A Practical Investigation of Production Performance at the Gohar Zamin Iron Ore Complex (Sirjan, Iran) Using Mean- and Target-oriented Monitoring

Among the various scientific methods for the industrial process monitoring, statistical approaches for the ease of perception as well as application, analysis and interpretation are particularly important. These approaches consider different methods for engineers in terms of process monitoring and control; however, the proper method should be based on the process. Among the various statistical process control methods, the control chart methods have been highly accepted by the industry. By adjusting the visual monitoring results, these methods easily provide the opportunity to detect the conditions out of or undergoing process control and, as a result, enable the process engineer to adopt and apply the best control decisions while determining and distinguishing special and common causes. In this paper, the production efficiency of the Gohar Zamin Iron Ore Complex (Sirjan, Iran) was analyzed using Individual-Moving Range and CUSUM control charts in 2018. Throughput to the plant No. 1 and tonnage of concentrate were considered as process responses. Analysis of control charts showed that plant capacity could be increased by up to 50 t/h by adopting appropriate decisions.