Digital Transformation potential and pitfalls

While there have been some notable failures when it comes to digital transformation in mining, these are often caused by a top-down approach, the methodology employed or the human and cultural features of the organisation, rather than the failure of new digital technologies like automated decision enablement, machine learning or process automation.

Typically, the problem starts with the idea that it has to be transformation rather than an evolution and the fact that greater emphasis is placed on technology’s impact than technology’s adoption.

Minerals processing is a capital-intensive industry that relies on metallurgical processes that can take decades to evolve into effective, efficient and viable solutions. Many processes remain fundamentally unchanged for generations. When evolving these processes to take advantage of new digital technologies, it is easy to think too big, too soon.

The job of a solutions salesperson is often to sell the Board and the CEO on a vision that a comprehensive re-engineering will deliver a satisfactory return on the investment. However, large scale re-engineering projects can lead to elaborate new solutions that do not represent a positive cost/benefit trade-off while ignoring problems that exist at a more fundamental, operational level. This can translate to wasted money and little incremental improvement on the plant floor. For example, getting the right information to the right worker in the right context is still a problem, and failing to take your staff on the digital transformation journey is an oft quoted contributor to failure.

Indeed, in unsuccessful projects, the most common pitfalls include:

• a lack of employee engagement
• inadequate management support
• poor or non-existent cross-functional collaboration, and
• a lack of accountability

Furthermore, sustaining a transformation’s impact typically requires a major reset in mindsets and behaviours – something that few leaders know how to achieve.