What to do to increase productivity in mining?
After the various diagnoses, which account for a sustained drop in productivity at the national level, it is necessary to open up to consider new methodologies that go beyond the traditional, and deliver a more disruptive and risky look to achieve the expected advances in a timely manner. sustainability in the various industries, and especially in mining, which is decisive for the economic development of the country. The following aspects must be considered to increase productivity in key processes, maintaining production levels, and thus take advantage of the good times that copper is experiencing:
1. Generate a cultural change this 2021 that permeates and leads mining companies to growth, capturing potential and better long-term bottom-line results, with optimization of available resources, beyond operational continuity.
2. Adopt an inclusive methodology for companies, which integrates a significant number of workers in the organization, so that they feel part of the process. If many relevant actors are involved, they will be the internal evangelizers, and will generate valuable knowledge, which will be the organizational capital for the improvement process.
3. Encourage the formation of cross-cutting and multidisciplinary working groups involved, to make changes that are sustainable over time, and not vertically and downwardly, because that would risk not permeating the company culture. If people from different areas work towards this end, they can match forces and see the problems from the perspective of the other. With this different way of dealing with the same situation, efficiency and improvements can be achieved early.
4. Promote a model of experiences, which leads teams to think, create and apply, reaching a much higher level of commitment, which generates a differentiating value.
Release pain, and "the white elephant", which is favored by working in a group with people from other areas.
5. Review operations based on behavioral economics, anthropology, ethnography, and organizational management.
6. Promote work by optimizing the hours of the day, ensuring compliance and efficiency of the roles of workers.
7. Assume that when applying actions in this sense, sensitivities in the teams will be affected , but the necessary progress will be achieved. The company will not be affected but it will be part of the process.
8. Search for a methodology that recognizes the culture of the organization, its history and, based on that, supports it to build its own position of value. Be groundbreaking and risky in that search.
9. Usually in highly structured organizations, value capture methodologies are recipe books, but there is much to discover along the way, without improvising, but rather with a clear objective, adjusting changes, and managing with the necessary seniority. Sometimes adjustments have to be made that seem extremely radical and that somewhat baffle management.
10. Take into account that large and financially healthy organizations have more options to improve productivity with greater impact. They have the capabilities and skills to achieve greater savings and efficiency, but not those that are in crisis. If there are cash problems, the solutions are more direct and concrete in the short term, and other types of shock methodologies, leader therapies, and decision-making with other objectives must be applied.
Francisco Ortuzar
Orca Business Consulting Partner
Original Text in Mining Portal