At a glance
- Prioritise critical assets to maximise ROI and avoid wasting resources on low-impact equipment.
- Eliminate unnecessary complexity by simplifying systems and focusing asset strategies on business outcomes.
- Adopt a whole-of-life approach through elimination, substitution, and standardisation for sustainable performance.
- Shift from superficial fixes to holistic, business-aligned asset management that drives real value.
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Unlock business performance through genuine expertise
Effective asset management drives business results in the fast-paced mining sector. This goes beyond maintenance and so-called optimisation - it’s about consistently extracting performance from each asset while achieving production targets and minimising cost per tonne.
This article explores some insights for effective mining industry asset management.
The success of a mining organisation is determined by its ability to align asset performance with business objectives. The goal of asset management therefore its to drive better business performance.
Where do things go wrong?
Mining organisations frequently focus too heavily on people and processes. While it is necessary, a lack of understanding and action on the other change levers unfortunately create slow, expensive and unsustainable results.
Focussing too heavily on people and processes leads to unnecessary completely and distractions from what the asset and business demands while simplifying the asset base. Complexity should be curtailed, enabling clear and efficient decision-making.
This can be achieved in the following five ways:
- Elimination: Remove unproductive assets and establish a whole-of-life asset strategy.
- Substitution: Replace complex systems with simple, standardised configurations.
- Systems: Configure systems to deliver superior performance, not just better metrics.
- Processes: Develop clear, concise processes and instructions for critical tasks.
- Behaviour: Ensure team actions align with desired procedures, outcomes and expectations.
Other common mistakes
- Not all assets carry equal importance. It’s essential to prioritise and focus on those that matter. By identifying critical assets that significantly impact performance, and directing resources towards them, mining leaders can maximise return on investment with much shorter return on investment.
- Fixing problems and optimising assets that shouldn’t exist in the first place. A common example of this is pursuing maintenance excellence for assets that are past their best economic replacement point.
- Self-proclaimed asset-management experts who fail to see the whole picture. This shows up when recommendations and actions focus on superficial remedies, treating symptoms without investigating underlying causes. True expertise lies in the ability to understand interconnections within the asset ecosystem and develop comprehensive end-to-end solutions.
Conclusion
Making a few great high-value decisions will eliminate tens of thousands of hours and millions of dollars of cost from most mining businesses. As an industry, we need to get better at this.
This requires a holistic perspective that goes beyond quick fixes. It involves mapping how asset performance drives business performance, a fact-based understanding of the underlying causes of performance, prioritising critical assets by business value, eliminating complexity, and aligning asset management efforts toward clear and measurable targets.
Effective asset management is more than just maintenance. It’s a strategic endeavour that requires deep insights, expert analysis, and a focus on business performance.
About Josh Old
As a mechanical engineer with over 16 years of experience in the mining industry, Josh drives asset performance and business value for mining companies.
Focused on delivering real, meaningful results, Josh is a highly respected leader and trusted partner for businesses across the globe – from copper mines in Peru to iron ore mines in Brazil, to diamond mines in Africa, to businesses producing Coal, Gold, Lithium and other commodities more locally in Australia. Josh’s deep understanding of asset management and maintenance, together with operational business strategy, allows him to provide fact-based insights and deliver targeted actions that transform site performance.
His drive and entrepreneurial spirit has seen Core Asset Co. grow into a specialised, sector-leading consultancy in just a few short years. Well known for his genuine and straight-talking style, Josh cares about delivering meaningful results.
