one of the most
challenging heavy industrial environments - a floating diamond mine
at sea, with prolonged exposure to strong vibration and corrosive
saltwater. The next phase of its development will aim to refine the
interface and data collection capabilities, and include testing a
trigger function to deactivate machinery in the event of a breach
of the geofence by a crew member,” said Keith Matthews, Country
Manager for South Africa, Orange Business Services.
About Debmarine Namibia
Debmarine Namibia is a joint venture marine diamond prospecting and
mining company, owned in equal shares by the Government of the
Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group. Debmarine Namibia commenced
operations in January 2002 and mines off the southern coast of
Namibia. The company operates five diamond mining vessels and one
exploration and sampling vessel, the mv SS Nujoma. The mining
vessels mine diamonds off the ocean floor using highly advanced
drill technology, supported with sophisticated tracking,
positioning and surveying equipment. Debmarine Namibia is ISO
14001, ISM and OHSAS 18001 certified, in line with its commitment
to safety and environmental management. Debmarine Namibia is a
recognised world leader in marine diamond exploration and mining
technology.
About De Beers Group De
Beers Group is a member of the Anglo American plc group.
Established in 1888, De Beers Group is the world’s leading diamond
company with expertise in the exploration, mining and marketing of
diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers Group
employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is
the world’s largest diamond producer by value, with mining
operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. As part
of the company’s operating philosophy, the people of De Beers Group
are committed to ‘Building Forever’ by making a lasting
contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and
transforming natural resources into shared national wealth. For
further information about De Beers Group, visit
www.debeersgroup.com.
About Orange Business
Services Orange Business Services is a network-native
digital services company and the global enterprise division of the
Orange Group. It connects, protects and innovates for enterprises
around the world to support sustainable business growth. Leveraging
its connectivity and system integration expertise throughout the
digital value chain, Orange Business Services is well placed to
support global businesses in areas such as software-defined
networks, multi-cloud services, Data and AI, smart mobility
services, and cybersecurity. It securely accompanies enterprises
across every stage of the data lifecycle end-to-end, from
collection, transport, storage and processing to analysis and
sharing.
With companies thriving on innovation, Orange Business Services
places its customers at the heart of an open collaborative
ecosystem. This includes its 27,000 employees, the assets and
expertise of the Orange Group, its technology and business
partners, and a pool of finely selected start-ups. More than 3,000
multinational enterprises, as well as two million professionals,
companies and local communities in France, put their trust in
Orange Business Services.
For more information, visit www.orange-business.com or follow us
on LinkedIn, Twitter and our blogs.
Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications
operators with revenues of 42 billion euros in 2019 and 253 million
customers worldwide at 30 June 2020. Orange is listed on the
Euronext Paris (ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (ORAN). In
December 2019, Orange presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic
plan, guided by social and environmental accountability. While
accelerating in growth areas, such as B-to-B services and placing
data and AI at the heart of innovation, the entire Orange Group
will be an attractive and responsible employer.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in
this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services
Limited.
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Elizabeth Mayeri Orange Business Services
elizabeth.mayeri@orange.com +1 212 251 2086
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