There is Only One Way to Eat an Elephant

“There is only one way to eat an Elephant” is a great way to describe an insurmountable task. The answer is “one bite at a time.” This speaks to breaking down the problem or goal into smaller, individual tasks that will have a cumulative effect. In mining, saying we want to increase production is the proverbial elephant. Knowing how to divide up our “bites” or tasks is where it gets complicated. 

Some mine sites understand the critical drivers of performance, yet they still struggle to make improvements. This can often be attributed to normalizing deviancy, an indicator of which is the phrase “we used to have high standards.” Other times there is a lack of fundamental understanding of the process, such as putting too many resources into improving production metrics that have a small return. When improvement actions are not progressing, or solutions seem to be out of reach, perhaps it is necessary to bring in fresh eyes to see the problem from a different angle. 

At Outliers Mining Solutions, we help solve production issues and organize tasks to start taking the right “bites”.

Our Performance Management Tools and our seasoned team with individual real-world mining experience of over 15 years brings in the right experts with the right solutions to get your improvement programs chewing on that elephant.  

Outliers supports improvements by:

• Identifying key performance metrics from the site that will drive performance. 
• Implementing a Visual Management meeting, where we provide a structured process to track and monitor the progress of the chosen KPIs. Actions can be developed and shared across crews, and changes in performance clearly followed over several days and weeks. Additionally, the meeting provides an area to celebrate successes when improvements are realized, celebrating the success of the work down. 
• Providing dispatcher in-seat coaching, which educates and empowers employees to understand what drives performance and how to impact changes. This coaching covers the basics of the fleet management software and becomes a partnership on-site that helps make it specific to the daily challenges. Outlier’s presence on site allows us to show how each little “bite” can have a cumulative effect on the day’s production.
• Educating Front-line leadership through OMS Lead, where they are introduced to data-driven decisions and best practices for leadership in the mining industry, delivered by former leaders with deep knowledge and experience. With their site's knowledge, front-line leaders learn to act on trends, empowering them to perform efficiently and effectively, and drive the behavioural changes needed to improve performance.
• Developing standard operating scenarios using our Playbook program compiles all the best practices of your site and gives a trigger action response plan for different scenarios. This helps identify site best practices and creates a process map of how they are implemented and supports sustainability of improvements. 
• Implementing our short interval control tool gives access to comprehensive, near real-time information on key Production metrics and indicators, allowing leaders can track their shifts' progress and see their actions' impact in real-time.

With Outliers Mining Solutions’ tools and programs, our team can help mine sites break down the mining process and drive engagement to influence results. With actionable strategies backed by data, the improvement process can be tracked to ensure the new status quo remains and, more importantly, becomes sustainable. 

No longer does site performance have to be the elephant in the room that is overwhelming. Instead, it becomes a process of small actions that will lead to achievable results. The combination of bite-sized steps will deliver a sum of results that can improve overall mine performance.