Brazilian miner and iron ore producer Vale said on Friday it expects to save $70 million by 2020 with a new iron ore and manganese production management system.
The company said it will use the new system as a way to combine and then replace the 17 different existing production management systems. A total of 38 mines and plants will use the new system, which will be called GPV-M. Vale said it installed the new system at 20 units in has in the states of Minas Gerais, Maranhao and Para.
The software was jointly developed in 2014 by Vale and Chemtech, a subsidiary of the Siemens, and was first implemented at Vale in October 2016.
Vale explained the $70 million it expects to save by 2020 is split into two different categories, including savings of about $19 million with information technology (IT), and an additional $53 million savings with operational expenses that will be cut as a result of the unified system.