| Seven deadly sins of mining | ||
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| Seven deadly sins of production targeted by Toyota |
Overproduction Waiting Transportation Inventory Motion Overprocessing Defective units |
| Seven deadly sins in mining |
Taking the above production problems, apply the same to mining .... |
| Over production | While there is a case of ramping up production to capitalise on resource price premiums, the costs to ramp up, expend more energy and the lack of additional staff may cause capital expenditure in equipment that cannot be used. Long term, orderly development without short term overproduction may be more sustainable and energy efficient. Management needs to balance the long term goals with short term demands from 'pushy' shareholders. |
| Waiting | Time management of production, scheduled downtime, and availability of qualified staff needs to be balanced with the flexibility to deal with the unknown. All options need to be considered as part of time management planning. The 'Plan B' factor. |
| Transportation | With the price of oil nudging US$100 / barrel, transport efficiency is becoming a premium. There are many software packages that optimise the terraces and transport roads in an opencut but there could be soon a time when technologies like trolley-bus-like power transfer to haulage trucks could be more efficient than large diesel-powered gen-sets that are truck mounted and have to be carried up and down out of the 'hole' on every trip. It may be actually more energy efficient to have any milling and extraction processes located in the opencut itself so there are not the energy losses lifting the ore body. |
| Inventory | Having capital wrapped up in inventory that sits in the store on the mine can sometimes be negotiated to be onsite but held in a 'bond store' facility, so payment is only made when the parts and/or consumables are used. Suppliers usually seek long term contracts to allow this. |
| Motion | The usual culprits of conveyor belt lenths, pipe runs and bulk storage facility sizes all contribute to wastes in 'motion'. Plant design and dimensioning of the connection systems becomes important. One of the practical Management Tools is automating how the links in the motion flows come together. Motion system safety is everyone's responsibility. |
| Overprocessing | An example of overprocessing is demonstrated by not supplying the customer
with what is wanted. If the product is wanted in the material in bulker bags, then overprocessing would be packaging the material in small plastic boxes. Deliver the product to the customer's speci's |
| Defective units | Trying to deliver 'defective units' is the opposite to 'overprocessing'. In the above bulker bag situation, to supply the end materials in bulk, with no containment packaging, so it is exposed to the prevailing weather conditions would be a clear example of being 'defective' as a supplier. Trying to put one over the buyer may meet an immediate deadline but the consequences could be disasterous, a loss of contracts, and in a worst case, financial disaster for the whole organisation. |
| Other useful stuff .... |
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