At Ex Mente, we are our teams. Our Digital Team consists of a focused group of computer and electronic engineers dedicated to researching and developing high-performance tools. These tools include simulators, calculators, and process modelling applications. Through the Technology at your fingertips series, we want to showcase some of the work that our Digital Team is currently doing.

In our first article, From rust to iron, we explored the technical decisions that form the foundation of our Digital Team’s work, turning Rust into iron. In the second article, From iron to steel, we explored how our Digital Team refines this iron into steel. In this final article, From steel to digital infrastructure, we discuss how the true value of these strong foundational materials help us collaborate with our clients to construct purpose-built digital infrastructure.

Principled estimation: The Operation Support Assistant
In the pyrometallurgy industry, the reality of the furnace dictates how we approach problems. Measuring directly is often impossible, making estimation a necessity. However, there is a vast difference between a gross assumption and a thermodynamically-principled estimate based on specific assays and temperatures at the composition level.

Spreadsheets have long been the trusted workhorse for Mass and Energy Balances. For good reason: they are versatile, powerful, and deeply familiar to process engineers. However, as recipe calculations grow in complexity, they require seamless integration with live plant data.

To provide real-world value to our clients, our Digital Team partners with clients to provide a complementary digital solution that addresses these challenges head-on. We want to introduce you to the Operation Support Assistant (OSA).

The OSA is a secure web application tailored to handle intricate thermochemical calculations effortlessly. By embedding our company’s thermodynamic expertise directly into the software, leveraging the automated Python libraries we already explored in From iron to steel, the OSA empowers your engineers to make high-confidence, principled estimates. The OSA integrates seamlessly with your historian software, bringing the most reliable data possible into a highly visual interface that reduces guesswork.

A safe space to learn: Ex Mente’s Flight Simulator for Pyrometallurgy
Training a new operator in a live plant environment carries inherent pressures and risks. We collaborated with industry experts to ask: How can we give operators the experience of running a plant in a completely safe, risk-free environment? Our Digital Team’s answer: Pellet Sintering Plant (PSP) Simulator.

Delivered as a fast, secure, and self-contained desktop application with a modern, intuitive interface, the PSP Simulator acts as a dynamic training ground for your plant’s operators. It replaces trial-and-error on the plant floor with safe, interactive learning. When a trainee changes a setting, the simulated system reacts in real-time based on the high-performance, Rust-backed process models we build for exactly this purpose. This allows new team members to grasp complex dynamics and understand the operational consequences of their decisions, ensuring your team is confident and capable long before they step into the real plant.

How can we help to build your digital solutions
Our approach is deeply rooted in partnership. At Ex Mente, we collaborate closely with your team to understand your operations. By combining your operational experience with our diverse metallurgical, mathematical, and digital expertise, we build digital infrastructure that drives sustained productivity.

Are you ready to collaborate with our Digital Team on the digital solutions your team needs? Contact us at info@exmente.co.za.