A VP told me recently: “My managers are already empowered.” He meant it. And he’s probably right. His mine managers can make hiring decisions. They control their budgets. They can stop work for safety. They have authority over their domains. But here’s what I’ve noticed across dozens of sites: The decisions that fragment the system don’t happen in the mine manager’s office. They happen in the 6am maintenance planning meeting. The shift handover. The scheduling session. Dozens

Bain recently asked executives from miners worth a combined $300bn what matters most for improving site operations. Technology came dead last. What topped the list: → Buy-in from the front line and management → Understanding what actually creates value → Stable leadership No surprise there. Most executives I speak with already know this. The question isn’t whether people matter more than systems. It’s why capable people, with good intentions, still can’t get alignment to stic

EY has released its 2026 mining risks report. For the first time,   operational complexity is top of the list,  and now ahead of geopolitics, capital access, and workforce challenges. Their diagnosis resonates: deeper orebodies, declining grades, aging assets, variable output. Mine operators suffer this complexity daily. I would like to offer a different perspective, with a better solution. The complexity we feel is not only in the orebody, but also in our management systems.

"It wasn't the 23% output increase that surprised me. It was the calm and absence of stress." This is what a mine executive said to me last year. After eighteen months of watching a fixable problem persist, his CEO finally put something in writing: authorisation to prioritise system flow when departmental KPIs conflicted. What happened next was not just breakthrough; it was a collapse of the firefighting mode they were always in. Departments that had been locked in quiet comb

I recently spoke to a group of mine managers about why their job is so hard. The answer isn't geology. It isn't equipment. It isn't people. It's arithmetic. The Challenge of KPIs in Mining Operations Here's what most boards don't realise: the KPIs they cascade down are mathematically incompatible. A typical GM is handed targets that demand: 75-85% utilisation on drilling 75-85% utilisation on trucks 75-85% utilisation on the plant Hit monthly tonnage These aren't made-up numb

In my previous article, I made a point that stings a bit: You can feed what you think are P50 assumptions into a stochastic engine… and discover that your “P50” completion date behaves more like P02 in the real world. The tool hasn’t failed — it’s calmly telling you the system you’re planning is physically incapable of delivering the promise with any reasonable confidence. That’s why some executives feel burned by “better planning” investments: they improved the modelling, bu

In the previous post , we looked at why so many mine plans break by Wednesday, and how Flow (TOC)  changes the physics of the system so plans actually have a chance. We showed that when you stop “balancing capacity” and instead: Put the true constraint  at the centre, Protect it with buffers and protective capacity , and Align KPIs to Flow rather than local utilisation, You move from brittle, KPI-driven chaos to Superflow  – higher tonnes, at lower cost/tonne, with less firef

Fix the physics with Flow (TOC), then let stochastic planning keep it honest   Walk into almost any mine and you’ll hear some version of the same story: The monthly plan looks solid. By Wednesday of Week 1, it’s already broken. Planning says, “Operations won’t follow the plan.” Operations say, “Planning builds fantasy schedules.” Behind the finger-pointing is a shared frustration: plans have almost no shelf life . We believe the core problem is not discipline, or even modelli

1.      Introduction Over  the last two decades , there has been a  substantial decrease in mining fatalities . This trend, however, has levelled out and  stubbornly resists further improvement . Automation and removing humans from dangerous situations remain viable levers, but justifying the cost can be a constraint for smaller organisations. Figure 1 illustrates the decline and levelling out of fatalities as well as a reduction in mining productivity over the same time peri

This is the sixth article in our series on  The KPI Trap . 1.     In  Article 1 , we introduced the trap: how local, functional KPIs create silos and conflict, preventing focus on the actual constraint. 2.     In  Article 2 , we mapped the "vicious cycle" that this creates, in which rational local decisions erode trust and guarantee systemic failure. 3.     In  Article 3 , we showed why teams  embrace  the solution, "Flow KPIs," because it turns work into a game with clear pu

Most mines don’t need more dashboards that measure outputs (outputs are the consequence of focussed actions), they need a MOS that manages FLOW so tonnes, unit cost, and the teams unified focus on achieving plan can  move together. If your dashboards are green but your averate output is flat, your MOS is likely optimising local efficiency instead of mine-wide throughput. Let’s build the case for keeping your MOS and upgrade it to a FLOW-Centred MOS that uses the constraint a

If you are a mine executive, you probably ask this question often: “How is it that we work harder, measure more, and report endlessly, yet we struggle to lift productivity improvement to where it was 25 years ago?” Is this merely a mining problem? No, says Yves Morieux of Boston Consulting; Fortune 500 companies have also experienced a similar productivity slump. Productivity growth among Fortune 500 firms has fallen from 5% annually in the 1950s and 1960s to below 1% since 1

Does this sound familiar? How many times have you heard—or said—"I can't delegate more to my people. They just haven't shown the maturity to take ownership and go the extra mile"? How often do you get dragged into a production issue, only to waste an hour listening to explanations that don't add up, while your superintendents shift blame and deflect? It’s frustrating. It feels like you’re the only one trying to hold the whole operation together. But what if that "lack of matu

Gamify your operations For mine GMs & VPs who’ve seen “transformations” come and go—and want a system people actually love using.- “Make...

"Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave.” -—  Eli Goldratt If you found the post “ The KPI Trap: Why your people are fighting the system rather than the problem ” insightful, you may have noticed similarities to your own mine. It is likely that you have observed dedicated, hard-working teams with positive KPI results; yet the company still faces challenges with an inconsistent flow and unachieved targets. Understanding the KPI Dilemma Why does this

The real issue: At many mine sites, consistently meeting targets is rarely about our effort or the process, but rather about not understanding the actual constraint that governs throughput. Traditional KPI systems create competing priorities across departments, leaving the actual constraint under-resourced, which then limits the overall throughput of the mine. The human impact: These competing priorities result in high workload, significant rework, and longer and more frequen

Most mines run a Management Operating System (MOS) or rely on operating procedures. These bring governance, cadence, KPIs and visibility....

The Industry Pattern: Strong Direction Needs Daily Control Across the mining industry, we observe a consistent pattern: enterprise-wide...

Once again, you have had to adjust your calendar to address a critical issue. This time, it is to see if the mine can catch up to meet...

If you're a mine executive, you’re probably under pressure from every angle—production, safety, compliance, costs. And while you’re stuck...