Minset

16/04/2024

When you don't consider maintenance shutdown events holistically, they're prone to costly overruns that impact production output and ramp up expenses.

But, what if we told you that a shift in the way you handle communication could solve the most common shutdown issues, from emergent works to a lack of preparation?

Engaging experienced professionals, whether they're part of your team or independent external consultants with hands-on experience, can greatly influence the outcome.

Success lies in ensuring the right information reaches the right people at the right time.

Read Minset’s article and discover how implementing new communication strategies can transform your maintenance shutdown events and outcomes.

If you have any questions or are eager to learn how to set your shutdown program up for success, please contact Andrew Attrill.

We recently shared about the importance of strong shutdown systems. These are essential to well-managed shutdowns. The backbone is the shutdown management framework that guides all activity – a robust continuous system of processes to identify, define, prepare, execute and report on works. However...

18/03/2024

The Minset team recently helped a remote gold mining client in Western Australia consolidate its fixed maintenance function across two underground mines.

Our approach involved three key steps. We:
- Verified the existing asset register.
- Assessed the criticality of assets to prioritise maintenance efforts.
- Analysed the maintenance team's capacity to deliver work now and in the future.

Despite the location's natural beauty, the challenging environment poses significant risks to the organisation’s assets. This underscores the importance of proactively documenting, assessing, prioritising, and protecting critical assets.

If you're looking to enhance your maintenance practices or require additional support for fixed assets in challenging environments, we're here to help. Please reach out to Derrick Barden or Anthony Tarsilli for more information.

12/03/2024

The Minset team is preparing for ‘part two’ of a maintenance shutdown-specific leadership program underway at a leading gold mine in the south-western Pacific.

Recently, more than 50 current and aspiring maintenance shutdown leaders received training to help them plan for and execute high-performing events using Minset’s proven methods.

The one-of-a-kind knowledge transfer program combines classroom-style sessions, tailored personal action plans, and coaching and mentoring support.

The picture captures Darion Parise on site, conducting a ‘walk-around’ in preparation for in-field coaching and mentoring. This personalised support will be invaluable leading up to a major shutdown event in the coming weeks.

At the end of the program, graduates will be equipped with everything they need to lead and deliver best-practice events and lift the performance of their maintenance shutdown teams.

Interested in elevating your team’s maintenance shutdown leadership skills and performance? Contact Andrew Attrill to learn how.

05/03/2024

The Minset team was on site last week, delivering a tailored and engaging shutdown-specific leadership program for a top-tier gold mine in the south-western Pacific.

Over four dynamic leadership development workshops, Andrew Attrill and Darion Parise worked with more than 50 existing and aspiring shutdown leaders to help them plan for and execute high-performing events using Minset’s proven tools and techniques.

Participants learn directly from experts with decades of real-life experience through classroom-style sessions, tailored personal action plans, and in-field, one-on-one coaching and mentoring support provided during the shutdown ex*****on phase.

The participants found the personal action plans particularly valuable. Workers pinpointed more than 235 initiatives that can be implemented as part of the organisation’s upcoming major shutdown event.

The Minset team is now gearing up to help participants deepen their learnings with follow-up in-field coaching and mentoring support. What a human-centred and sustainable way to improve maintenance shutdown performance and outcomes.

If you would like to upskill your maintenance shutdown leaders to improve the quality of your events, please reach out to Andrew Attrill for more information.

28/02/2024

We often work with maintenance shutdown teams who miss opportunities to lift performance and reduce their critical path because they tend to accept the status quo.

These inefficiencies lead to productivity leaks, wasting time and money. Some all-to-common examples include interruptions, permitting delays, parts management issues and incorrect tooling, to name just a few.

By working closely with your teams to analyse workflows and apply pit-stop techniques before shutdowns, you can safely reduce the duration of events and downtime.

Using tool time productivity observations is a great strategy for identifying improvement opportunities. Tool time measures how people use time and provides valuable insights to understand and address your ‘work process’ wastes.

In fact, Minset uses its own tool time app, MinObs, so clients can quickly, consistently, and accurately record thousands of interactions and data points across multiple shifts.

We have a significant volume of tool time benchmark data specific to maintenance shutdowns and trades productivity. This means Minset clients can fast track shutdown delivery performance and improvements.

If you would like to find out more about optimising your next shutdown event or using tool time techniques to improve performance, please reach out to Andrew Attrill or Anthony Tarsilli.

21/02/2024

The Minset team is on location, assisting a leading mining provider with their current expansion project. As always, we're working closely with the teams onsite to improve productivity and business performance.

Our support began with streamlining the contractor onboarding process. We then reviewed parts of the project’s safety health management system, including the development of a targeted safety interaction program.

We also supplied an extra safety supervisor to coach and mentor contractors and act as a conduit between the client and the workforce, ensuring safe work practices and compliance.

At the height of construction, the project will employ 600 people and build a new materials handling facility, train load out facility and associated infrastructure.

If you would like to know more about how the Minset team can help elevate your business performance, please contact Andrew Attrill or Anthony Tarsilli.

19/02/2024

When done well, shutdowns can generate millions of dollars of additional revenue. If you’re thinking about updating your shutdown strategy or program, consider these three tips to help your people manage the change successfully:

• Take the time to explain the benefit of change at both a business and personal level, so teams affected can rally behind the new shutdown processes and requirements. Yes, it’s a simple strategy, but this powerful way of generating support is often overlooked.

• Ensure your team has the technical and leadership skills to effectively apply the new shutdown strategy and procedures. If you don’t have the available resources in house, outsource the work to knowledgeable experts you trust.

• Engage your leaders and encourage them to review what industry leaders are doing. Challenge them to share insights with your shutdown teams which helps to build momentum for change and a new level of performance. In-field coaching is a great way to share experience, and to set and deliver consistent expectations and communications during your shutdown events.

05/02/2024

In late January, the Minset leadership team got together for its annual business planning session. Our team spent time reflecting on 2023's successes and identifying key business initiatives for 2024. It was a great two days with loads of strategic discussions about how we can continue to add value to our clients. 2024 is certainly off to a flying start!

Thanks to the fabulous Elizabeth Graetz for planning and facilitating our workshop.

Picture: Director Anthony Tarsilli fronts the team, which includes (left to right) Janine Scott, Amanda White, Andrew Attrill, Elizabeth Graetz, Michael Bennett, Chris Taylor, and Derrick Barden, sitting around the table.

30/01/2024

Did you know that OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) often take a more conservative approach to preventative maintenance recommendations than is necessary? They do this to ensure their equipment operates as promised regardless of specific owner requirements or operating conditions. This means you can often make gains by reviewing the asset, what you need from it, and its operating environment. So, with this in mind, what changes could you make to assets at your site?

29/01/2024

Every now and again, even the most experienced business improvement practitioners dive in too early to ‘solve the problem’. We all know we should take the time to truly understand the problem first. We get caught up in the excitement of a new project, which can lead to expensive rework, wasted time and effort, and worse still, not solving the problem.

So, next time a new and exciting problem comes your way, check to make sure you truly understand the problem you’re trying to solve. Make sure it’s aligned to the team’s understanding before jumping in and working with them to solve it.

24/01/2024

There are three questions we ask our clients to quickly get to the heart of how performance measures are being used in a business to add value. Check out our blog to see if these simple questions can help you too.

Measuring performance is part of every sound business. With technology advancing and automation increasingly common, the availability of data is faster and easier than ever. Many businesses put a lot of time and resources into identifying measures and collecting data. However, that effort can often....

17/01/2024

We are regularly inspired by our clients and their commitment and dedication to improving their businesses.

We recently worked with a team to help reduce the time taken to change a conveyor belt. We took the team through a quick change over process, which reduced the task duration by about 16 percent. A great result for a first attempt.

As we were demobilising, the supervisor was reflecting on the session and said: “That was good, but next time we do this I think we can do even better”. We walked away knowing we helped that team see new possibilities and make a sustainable change in their business.