Green Dashboards, Red Tonnes? Retune Your MOS Around the Constraint

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 as the focus (lever) to meet and exceed you tonne and unit cost targets.

Here’s the case for reshaping your MOS around FLOW, not functional efficiency.

When MOS Optimises Functional Parts, the Mine Loses FLOW

A traditional MOS promises control, but when it is built on siloed KPIs it often produces the opposite:

• Local optimisation beats system performance. A crew “wins” at their KPI while starving or blocking the next step.

• Trust erodes. Meetings become debates about who missed which KPI, not how to increase FLOW end-to-end.

• Complexity explodes. More metrics, tighter compliance, and data overload, yet no single point of focus for the shift.

• A compliance spiral. Good people comply without belief, performance stagnates despite harder work.

If your MOS scores departments instead of FLOW its application can reward rational local wins that reduce whole-of-mine throughput.

The Physics: Output Equals the Lowest Flowing Link

Mines are highly variable, interdependent systems, and when we attempt to achieve “balanced capacity” with 100% utilisation in all the parts we cause queues, starvation and blockages which shackles the constraint.

In reality:

• Mining is variable and interdependent.

• At any moment, total output equals that of the slowest link in the chain.

• Driving every area to “full” utilisation guarantees queues, blockages, and starvation.

As Goldratt warned: “the closer you get to balanced capacity, the closer you are to bankruptcy.”

A high-performing MOS recognises this and designs protective capacity around the true constraint so it is never starved or blocked. (an hour lost at the constraint is an hour lost to the entire system)

What a FLOW-Centred MOS Looks Like

Recast your MOS from a scoreboard of parts into a control system for whole-of-mine FLOW:

1. Name the constraint (CHPP, longwall, stope, hoist, truck/shovel capacities etc.). Make its run-rate the drumbeat.

2. Redesign KPIs to protect and elevate that constraint:

3. Constraint run-rate, starvation/blockage minutes, and material-on-hand forward cover.

4. Protective capacity on the steps feeding and downstream of the constraint.

5. Align incentives and routines so every area wins when the constraint wins.

6. Show non-bottleneck “idle time” as protective capacity, explicit insurance against lost tonnes.

   
   

When your MOS measures and manages FLOW through the constraint, teams naturally cooperate because they finally share the same target.

Daily FLOW Meeting | 30 Minutes | The Agile Layer

You can optimise your MOS by adding a 30-minute Daily FLOW Meeting that protects the constraint for the next 24–48 hours:

• Yesterday: One view of the constraint vs target - no KPI bingo, just the truth.

• Today: Foresee risks to the constraint (starve/block) and remove them before shift change.

• Tomorrow: Look ahead—maintenance, ore availability, weather, staffing, logistics, what could hit the drum?

• Actions: Clear owners, time-boxed commitments, and follow-through.

  
  

Think of this as a dual operating system: your existing MOS remains the stable governance backbone; the FLOW Room is the agile layer that focuses attention where it matters today.

What Changes on the Ground Within a  Few Rosters

• From “utilisation everywhere” to “availability where it counts.”

• From 50+ metrics to 6–10 FLOW KPIs that everyone can recite.

• From debate, blame and finger pointing to shared reality and forward focus.

• From firefighting to proactive protection of the constraint.

Leaders often describe the effect as a strange sense of calm: the noise drops, and progress becomes visible.

Results in Weeks - No New Capex

FLOW-centred MOS + FLOW Room has delivered consistent, rapid gains using existing assets:

• Open-cut iron ore (Africa): From ~600 kt/m to ~1 Mt/m; later sustained ~29% above design for years.

• NSW longwall: By shifting from push to pull on a CHPP constraint, ~33% output uplift.

• Coal (Tier 1 Mining House): ~24% daily lift in production output within four months through constraint-focused routines.

  
  

Beyond tonnes, sites report more engaged teams, faster supervisor development, and a culture shift toward collaborative problem-solving.

Four Steps to Retune Your MOS Within 4–6 Weeks

1. Pick the drum: Publish the constraint and make its run-rate the top-line operational KPI and the daily key focus of the planning the operational teams.

2. Expose the pattern: Admit where silo KPIs are inducing rational but system-damaging thinking and behaviour.

3. Rewire routines: Stand up the Daily FLOW Meeting and replace backward reviews with forward protection of the drum.

4. Lock in the gains: Make FLOW KPIs leader-proof, resilient to personnel changes and resistant to metric creep.

   
   

Executive Choice: Keep the MOS & Optimise it with FLOW

You don’t need more dashboards measuring the wrong KPIs. You need a MOS that manages FLOW.

When you align KPIs, routines, and accountability around the true constraint, you unleash the performance your people have been straining to deliver.

If you’re seeing green departments and red outcomes, your MOS is doing its job, just not the job you need. Optimise it around FLOW and watch cooperation, clarity of purpose, and tonnes move together.

If you want a pragmatic playbook including templates for FLOW  KPIs, a 30-minute FLOW Room agenda, and the governance tweaks to make it stick get in contact with me. I’m happy to share what’s been working across both surface and underground mining operations  without new capex or increasing headcount.