Addressing the Challenges Faced by the Mining Industry

Conference at RWTH Aachen Discusses Challenges and Risks of Industry 4.0 for the Mining Sector

 

On December 1 and 2, the Department for Mining and Metallurgical Machinery will host the first “Forum Mining 4.0” at the Aachen Tivoli. Under the heading of “Industry 4.0” the federal government is currently developing a high-tech strategy in collaboration with research institutes, trade unions, and industrial associations. Industry 4.0 designates a further development stage in the organization and management of the value chain process in the manufacturing industry, involving “smart” networks of machines and IT systems.

Forum Mining 4.0 seeks to answer the following questions: what does Industry 4.0 mean for the mining sector? What are the machine manufacturers’ strategies in the face of Industry 4.0 developments? What do the scenarios of the mining site operators look like? Are there any new fields of business?

Forum Mining 4.0 is a platform for exchange between industry, research, and associations to probe into the possibilities opened up by Industry 4.0 technologies for the mining sector. The first session focuses on expectations by mining site operators, while the second session addresses the strategies followed by mining suppliers. Sessions three and four discuss current research as well as new technologies offered by component suppliers and service providers.

Subsequent to the conference program on Tuesday, there will be a guided tour of the Tivoli football stadium and a meetup in the Tivoli Club Lounge for an informal exchange of ideas. On Wednesday, as a conclusion to the event, Professor Karl Nienhaus, the head of the Department for Mining and Metallurgical Machinery, will moderate a panel discussion on the topic of "Mining 4.0 - A New Business Model"?

The Forum is organized by the RWTH Department for Mining and Metallurgical Machinery in collaboration with DMT GmbH and the VDMA mining association.

Registration is open until November 23, 2015. Most conference contributions will be given in German.