GroundHog Releases Major Enhancements to Flagship SIC and FMS Products for Underground Mines

* AI based task auto-assignment * Enhanced Control Room App * Out-of-the-Box PowerBI Reports * Enhanced Peer-to-Peer Networks

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA, March 14, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, GroundHog Apps, the Mining sector’s leading provider of Connected Miner Software, released major enhancements to its flagship software used for Short Interval Control and Fleet Management in Underground Mines. This new release, v6, brings a number of improvements to both the software itself and in updating customers to 6.x versions from legacy systems to ensure that GroundHog SIC & FMS continues to bring growth in production and safety that far exceed industry standards. This update marks a continuation of GroundHog’s focus being the #1 product of choice for mine operators and contractors world wide.

“Our vision is to see every mine digitized, and every miner connected; because we strongly believe that connected miners do more, faster and safer” says Satish Penmetsa, CEO of GroundHog. “This vision gives us a sense of purpose and a drive to innovate and provide leading edge technologies designed and developed in the San Francisco Bay Area and apply them in the mining sector. For example, GroundHog is the first, and only company, that provides a peer-to-peer networking solution to extend WiFi coverage to the face so supervisors and Control Room operators still get near-real-time updates on mining activity”

Underground mines, historically, are like Black Boxes. Digital Short Interval Control Systems such as GroundHog SIC, combined with Fleet Management and Real-Time-Location-Tracking help mine managers, superintendents, and supervisors take the proverbial “lid” off the black box so Control Rooms can proactively monitor and modify activities in real-time within a shift to sustain maximum mining intensity, safely.

“In the new update, we’ve focused on improving the overall experience for the Control Room Operator / Dispatcher and have added Kan-ban style views for Supervisors to use when they use their tablet underground” says Chanakya Rachakonda, GroundHog Product Manager. “The enhanced interface allows the OpsCenter to always be aware of shift goals, current production status, resource availability, downs and delays, variance to plan, and all other relevant information to make data-driven operational decisions and seamlessly communicate those changes in the plan to supervisors and operators working throughout the mine”

“Unlike other old-school Fleet Management System providers, we have an maniacal focus on making our user’s life easier and safer” says Krishna Kunam, GroundHog CTO. “So, what you’ll see with this new update is the result of more than 600 hours talking to our end users through user councils, ride-alongs, and video recordings to tweak the interaction designs so it is easier and more productive for the miner at the face”

Here are some of the modules that have received major upgrades:

GroundHog OpsCenter:
● Enhanced long term mine plan import including support for new planning software
● Enhanced short-interval-scheduler to automatically create new tasks for partially completed tasks in a shift
● Enhanced Shift Logs
● Enhanced notifications for re-supply requests
● Enhanced heading status and material management

GroundHog Supervisor App:
● Kan-Ban style equipment & location statuses
● Supervisors can now create and send tasks to operators underground
● Supervisors can now review and sign-off on shift logs

GroundHog Line-Out TV App:
● Supervisors will now be able to run Line-Out meetings from a TV
● Every miner will now know his first task, and equipment location
● Every miner will now know current shift status at all times via a TV display at frequently visited locations

GroundHog Reports:
● Pre-built PowerBI reports available on demand
● Enhanced reports within GroundHog for Availability/ Utilization, Operator Effectiveness, Effective Shift Length, Material Movement Reports, etc.

GroundHog Peer-to-Peer Networks:
● Re-architected P2P infrastructure to speed up discovery by 10x
● Re-architected P2P data sync infrastructure to speed data exchange by 3x so most data exchanges now happen within 25 seconds – much less than the time it takes a loader to load a haul-truck

GroundHog AI:
• Task Auto-Allocation based on gate badging and Task Training data at start of shift.

“Given our focus on underground mines, Peer-to-Peer Networking is a key differentiator in our product offerings to enable data to captured-from and sent-to miners working in WiFi-dark zones, easily. We’ve enhanced the algorithms we use to optimize for data sizes and data relevance” says Ajay Koppisetty, Platform Architect. “We’ve also enhanced our Intelligent Rules Engine to streamline and automatically allocate work to operators at the start of a shift to ease the burden on the Control Room staff and Supervisors”

GroundHog continues to emphasize enabling data-driven decisions with each update. Ensuring that GroundHog remains the top choice for mines and quarries who want to boost not only production, but safety as well.

“We are super-excited about the new updates” Satish said. “A Short Interval Control System can improve the tonnes to surface in a mine by atleast 40% within 6 months”

About GroundHog SIC + FMS
groundHog is a mobile fleet management system optimized for underground mines. Designed to work out of the box, groundHog controls production, tracks and schedules the workforce, and delivers deep insights to increase process efficiency. Leverage groundHog to build a mine that is highly efficient, safe and profitable.


About GroundHog Apps:

GroundHog Apps is the leading provider of Connected Miner Software to the mining industry. Some of the world’s largest Mines, Quarries and Aggregates use GroundHog’s Short Interval Control, Fleet Management, Blend Management, Real-Time-Location-Tracking, Peer-to-Peer, Digital Environmental Health and Safety, and Task Training products to increase production and safety at their operations worldwide. GroundHog Apps has offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Reno - Nevada, Hyderabad – India and Singapore.

More information is at www.groundhogApps.com/groundHog

Press Contact:
Bradley Leonard: bleonard@groundhogApps.com

Sales Contact:
Curtis Hart: chart@groundhogApps.com
Satish Penmetsa: satish.penmetsa@groundhogApps.com

Satish Penmetsa
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+1 408-384-9143
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GroundHog Short Interval Control and Fleet Management for Underground Mines