'The main problem for companies is that technology always fails'

Industries around the world are embracing digital transformation within their productive processes, turning connectivity and data into commodities. 

BNamericas talked with Alonso Bringas, commercial VP of telco Tesacom Group, about how the company is betting on providing technology to the mining and energy sectors to achieve a better position in the region.

BNamericas: With regard to the digital transformation process that mining companies are embracing, what’s the main problem they face? 

Bringas: Companies have started a process of automation and remote monitoring regarding the management of their assets, but let's not think about assets such as the automotive or transportation industry, instead let’s consider devices with a smart chip that can generate data allowing companies to improve efficiency and productivity, but also predictive maintenance, and this involves mining, the maritime industry and oil and gas.

So, the main problem for mining, maritime, oil and gas, transportation and logistics companies, is that technology always fails.

BNamericas: Why does it fail?

Bringas: Because it has three main components: hardware, software and connectivity. So, there are vendors specialized in hardware, others in software and others in connectivity, but in the end nobody is responsible for the customer and that’s where the problems with technology begin. They [clients] become more reluctant to use it [technology] and they start to see it as an expense instead as an investment.

BNamericas: How can that be solved?

Bringas: This year we made the decision to become a company that manufactures technology, producing hardware and smart platforms, as well as relying on satellite connectivity to give the customer a complete product.

BNamericas: Why did Tesacom decide to manufacture its own technology?

Bringas: The Tesacom group is a telecommunications company that’s highly focused on satellite products and services, but there was a change in terms of commercial management and business direction because the satellite business is becoming a commodity. The same goes for mobile services, where data is also becoming a commodity.

Around the world, the satellite business is changing. There are new players and some uncertainty has been generated because the business model hasn’t yet been defined.

BNamericas: Will Tesacom manufacture its own technology in South America?

Bringas: We’ve established a plant in Paraguay to make technology, not only for ourselves, but for the community in general in South America, and to be more competitive.

We’re investing more than US$2mn and we’re hiring more than 50 people. So, from Paraguay, small and medium-sized companies that can’t have cutting-edge technology can access this technology in a more customized manner in order to automate their operations with more efficient control of their operating profits.

BNamericas: Why Paraguay?

Bringas: Due to tariff levels, Paraguay is a country with an added value in terms of reduced taxes compared with other countries in South America.

Also, in Paraguay we have a hub, a company with specialists, developers of satellite or technological products that we want to export to the countries where we already work [Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico]

In terms of efficiency, this hub is the best thing that could have happened to us, because there’s a cost saving of more than 35%.

By next year, we expect to create technology products worth more than US$3.5mn. 

BNamericas: Thinking about data as a commodity and moving to the mining sector, what are mining clients asking for in this area?

Bringas: In mining, machines and production systems have to address processes that are mostly manual, for example, to prepare a report on the extracted mineral. This involves time, many people and is an expense, but we can digitalize that.

We have a platform that manages the mining company's assets. You can see the number of hours that machines are used, the energy consumption and the positioning of the equipment in places where there’s no connectivity.

Every time a machine stops the miner loses thousands of dollars, but if it’s detected that the use of the machine is over the permitted levels, through the platform they can see what the predictive maintenance is.

BNamericas: Right now, are mining clients prioritizing innovation or cost savings?

Bringas: As a consequence of the pandemic, they’re prioritizing cost savings because they have to focus on profit.

With regard to Chile, where we work with Newmont, SQM, Kinross, they’ve told us that they want to optimize costs and this is achieved by making the operation more digital.

BNamericas: Do you offer services to any mining projects?

Bringas: We participate in projects such as Quebrada Blanca phase 2, Sierra Gorda and Antofagasta Minerals [Los Pelambres expansion].

BNamericas: What part of the mining process do they want to optimize?

Bringas: Predictive maintenance on power outages, continuous satellite connectivity to improve communication and asset management in a single platform.

BNamericas: Thinking about IoT, what specific applications do you offer for mining?

Bringas: We have a platform for industrial operations with a data collection sensor focused on energy and machinery. For example, the software makes it possible to monitor transformers and determine when a power outage might occur.

We collect the data and deliver it to a dashboard where you can see the plan and the actual performance to track energy consumption, for example.

BNamericas: Is this service being used at a mining site in Chile yet?

Bringas: We started to explore this service this year.

BNamericas: What are the plans for Chile in the short and medium term?

Bringas: In Chile we have a sectoral operation generating around US$5mn, but through new digital products we want to position ourselves in mining and energy, being able to generate more than US$3mn in those sectors. 

We want to grow in Chile and become a perfect company that offers hardware, software and connectivity services.

BNamericas: How do you hope to achieve that?

Bringas: We’ve changed the profile of the sales executive to a specialist sales executive, which is a pre-sales consultant and salesperson that allows us to understand the client’s technical and commercial needs in a single meeting, because today that’s very complex in the market. That’s why business takes a long time, because they need lots of meetings to really understand the needs of the client.

Also, in Chile we’ve created a delivery area. It no longer matters how good your product is and how good your service is; the most important thing now is the time in which you implement your solution. So, we’ve created an area with specialists to be able to close service agreements and implement solutions in record time.

BNamericas: How much is the implementation time reduced?

Bringas: Typically, it takes a month or two to implement solutions in the mining sector. What we’ve done is reduce this period to one week.

Photo credit: Tesacom