Smart technology, underrated humans
In mid-April, production problems at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, Calif., prompted
the company to suspend production of its Model 3 electric cars. The several-day
suspension, planned to complete “a comprehensive set of upgrades,” comes as the
company has struggled to meet production targets.
As of last August, there was a backlog of 455,000 preorders for the car – and that’s
after 63,000 people cancelled their orders.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pegged production issues on an overreliance on robots
in the factory assembly line.
“Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake.
Humans are underrated,” Musk tweeted on Apr. 13.
In contrast to that technology-first approach, the mining industry is proceeding
with caution (too much caution, some say) in its adoption of new technologies. But
the sector will have to adopt some Silicon Valley traits – while retaining a respect for
the central role of humans – in order to thrive in the new digital era.
Some companies are developing coding skills in-house, for example, and creating
their own analytics programs to meet specific needs that off-the-shelf solutions can’t
(Page 20).
“To successfully develop things in-house, the best are adopting agile development
methodologies, design thinking, and cutting-edge software development ability,”
says Richard Sellschop, a partner with consultants McKinsey & Co. and global
leader of its Metals and Mining Digital and Analytics Service Line.
It all sounds rather foreign to the business of digging rock out of the ground and
processing it into useful materials – pointing to the fact that the challenge is not just
about technology.
Indeed, while Sellschop says technical challenges are diminishing by the day,
change management remains a stubborn issue that’s often underestimated. He says
the scarcest skill in the mining industry is something he refers to as translator skills.
“There’s plenty of very qualified, very smart data scientists in the world and many
more on the way,” he told CMJ in early April. “But finding a data scientist who also
understands the metallurgical process and how to drive change in a heavy industry
environment with a certain culture and way of work – that is tricky. I think this
translation capability will in some way become the unicorn skill of the next decade
or two.”
Moreover, the industry’s approach to digital technology is not about replacing
humans, but increasing efficiency by using more of the data available, as well as
taking people out of harm’s way.
The end result will allow employees to make better use of their time, says David
Willick, vice-president with Schneider Electric and Mining, Minerals and Metals
Segment regional leader for North America.
“With all of these (expected) efficiencies, it just moves the needle to having people
focus on more value-added tasks,” he says.
In an era of smart technology, let’s not count humans out.
Comments