Coleman Consulting completed an engagement with a large mining operation in the southwest United States. During the engagement Coleman Consulting identified and implemented schedules and procedural changes that increased the output of the crusher and mill plants by nearly 2%. Employee and management involvement in the review and development of implementable options and schedules were critical in the success of this project.
Over 225 employees were surveyed in the process to allow them to express their opinion concerning the right schedules. Additionally, during the operations analysis, maintenance practices were identified that had increased maintenance costs by over $1,000,000 over the past few years. The management team is currently working to capture those costs.
A health and safety review was included in this process. Safety incident data, employee perceptions and management practices were examined. Recommendations to management is expected to improve safety and overall site awareness.
“This mine is well run and nearly at capacity,” commented Frank Pereira, managing partner of Coleman Consulting. “It was good to work with a management team that, even though they were doing well, were not afraid to push the limits on production. Initial recommendations, such as running multiple shutdowns per week in the crushing plant, were met with concern. Once the data was reviewed, however, managers focused on the change, and went on to exceed expectations."
About Coleman Consulting
Coleman Consulting is a strong team of proven leaders from industry and academia with backgrounds in operations research, consulting and management of 24-hour operations. Teams are based in San Francisco and Dallas/Fort Worth. Our teams focus on implementing new methods for deploying capital and personnel that achieve significant cost savings and increased profits for our clients. The company’s extensive experience comes from over 600 clients worldwide and a quarter of a million people surveyed. Typical engagements are completed in 12-16 weeks. In a single facility, a new schedule can save $2-5 million a year. Larger facilities may find $10 million in annual savings. On large-scale projects achieving consolidation optimization, savings can be closer to $50 million. Unlike adding employees or equipment or increasing sales, changing schedules improves margins with little extra investment. If you do it right, it is likely your employees will actually like their new schedules better – a win-win situation.