Image: Mobile assets maintenance & reliability management

Minerals & Metals1 min read

Mobile assets maintenance & reliability management

Location
Meadowbank Mine, Nunavut
Client
Agnico Eagle Mining
Timeframe
2020
Commodity
Gold

Agnico Eagle Mining (AEM) is a senior Canadian gold mining company with operating mines in Canada, Finland and Mexico. At its Meadowbank mine in Nunavut, Agnico Eagle engaged Ausenco to redirect attention from an existing project in order to implement global asset and reliability management best practices during equipment downtime that resulted from the COVID19 pandemic.

Client requirements

AEM upper management decided to utilize the COVID19 situation and perform eight weeks maintenance care of their critical mobile equipment assets. Operations were stopped during this period and our initial mandate was paused for us to manage major work on 20 assets The backlog was considerably high, and we were asked to bring it to a healthy level.

Project solutions and approach

Our work included:

  • Export all work orders from the CMMS and analyze obsolescence possibilities
  • Implement new practices of optimizing schedules as per assets’ backlog
  • Teach planning and scheduling team to be hands on and assess work in the field with technicians, in order to either optimize backlog completion while working on the equipment or cancel jobs that no longer need to be completed
  • Manage major work like a project, by following daily progression and ensuring communication that leads to tackle road blocks in a faster manner
  • Appoint technical advisors and make them accountable of their major work progression
  • Support inventory management team by providing better visibility on execution needs and optimize wrench time.

Outcomes and achievements

After 8 weeks, Ausenco reduced maintenance backlog by 42%. In this timeframe, the aim was to reduce backlog hours
by 12k across 20 pieces of equipment. However, after week 5 the team was ahead of schedule and increased the scope to try to reduce backlog hours on 28 pieces of equipment in total. After the 8 week period concluded, backlog hours were reduced by 19k across a total of 26 equipment pieces.