Mining contractor firm BUMA offers comprehensive end-to-end services or its clients throughout Queensland.
With a focus on safety, innovation and technology, the company has rapidly expanded its use of operational technology in recent years, tailored to meet the unique requirements of each client and project. Jack Walter leads the Operational Technology team across all sites. “As a mine contractor, we partner with our clients over the long term and our commitment is to deliver on their evolving short-to mid-term objectives,” he says.
BUMA’s scope and scale of operations is varied and dynamic. Current projects range from integration with a client’s fully autonomous fleet, to operating stand-alone pits, with both waste and production maintenance.
Responsible for monitoring the latest advancements in technology, Walker’s team looks for solutions that optimise performance, asset management and rural network connectivity.
BUMA’s journey into operational technology stemmed from a fundamental focus on taking care of its people, company assets including trucks, excavators and dozers, and the mine itself. “Safety is the number one value at BUMA. We continuously look to integrate industry best practice and utilise technology to create a secure working environment for all staff, both our own and our clients’,” Walker adds.
The use of high precision machine guidance for excavators and dozers, coupled with asset management, machine health monitoring, and site networking solutions, combine to enhance the efficiency and lifespan of machinery. “Optimising the safety of our people, as well as the health and performance of our equipment, ultimately leads to improved pit compliance and extraction. That in turn, translates to higher quality outcomes for clients, both in the short- and long-term,” he says.
As a growing company, BUMA focuses on downstream technologies that materially deliver strategic mine-planning. Survey, machine guidance and drone technology help to ensure accurate and safe mine designs that enhance overall efficiency.
Additionally, BUMA is investing in modern network infrastructure to maintain dataflow and real-time operations. In choosing a technology provider, Walker explains the requirement for a supplier that aligned with BUMA’s agile, tailored approach. After years of successful deployment at Commodore, near Toowoomba west of Brisbane, Aptella (formerly Position Partners), has supported BUMA’s expansion of technology across all sites, with rapid deployment within a six-month period.
“We value Aptella’s adaptability, aligning perfectly with BUMA’s commitment to client needs,” says Walker. “Aptella’s agnostic approach provides us with a wide range of solutions across various mining functions, enabling us access to the best tools for each project.
“We value our collaborative working relationship with the BUMA team tremendously,” says Andrew Granger, Mining Business Executive Manager at Aptella. “As a company that lives and breathes its commitments to safety and innovation, it has been a privilege to support their growth.”
As a multi-solution distributor with offices throughout Australia, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, Aptella has a strong commitment to providing local service and support capabilities to customers.
Like BUMA, the company recognises that every site and client has unique requirements when it comes to both the technology and service level agreement that will suit them best.
“Our approach is to listen to customer challenges and understand desired outcomes, first and foremost,” Granger adds. “We then innovate to source and deploy the best, tailored technology to help deliver those outcomes, and support our customers over the long-term.”
For BUMA, Aptella’s service includes 24/7 asset and technology monitoring and support, through Aptella’s remote access platform that enables technicians to view and remotely connect to in-machine systems over the internet. With the ability to train operators, diagnose maintenance requirements and more remotely, the service provides BUMA with fast, proactive support. This is backed by a local team of technicians for any unplanned maintenance that requires on-site attendance.
“In the dynamic industry that is mining, unplanned maintenance is part of the journey,” Walker says. “Having Aptella’s readily-deployable resources make a significant difference and their expert technicians enable us to address any issues quickly, minimising disruption and ensuring smooth operations.”
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