Capgemini Australia & NZ, Vice President Natural Resources Stuart Strickland says one of the biggest challenges facing mining companies has been how to manage their digital transformation while weathering the peaks and troughs of the commodity cycle.
Capgemini is a global company, partnering with clients to transform and manage their businesses through the value of technology. Its focus in the mining sector is mid-market operations up to large multi-national clients.
Mr Strickland says the mining industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented change with minerals in high demand, operating environments more challenging especially with labour shortages, new supply chain pressures and a shareholder driven need to move social and environmental considerations to the fore.
He says companies often set up and ‘kick off’ digital transformation programs and projects, only to suspend them when commodity prices fall, leaving the work half-done and operations not as efficient as they could be.
He says a new approach is needed, prioritising technological transformation along the entire value chain for the long-term benefit of the company.
The aim is to use intelligent technology and next generation data to collect, process and analyse all the information from mine to market in real time.
“From an historical point of view, many companies have a lot of small niche systems that do a very good job, but they don't actually share any of the data or insights between them and what that means is those standalone systems actually create a siloed approach within the company,” Mr Strickland explains.
“What we are seeing is cracks in the digital transformation emerging; how can operators start making decisions that are across the organisation, across departments, and across systems?
“That's where we come in, surfacing that data so it can be viewed and used for decision making and more complex predictive models. In some cases, it involves rewriting and replacing some of those legacy systems and in others just using their data. Often we have to deploy cutting-edge technologies; such as LTE networks to allow for realtime image recognition and artificial intelligence decision making.”
Mr Strickland says it requires an expert technology partner like Capgemini, which has a focus on mining to provide the strategies to turn industry challenges into opportunities.
Capgemini draws on its extensive global teams of geologists, IT professionals and engineers (it has 40,000 engineers globally) and works across projects right through from strategic consulting to implementation.
“That means we look beyond solving just that niche problem to consider what the wider impact is and also what the wider opportunities are for the entire organisation when delivering a project.” Mr Strickland says.
“We help companies move away from the siloed niche system problem they've got right now while often that’s what our contemporaries will focus on - they'll just solve that one little problem and not think about how solving that one problem could actually solve a raft of problems across the business if that data was surfaced and used properly.”
Capgemini currently has a team of about 40 data scientists working with an international client, looking at asset health globally and bringing each asset – every truck, train and conveyor belt together for the first time in one system, rather than dealing with them site by site.
The Capgemini team can accurately predict when a piece of equipment is likely to fail, saving costs by minimising downtime, potential overservicing and labour needs.
“You can reduce you equipment needs if you can run what you've got longer between servicing,” Mr Strickland explains.
“It also comes back to labour. If you're not seeing a heavy truck, for example, in the workshop as often, then you don't use as many diesel fitters.
“It makes a material difference to the operation and saves clients significant money in the long run.”
Mr Strickland says the labour shortage is one of the most significant issues facing the industry and has become a major driver for mining companies to use technology to work more efficiently. It not only saves on labour but technology is also used to attract employees, for example by providing them with the ability to work remotely and not on minesites.
Mr Strickland says it is becoming increasingly important for companies to put social and environmental considerations at the fore, to be able to attract young workers who want to work for sustainable companies. This is also reflected in shareholders who want to invest in socially and environmentally responsible companies.
“We've seen a lot of supply chain shocks over the last couple of years,” Mr Strickland explains.
“But I think that's nothing compared to the shocks we're going to start seeing when shareholders demand that companies don't deal with big polluters, don't deal with companies with large carbon footprints or that don't have a centered approach like modern slavery.
“Some companies are going to start seeing their own supply chain threatened if they're not on the front foot right now, making sure they have an ethical supply chain end to end.
“I think the mid-tiers may still have a bit of a way to go on this but they do tend to follow what the large miners do. And I've no doubt that very soon they are going to have to be accountable up and down that supply chain for what they're buying, not just what they're producing.
