Hindustan Zinc said it has deployed an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-powered fleet intelligence system across its operations to improve equipment reliability and reduce energy use in mining.
The Vedanta Group company said the initiative enables real-time monitoring of heavy earth-moving machinery, helping track uptime, reliability trends and energy consumption data. The company said the system has led to measurable improvements across equipment categories over the last three financial years.
According to the company, jumbo drilling machines recorded a 28 per cent improvement in reliability and uptime, while load haul dumpers and low-profile dump trucks improved by 24 per cent and over 27 per cent respectively. It said energy efficiency in drilling operations had also advanced, with the Power Pack to Percussion ratio improving from 3.8 to 3.4.
“With stronger data capture, IIoT integration and advanced analytics, we are moving from reactive to predictive operations,” said Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc. “The optimisation of our heavy earth-moving fleet has been a game-changer for uptime and efficiency,” he said.
The data is processed at the company’s Collaboration Centre, which integrates information from sensors, plant systems and IIoT devices developed with Machine Max, a Vedanta Spark startup partner. Vedanta Spark is the group’s global accelerator that works with startups on technology-driven projects.
Hindustan Zinc said it is currently working with more than 20 technology startups on over 50 projects covering production, cost optimisation, safety and environmental initiatives. The company added that the digitalisation effort is part of its broader strategy to improve automation, predictive maintenance and sustainability.
Hindustan Zinc, India’s largest integrated zinc producer, supplies to more than 40 countries and holds around 77 per cent of the country’s primary zinc market. It aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.
