Abstract
It is not known if a lack of formal system engineering processes being used in the
design and development of new and existing systems, lead to high risk of failure in the
implementation of electronic blast systems. In mining, more specifically electronic blast
systems, minimal research exists on the application of system engineering principles and
practices to deliver better systems faster, and more cost-effectively compared to that of
ad-hoc, non-systemic approaches. The main objective of the research was to determine how
well system engineering processes are applied in electronic blast systems implementation.
The investigations showed results of the measurement through the SECM model’s and
revealed that the company is on maturity level of 2 with aspects of level 3 in all three
focus-area categories, namely technical, management and environment. The activities
performed indicate that SECM outputs are managed to a plan, and there are some defined
organisation processes used to plan and execute activities. System engineering processes do
exist but are informal, and most are not measured, and this prevents process improvement,
and hence an increase SECM maturity level.