Perth: Mining giant Rio Tinto will begin its world-first Analytics Excellence Centre (AEC) in India, to improve equipment productivity across its global operations.

The Centre will assess massive volumes of data captured by the array of sensors attached to Rio Tinto’s fixed and mobile equipment and enable experts to predict and prevent engine breakdowns and other downtime events, significantly boosting productivity and safety.

Greg Lilleyman, Rio Tinto Group executive-technology and innovation said “The Analytics Excellence Centre will allow us to extract maximum value from the data we are capturing around the performance of our equipment, making our operations more predictable, efficient and safer. This is a world-first for the mining industry and is all part of Rio Tinto’s relentless pursuit of productivity gains across our businesses.”

Rio Tinto has partnered with IGATE to develop the Analytics Excellence Centre. The Centre is the latest phase of Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future™ programme, which is dedicated to finding advanced ways of improving safety and productivity.