Operational excellence
Coal & Allied strives for continuous improvement in every respect. When it comes to business improvements, we are focused on the key areas of our business, including marketing, asset management, coal mining and processing.
Our approach
Collaboration is a key focus of business improvement at Coal & Allied. By establishing common systems, solving common issues and sharing knowledge and experience across all Coal & Allied sites and the wider Rio Tinto Group, the business is able to improve efficiency and create additional value.
Results
Excellent results were delivered by Coal & Allied's business improvement team in 2007 despite external impacts such as port and rail constraints.
- At Bengalla, more than $12 million in business improvement value was delivered. One of the initiatives included D11R, noise suppression which reduced cabin noise from between 85 and 91 dB to 76 dB. Additional value was delivered through using more efficient equipment and mining designs.
- Hunter Valley Operations delivered a total of $28 million of improvements. One third of this value came from coal yield improvements delivered through a spirals circuit upgrade; DMC upgrade and seam preparation work in the pit with mine planning.
- A combination of improved mine plans, increased plant yield, greater dragline productivity and an increased use of Mount Thorley Warkworth's equipment resulted in a total of almost $13 million additional value delivered at Mount Thorley Warkworth.
- Improvements being delivered at site are supported by the processing, mining, dragline, assets teams in Brisbane through a one Coal & Allied approach to business improvement. Business improvement tools such as Lean and 6 Sigma are being used to solve problems and improve our operations.
