Kuzbassrazrezugol Deploys MES Across Processing Plants
Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company has implemented a digital manufacturing execution system, or MES, across its coal preparation plants, with the entire platform built on domestic digital solutions.
The rollout has enabled automated analysis of coal processing operations, performance monitoring of equipment, and end-to-end tracking of coal flows from extraction to shipment. The company reports a noticeable reduction in unplanned downtime.
Digitalization of processing assets began in 2022. Since 2025, the company has been scaling solutions that proved effective in pilot deployments across all branches, preparation plants, and processing units within its structure.
The Kuzbassrazrezugol case stands out not only for its scale, but also for challenging perceptions of conservatism in the mining sector. One of Russia’s largest coal producers, with more than 60 years of history, the company specializes in open-pit mining. It operates across 16 deposits, employs more than 15,000 people, and runs six coal preparation plants with a combined processing capacity of about 25 million tonnes per year. Three of those plants underwent equipment upgrades in 2024.
Kuzbassrazrezugol is also known as the first Russian company to deploy digital coal quality monitoring systems across all its open-pit operations, along with remote monitoring of mining sites. Today, the company is among the leaders in coal chemistry and hydrogen energy development based on coal. Proven reserves at its deposits are estimated to last for more than a thousand years.
All Plants Integrated Into a Single MES
Overall, the region has seen a deep digital upgrade of a core export industry. A manufacturing execution system, or MES, is a software platform used to manage and control production processes in real time. It acts as a digital dispatch layer, linking strategic planning with execution at the operational level. In practice, the system can determine what to produce and when, based on plans, financial data, and incoming orders. It also addresses day-to-day operational questions such as whether equipment is running, whether tasks are being performed correctly, on schedule, and to the required quality standard.
The MES platform performs 11 core functions, including production planning with the breakdown of large orders into specific operations, tracking equipment utilization, monitoring material availability and workforce qualifications, and generating optimized production schedules.
The system provides full traceability of coal flows, from extraction to shipment of finished products, and helps reduce unplanned downtime through continuous monitoring of all production stages. It also improves coordination between operators, process engineers, dispatchers, and plant managers by enabling real-time adjustments to the production process.
Domestic Platform Driving Reliability
The MES deployed is built entirely on domestic digital technologies. It was developed by specialists from EXEPLANT, part of Softline Group. The ExeMES product is included in the Russian software register. Currently, around 600 Kuzbassrazrezugol employees are using the system.
This case highlights sustained industrial demand for domestic solutions in continuous production environments. It also signals broader opportunities for the industrial software market, system integrators, instrumentation and control equipment suppliers, and industrial automation developers, as such projects typically require additional sensors, integration with dispatch systems, industrial data collection, and advanced analytics capabilities.
Other major market players are following a similar trajectory. In 2024, Nornickel reported integrating MES and production data into a unified digital ecosystem.
IT sector participants are also advancing in this direction. During the same period, BARS Group released a scalable solution, BARS Fabrika, for in-depth analysis of production data, maintenance monitoring, and tracking unplanned downtime and other operational efficiency metrics. In 2025, Rostekh reported on its Tsifrovoye proizvodstvo (Digital Production platform), where the Monitoring and Dispatch subsystem collects sensor data and enables real-time equipment control, while the Technology and Production Planning subsystems handle documentation and planning. Overall, the Russian market is moving away from isolated automation toward integrated digital production management systems.
