World Monitor Mag, Digitalisation WM_June 2019 web | Page 45

EXPERT OPINION
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Br
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Wave 2: Integrate
initiatives
your
new
Wave 2 activities involve significant
changes to your operating model or
potentially disruptive process changes
across organizational boundaries. For
example, businesses moving to a fully
predictive maintenance domain, supply
chain operation without human controllers,
blast design and concentrator process
control integrated and automated, or real-
time mine planning linked to equipment
health and commodity pricing. On the
sales and marketing side, Wave 2 activities
may include the use of predictive analytics
on customer buying behavior or market
information, and optimization tools to
drive improved profitability matched to
production output.
We currently see relatively few examples
of Wave 2 activities in the mining and
metals sector and believe that, while
as dominant players respond slowly or
ineffectively to industry disruption and
external changes. To best prepare for
this, mining companies should employ
formal strategy reviews, which scan
for trends in the operating environment
and develop appropriate response
Wave 3: Prepare for the future
Wave 3 involves ‘disruptive’ factors that strategies.
may create significant changes in how
the sector operates and require a step Two important elements to note:
change in business strategy to maintain • The pathway through the waves
competitiveness. There is an advent cannot be viewed as static or ‘set and
of new and disruptive technologies in forget’. We see the end-state vision as
the sector. New players could be more constantly changing and businesses will
willing and able than the existing players need to be ready to adapt and change
to invest capital in these currently course as required.
untested technologies, which would • The process of launching waves
enable innovative business models to is not necessarily sequential. For
drive a new wave of productivity uplift example, high-value areas with a close
link to productivity may move from
across the value chain.
Wave 1 to Wave 2 before initial work
As we have observed in other sectors, has commenced in areas with less-
market leadership can quickly be lost compelling business cases.
many of the required technologies exist,
successful application in an industrial
setting will continue to require significant
development effort over a multi-year
horizon.
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