Rio Tinto will begin mining big data at its world-first Analytics Excellence Center to significantly enhance equipment productivity across its global operations. It will assess massive volumes of data captured by the array of sensors attached to Rio Tinto’s fixed and mobile equipment and enable experts to predict and prevent engine breakdowns and other downtime events, significantly boosting productivity and safety.

Using predictive mathematics, machine learning and advanced modeling, data scientists in the Analytics Excellence Center in Pune, India, will be working to identify a range of problems before they occur. This analysis will reduce maintenance costs and production losses from unplanned breakdowns.

Rio Tinto Group Executive of Technology and Innovation Greg Lilleyman said, “The Analytics Excellence Center will allow us to extract maximum value from the data we are capturing around the performance of our equipment, making our operations more predictable, efficient and safer. The center will help us predict the future through the use of advanced data analytic techniques to pinpoint with incredible accuracy the operating performance of our equipment. Our aim is to run more efficient, smarter and safer mining operations and provide greater shareholder returns.

“This is bringing the world of tomorrow to today. We’re combining human experience with machine intelligence and providing more support to our operations.”

Rio Tinto has partnered with IGATE to develop the Analytics Excellence Center. The center is the latest phase of Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future program, which is dedicated to finding advanced ways of improving safety and productivity.

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