Case study: Mining operation boosts crew efficiency and saves millions with DVT’s change management service
Client A large-scale mining operation
Industry Mining
Service Digital Solutions
Background
A large-scale mining operation required improvements in its daily production processes, particularly the start-of-shift procedure, which directly impacted overall production efficiency.
Supervisors faced significant challenges managing over 100 pieces of equipment and coordinating operators across multiple shifts. Reliance on manual processes and inaccurate data led to delays, errors, and low operator compliance with shift assignments. This highlighted the need for a streamlined solution to enhance equipment management and crew coordination.
In response, the operation designed a digital system with configurable business rules, personnel data integration, time and attendance tracking, equipment status updates, and a real-time digital dashboard for assignments. This system aimed to enable supervisors to make data-driven decisions, resulting in time savings and more effective crew management.
Challenge
Implementing such a complex system at a mining site presented several challenges, including low digital fluency among users, inaccurate data from existing systems, and immature operational processes. These barriers needed to be addressed to ensure the new digital system’s successful adoption and sustained use.
The Solution
DVT stepped in to provide comprehensive change enablement services, focusing on the critical elements required for the automated digital solution’s smooth adoption and long-term success.
DVT’s approach included:
- Managing site-facing implementation to ensure the seamless deployment of the new system.
- Ensuring sustainability through continuous support and improvements.
- Ongoing agile coaching and user enablement to foster engagement and digital fluency.
Specific services provided by DVT included:
- Change enablement: DVT’s team worked on aligning people, processes and systems with the new digital tools. They implemented process improvements, corrected data quality issues, and provided extensive training for crew members to improve digital fluency and prepare the workforce for the transition.
- Sustainability: DVT navigated a complex stakeholder landscape, ensuring that the new system led to continuous business improvement, high operator compliance, and sustained engagement. This enabled more informed decision-making and efficient management of shift changes and equipment.
- Agile coaching: DVT delivered agile coaching to support the development team, product owners, and users, ensuring the system was user-centric and adaptable to the mine’s operational needs.
Result
DVT’s change enablement services and the new digital solution significantly improved operational efficiency and productivity. The key results included:
- Operator license compliance: Compliance rates increased from 40% to 80%, ensuring all operators held the necessary certifications to operate equipment safely and adhered to shift assignments.
- Crew management efficiency: Crew movement efficiency improved from 60% to 95%, reducing delays and ensuring better coordination across shifts.
- Improved digital fluency: Supervisors became proficient in using tablets and other digital tools, allowing them to manage shifts, track equipment status, and make real-time decisions effectively.
- Reduction in shift change delays: Shift change delays were reduced by nearly 4 minutes, resulting in significant time savings over the year.
- Cost savings: The operation saved millions of dollars in the first year, primarily due to improvements in shift management, crew coordination and enhanced decision-making capabilities enabled by the new system.
DVT’s change enablement services ensured a smooth transition to the new system, fostered a culture of collaboration and digital literacy, and drove measurable improvements in the mining operation’s productivity and profitability.