Solely Automation could not work!
Automation in gem-n-jewellery industry & through pipeline requires adequate management of 70% & 30% adoption of the technology including mining. While automation is often seen as silver bullets that can solve a range of mining’s problems, for Roy Hill’s Christine Eriksen automation is actually a holistic approach with the majority of the time, effort and funds to be invested in changing in the people working with the technology on the frontline.
“You realised that silver bullet approach solely based on technology wasn’t going to work. That’s why Roy Hill has developed System Thinking,” said the General Manager Improvement & Smart Business during her “What's happened since we embraced smart mining into our operations case study” presentation at International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne.
While according to Erickson this approach is no different from working across a multi-disciplinary business without business units sitting in silos, it’s often difficult to implement on the ground.
“Technically we would look at the five system - supply, demand, people, governance and improvement and how Automation would impact them. However we found that consequences began to appear generally when we start introducing people,” said Eriksen with a smile.
For Roy Hill, automation has the power to blur the lines between KPI’s and responsibilities from one area of the business to another. When you introduce new technology, it can be seen as a magic tool however the new technology can end up causing problems due to the company spending more on the innovation rather than fixing the process, highlighting and developing the workforce and developing the communication between teams.
Roy Hill’s change to a system thinking approach has given the workforce the ability to change for the improvement however to get there Erickson is quick to point out that implementation requires a 70 per cent change in management change and a 30 per cent change in technology.
This involved communicating with those on the ground and encouraging people to have an open mind and be flexible to change.
