Capital Intensive Supply Chains

Software developed by CSIRO assists scheduling teams in developing optimal demand-driven rail schedules. Our tools reduce the demands on schedulers' valuable time, and run fast so that outcomes of various planning strategies can be tested before developing a final rail schedule...

Read more about rail scheduling for minerals supply chains.

Mineral freight volume increases are driving transport infrastructure investments in Australia. New and upgraded railways, roads and ports are planned or are under construction -- to serve new mines, processing facilities and international markets. One of the fastest growing regions is Northern Queensland, central to which is the so-called Northern Economic Triangle. For long-term infrastructure planning in this and other regions, CSIRO is constructing a new GIS-based infrastructure optimisation system known as the Infrastructure Futures Analysis Platform (IFAP)...

Read more about the Infrastructure Futures Analysis Platform.

In collaboration with industry partners, CSIRO builds and applies customized optimisation tools for capacity planning in coal and minerals supply chains. Recently CSIRO's capacity planning software library was adopted by what is now the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator (HVCCC) in New South Wales, as part of a long-term capacity management system...

Read more about optimisation tools for capacity planning in minerals supply chains.

Variability of the times required for physical processes at a port can have a great impact on its performance. However, not only physical processes can cause delays and, thus, loss of throughput. Changes to agreements too can inhibit a performance of a port. We have analyzed data from a coal terminal, looking at overall system performance, major physical processes and changes to contracts...

Read more about this analysis of port variability.

The short-term aspect of optimal stockpile blending is concerned with building a stockpile with specified target grades, while the long-term practical challenge is in predicting how much grade variation will be encountered during the period over which a mineral deposit is developed. During 2009, the Adaptive Supply Networks team will be transforming our research findings in optimised blending with uncertainty into a commercial-grade product for use by industry...

Read more about optimal stockpile blending.

Bulk materials stockyards (for coal, minerals or agricultural commodities) are complex and pose substantial challenges for terminal operators and supply chain planners. CSIRO is undertaking research into stockyard optimisation systems. This research is producing smart tools that will help businesses get on top of stockyard scheduling, stockyard configuration and supply chain design questions...

Read more about stockyard scheduling and optimisation.

Over many years we have worked with mining companies to help them to tackle complex logistics questions and assess their sampling, calibration and testing systems. Based on our experience and observations, we believe that decision makers in mining companies will always have to make decisions that influence product quality using information which is less accurate than they would like. The relationship between information accuracy, uncertainty and the optimality of decisions is complex. Our research and development directly addresses the tension between uncertainty and optimisation...

Read more about grade variation and optimal decision-making.

To answer questions like "How big a stockpile do we need?", it is essential to consider carefully the purposes of the stockpile and to think about the stockpile within the context of other mining processes. The three most common purposes for stockpiles are buffering, blending and targeting. CSIRO has developed a computer program - CHASM - for modelling the blending function of stockpiles...

Read more about stockpile modelling using CHASM.

CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics have significant expertise in providing analytical decision support for transport and logistics planning particularly in the bulk materials handling industry and agribusiness. This includes estimating benefits provided by proposed capital investments, planning and operational scheduling, dynamic rescheduling, evaluating changes to operating policies through scenario analysis, capacity and bottleneck calculations and analysis of variability in blending and throughput performance... more (PDF)