Running a world class integrated iron ore mining, rail, airport, shipping port, and remote operation in the Pilbara Region WA, with more than 1600 staff is a big job. When it decided it was time to formalise its business processes there was a lot to formalise.
Roy Hill is an independent, iron ore mining operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Its operations are rapidly expanding and maturing now that it loaded its first shipment of ore for export in December last year.
Jay Reso, Manager Business Systems, Roy Hill, said, “We work collaboratively together to build a team environment which supports innovation, develops fit-for-purpose and sustainable solutions and delivers results. We encourage a knowledge-based organisation centred around innovative thinking, where people are engaged in the business, committed to achieving and are active contributors to Roy Hill’s success.”
It selected Promapp to support its drive for continuous process improvement in over 20 different departments that all used a diverse range of systems to manage processes. These included Visio as well as Atlassian Confluence as the organisation’s Content Management System which incorporated a built-in process manager plugin called Gliffy.
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“We knew we could manage everyday processes more effectively and as we are capacity constrained as an organisation, we are always looking to streamline business operations to become more efficient. “We are committed to building an improvement culture that is high-performing, resilient, low-cost, and based on robust decision making,” says Reso.
Mostly due to the complexity of existing system Roy Hill sought a simple but feature rich business process management tool that was easy to use without extensive technical knowledge so that all business users can engage with processes. The organisation also wanted to standardise its approach to capturing processes and procedures and improve accessibility and the consistent execution of processes.
Following a comprehensive market review, Roy Hill decided to deploy Promapp’s cloud-based business process management software which would enable the organisation to capture all processes in one central system as well as empower users to amend, update and share a process in real time across the company. At the same time, it would facilitate sharing of knowledge across its geographically remote operations, ensuring that every employee whether located in the mine or within the company’s remote operations centre in Perth had instant access to accurate process content.
Reso said, “We chose Promapp for several reasons including its ease of use, the centralised knowledge repository and its cloud-based deployment. At the same time, Promapp was a great fit as part of our strategy to utilise technology and capability to future proof our business with a focus on integrating business systems, processes and technology to achieve maximum efficiency.”
Its Perth-based integrated Corporate Headquarters and Remote Operations Centre (ROC) provide end-to-end integration of its operations, marketing and corporate services functions. The central component of the ROC is the control room, which houses the Demand Chain team who are responsible for the operational planning, scheduling and execution of production activities across all areas of operations.
Being cloud-based, Promapp enables teams to suggest improvements and update processes in real-time. This means all staff will always see the latest information. For example, if a remote operator updates a process with a recommended improvement in the Pilbara region, the ROC team in Perth will immediately be able to view and act on the process, supporting the company’s operational quality assurance and drive for innovation.
Promapp will be progressively deployed at Roy Hill over the next 12 months and will initially support a supply system optimisation project across eight different business functions. The project will ensure that productivity and availability are optimised in line with demand, in areas such as equipment reliability.
“Promapp will support building a positive business improvement culture at Roy Hill. By breaking down departmental silos through consistent process mapping, we’ll be able to identify improvement opportunities and maximise margins on a sustained basis. Ultimately, the key benefits will be in providing a single source of the truth that is in line with our process and governance strategy for streamlining business operations and driving effective operations,” says Reso.