Bulk Material Logistics Planning
Case Study:
Client Challenge
A smelting operation in Southern Africa, linked by rail to a port, which receives and treats complex copper concentrates from various suppliers around the world.
The blister copper that they produce is then sent to refineries in Asia and Europe for final processing into copper metal, while the sulphuric acid by-product is sold to processing facilities in Southern Africa.
The logistics and production planning for the short-medium term was done using traditional, equation-based models (such as Excel).
The challenges from this setup include:
- The planning process did not rely on validated numbers, and any changes made to the plan, which are typically driven by material stock constraints, resulted in very slow iterations.
- There was a 2-step plan and validation process which forced greater demand on stakeholders.
- Data systems were not optimised to facilitate with the development, storage, tracking and approval of plans.
The issues associated with this system led to sub-optimal planning and inefficient use of stakeholder time and headspace.
The Solution
In less than 8 weeks, BSC developed an integrated logistics and production planning tool.
This tool replaced the paper-based sign off process with an easy-to-use Excel front-end for plan creation / editing (connected to external data sources) and integrated with discrete event simulations of the operation and associated logistics of bulk material in and out of the smelter.
The validation results from these could be viewed and signed-off using custom-built dashboards.
Nominated custodians then received training to use the tool to perform plan validation, capacity analyses, and ‘What-If’ scenarios on a regular basis.
Solution Value
Introduced a more scientific approach to logistics plan validation and considerably reduced the process time from a 3-hour planning meeting per week to an automated 20-minute process.
- Significantly improved confidence in logistics and production plans produced.
- Saved considerable hours of valuable stakeholder time every week.