Platinum Mining Company Deploys Cisco Ethernet to Cut Costs

The Anglo Platinum Group has 65,000 employees throughout South Africa engage in the full range of mining operations including underground and open - cast mines, concentrators, smelters, and refineries. Over the past 10 years, the complexity of Anglo Platinum's environment has grown exponentially. There was no standard implementation, and the disparate technologies meant that each operation acted in isolation and was difficult to support and manage. To achieve its business objectives and exercise control over data traffic, Anglo Platinum needed to reduce these costs as well as virtually eliminate network downtime.

The Solution

Anglo Platinum developed a strategy to integrate the radically disparate worlds of the process control networks and the corporate data network into a secure platform for enterprise -wide dash-boarding and decision making at all levels of the operation.

Anglo Platinum also opted for the Cisco Ethernet-to-the-Factory (EttF) solution, because it provides an end -to-end infrastructure that includes support for industry standards and ruggedized hardware for harsh environments. EttF is part of the suite of Cisco Smart+Connected Manufacturing solutions designed to help manufacturing companies successfully connect plant and business systems. EttF also provides real -time visibility into production systems and offers predictable performance and system resiliency.

The Results

Anglo Platinum's cost of ownership fell to one -half the industry average after the Cisco EttF deployment. Now they can ensure the availability of systems and support from a central location and have comprehensive visibility and reporting. The Cisco solution has enabled stakeholders to have a "secured and authorized" top -down view on production from any location, reducing turnaround times on decision making and helping ensure availability and continuity of all critical systems in Anglo Platinum Process plants.