In mining, equipment performance is viewed as the key to maximizing profits. People create value in tandem with equipment that is “running” or “down”, but their roles in value creation are overlooked, de-emphasized or misunderstood. Equipment comes with a design capacity, but if people fail to do the right things at the right time, some capacity will never be used and equipment performance and profits will not be maximized or optimized. People are the key to improving results with existing equipment, but they require tools, processes and cultures that promote change to be successful. 

I have met with hundreds of dedicated mining people from every organizational level during my career. Our work included a lengthy list of activities involved in improving operating, financial and organizational performance: identifying/valuing improvement opportunities, capturing customer requirements (internal/external), setting process optimums and process control limits, collecting/analyzing data, selecting key measures, reviewing trend charts, managing planned equipment delays, mapping processes, removing organizational silos, facilitating process improvement teams, implementing action plans for improvement, helping managers “lead and manage” improvement, and communicating to solve problems and capture opportunities.

Without exception, organizational barriers impacted the implementation of these tasks. These barriers:

•   Existed “below the radar” (hence, the name of this column). This means that they were operating behind the scenes to negatively impact day-to-day operations. If they were revealed in the midst of change, they were often only discussed behind closed doors and were rarely addressed.

•   Caused people to 1) develop “workarounds” to get their jobs done, 2) work overtime to correct problems that could have been avoided, 3) cancel maintenance that was already overdue to meet this week’s production goal, and 4) be afraid to ask why problems had not been addressed.

•   Are often responsible for “improvement sabotage” that reduces benefits from improvement initiatives and jeopardizes the sustainability of process changes. I call it “sabotage” because the best efforts can be given to using the tools and methods designed to improve processes, but organizational barriers can hinder or prevent the change that the tools were designed to promote.

Given the negative operational, financial and cultural impacts that these barriers have on mines and downstream processes facilities, discussions about them will be included in future articles because:

1.  People create most of them (often unintentionally).

2.  Their costs are real (lost tons, lost time, poor quality and dollars spent that could have been saved, high frustration levels that cause people to leave, etc.).

3.  We can remove most of them if we know how to recognize them and what action to take.

After finding the same barriers in different organizations, I began to see patterns for root causes that reside outside the typical scope of conventional improvement tools and methods. I also realized that the most important lessons about improvement are not taught in the classroom, but are learned as we raise our awareness about the real reasons that our operations are not getting better. Is it because we do not have the capacity for more tons or because our key measures hide capacity and opportunities for improvement from us? Is it because too many experienced people have retired or because newer employees never receive the right information to make the best decisions to maximize tons or reduce costs? Is it because our people have a bad attitude about participating in improvement efforts or because they believe their efforts will not change anything? We could continue with this list of questions, but you get the point. What we believe has a lot to do with our ability to improve performance, sustain improvements and change culture.         

I look forward to sharing my perspectives about achieving sustainable improvement in the coming months. We may not always agree, but that’s OK. Each month I will leave you with a thought about what I call the “people side of improvement”. Here’s the thought for August:

Sustainable improvement never ends. It is not an add-on to a culture – it becomes the culture. It is not a temporary fix to the bottom line – it is a permanent source of improvements to the bottom line. It is not a short-term fix for a high turnover rate – it energizes the workplace and makes people want to stay because problem solving is so rewarding.

Kay Sever implements improvement programs for mining and downstream processing facilities. Her approach balances commonly used tools and methods with a focus on value creation and the “people side of improvement”. Kay works with every organizational level and department to find the highest dollar opportunities and remove barriers that prevent sustainable change. She helps management teams lead improvement and better execute the budget, capital approvals, incentive plans, communications, etc. See MiningOpportunity.com for details on her services and contact information. Look for the mining edition of her first book “Building An Opportunity Culture – Addressing the Barriers That Steal Profits and Prevent Sustainable Change”, available in August, 2008. Visit her at booth #6058 at MINEXPO (in the Main Hall near Caterpillar).