13 Why Is Mine Scheduling So Different To Project Management Scheduling??
Mark Bowater
? Leaving Mine Planning In A Better Place Than I Found It ? Developing Mining Engineers ? Improving Mine Planning Systems
I have a question and it is for the designers and creators of?mine?scheduling software.?But first, let’s provide some context before that question!?
Have you ever used project management software such as Microsoft Project or Primavera??Well I’m actually a Civil Engineer and so I began my working career?using project management software for scheduling projects such as bridge and road construction.?That was before I saw the light and switched to being a mining engineer!!
So, I?do?know a little bit about project management software.?And although it is labelled “project management”, it really is just a scheduling tool based around Gantt Charts, so fundamentally the same as mine scheduling.?If you’ve used both mine scheduling software and project management software, have you ever noticed?some of the key differences between them??Here are some of the differences that spring to mind:
·??????Project management software?is not set up to purely schedule key activities, such as formwork installation, or concrete pours, but instead every task within the project is scheduled within the software.?
·??????But, in the mining space we?only schedule key activities, such as drilling, blasting,?excavation and ore processing.?We don’t schedule activities that aren’t seen as routine, or critical to the mining process.?Activities such as topsoil removal, drill bench preparation, ramp excavation and drainage installation are not typically scheduled.?
·??????In mine scheduling software, we don't link tasks within the software to other tasks, so for example, we can’t excavate Block A until after we have blasted it.?Although this is the case in reality, rather than linking the activities in the software, the mine planner typically just carries that information in their head.?Generally we create a mining sequence for each piece of equipment and so all tasks carried out by that equipment are linked (one can’t start until the previous task is finished), but we don’t link different tasks carried out by differing equipment.
·??????In project management software though, every task is linked together by the process of setting predecessors and successors.?So that any changes in the time taken for one task will reflect through to changes in the start and finish times for all connected tasks.
·??????In project management software, not only are all tasks linked together, but this software allows a range of linking methods to be used.?You can link tasks via the most common method, which is that one task can’t start until another task has finished.?But there are also other alternatives, such as a task can’t start until another task has started, or one task can’t finish until another task has also finished.?
·??????But I believe the most important difference between the two software options, is that of calculation and use of the critical path.?This is the set of tasks that dictate the completion time for the project as a whole. So a delay in a task on the critical path, will delay the finish date for the project.
·??????The critical path is not something that I have ever heard discussed or monitored in the mining industry.?Now I understand that mining is not a specific project with a start and end date, but is in fact an ongoing process instead.?But in most schedules there is some critical ore or outcome that is of more importance than the other outcomes.?Wouldn’t it be awesome if with the click of a button, you could highlight all the tasks that were on the critical path for that block of ore??
Why do these differences between mine scheduling and project management software exist??What is so different or special about mining and mine scheduling, that means that there is a systematic change in the way we schedule, which leads to an entirely different approach and outcome?
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One key outcome from the style of scheduling we have chosen to apply in the mining industry, is that we underestimate the importance of enabling activities.?I spoke about enabling activities in my second article (here) and I have seen many mine sites where their lack of consideration creates significant issues within the schedule.?Probably the enabling activity that most commonly causes issues at mine sites, is the drill bench preparation required before drilling can start.?This is an enabling activity for the drilling activity.?However, in 30 years I have seen a lot of mine sites and I don’t recall one site that actually scheduled their drill bench preparation.?
I can’t help?but think?that the issues here primarily stem from the mine scheduling software that we use and so I’d love to hear some responses from software?providers to the following question.?
Why is mine scheduling software so different to project management software??
I know I have plenty of readers who work for the software houses, because I have received good feedback from you on past articles, so it would be awesome to hear from you this time.?Why don’t we use predecessors, successors and critical path analysis in mine scheduling software?
Because the follow on question for mine planners out there is, should we change this facet of mine scheduling?
[Footnote]
After a lot of valuable feedback and discussion following the original posting of this article, I've realised a couple of things.
This article is the thirteenth in a series of articles on various issues and topics relating to mine scheduling. If you found this article of value, then click here?to read the next article in the series. Or if you want to start back at the beginning of the series of articles, click?here.
For quality conversations on a range of mining engineering subjects, I'd encourage you to join the free mining engineering community called The Crew where we share our knowledge and support each other, click?here
Planning Officer at Mimosa Mining Company
2 年I think you need to engage software vendor to improve on the system. In open pit mining we have designing software that turns to give a real picture of the schedule to be followed. Underground mining a designing software has to be developed the incorporates the actual mining i.e where pillars are to be left in actual mining. Currently people are mining out everything then apply factors on the results. Considering the fact that different Ground district condition are place. This does not give a 100% benefit to the project. Unlike open pit mining a well designed pit will give you the stripping ratio where you can run a number of design that you can operate on profitability.
President Director PT SMG Consultants
2 年Gees Mark - Have you ever used the old Minex detailed scheduler. All the things you say are not in mine scheduling software have been in it since I first used it in 1986. I am still using a near 20 year old version for a good reason. Happy to run you through it some time. A great worry if the more “modern” and “popular “ systems I hear about don’t have these features.
Principal Mining Engineer at Atlantech
2 年Mark Bowater, I agree that a lot of mines tend not to use this capability that many software do have to set a critical path or resource optimization or any other similar feature when it comes to short-term (ST) and even mid-term (MT). For the long-term (LT) schedule it will often be done. Ultimately, I think the reason is, the 3 month and less is disconnected from the LT work. Ideally, I would like to see the ST and MT done on the same scheduler as the LT but just enhanced. As you said we need to include all the activities at this point, where as in the LT they are often included as delays to estimate these activities. And this is the problem! the ST planners would need to generate and manage activities manually to replace these delays. The solution, the planners should use is derived activities. Some software allow the creation of derived activities from the main core activities. If the activities have been created it is easier for the ST planners to keep them and adjust them. The workload to add a few activities manually become less of a constraint to their work. The value of having the ST schedule connected to the LT can be tremendous as the impact of a ST change can be instantaneously seen to the end of year and +.
Manuel Montenegro
Mining & Metals Professional
3 年As a project manager, that’s quite interesting especially for mining.