Trail Operations wanted to find a better way to manage the cathode cycle at the Zinc Electrolytic Plant, one that would improve zinc production in a cost-effective way. Process Engineer Sara Fitzel came up with a solution that was not only innovative, it was also inspired by a most unlikely place: the local ski club.
The Challenge
An ongoing challenge at Trail Operations’ Zinc Electrolytic Plant was tracking the length of time that cathodes were placed in a cell containing zinc electrolyte. When electrical current flows through the electrolyte, pure zinc metal plates out of the electrolyte onto the cathodes. The plated cathodes are removed from the cells, the zinc harvested and the bare cathodes replaced into the cells for the next cycle of plating.
Extending this plating cycle too long results in increased impurities, zinc sheet quality problems, inefficient use of electricity and, as a result, reduced zinc production. Typically, cathodes plated for 72–80 hours in the cells; the target was to reduce the time to 60 hours.
A key part of the challenge was that tracking these cathodes in a large operation like the Zinc Electrolytic Plant can be a very difficult task—the plant is the size of several football fields and contains four very large cell houses, with 560 separate cells. Also, cathode cycle management was done on paper using information provided from crane operators to shift leaders, which was not always efficient
One Big Idea
Sara knew the local ski club used an app to track race times. Based on that, she had an idea—she theorized that the same kind of functionality could also be used to track and manage the cathode cycle.
Following some experimentation and lunchroom tabletop demonstrations, Sara was given permission to pilot an app solution in one of the four cell houses, and then began working with Sean Rudnitski, Senior Systems Analyst and Programmer, to manage any associated risks and to capture the data from the app for integration with Teck systems.
After a small-scale pilot was successfully tested, the innovative new system was soon scaled to all four cell houses using a custom Teck iPad app—built in-house by Sean—that addressed system risk and other specific needs.
The app was not only a first for Teck, it was also a first for Sean, who learned the technology quickly and developed the cathode cycle management app as his first-ever mobile project.
An A+ App
As a result, plating time for zinc was 62.7 hours in the first quarter of 2016, compared to 71.7 hours the previous year—a significant improvement, given that a 1% reduction in cathode plating time translates to a $2.46 million annual cost reduction in producing zinc.
The app not only successfully tracks the cathode plating time, but it also gives insight to other areas requiring improvement. For example, the app includes real-time integration of plating time data into forecasting tools for managing cell house hours, crucial to maintaining production during any non-routine operating conditions.
“The success of this project was a true team effort—Sara had a great idea and Sean created the nuts and bolts that put that idea into action,” said Rick Woodhouse, Manager, JDE Global & Trail Information Systems.
Roelof Helberg, Operating Manager, Electrolytic and Melting, added: “Both team members used ingenuity, determination, creativity and many long hours to solve a problem that had been plaguing the plant for years. Projects like this play a major role in Continuous Improvement and in our ability to sustainably produce more zinc.”
