Mineral Technologies
macintype_dev • 22 January 2016
Mineral Technologies mines greater collaboration
Mineral Technologies reduces overhead and rework costs by $35,000 a month through providing 24 hour remote access to documents, designs and equipment specifications
Who
Mineral Technologies: a supplier of metallurgical testing, plant design, process solutions and equipment to mining operations worldwide
What
SOLIDWORKS® Enterprise PDM (Product Data Management)
Where
Gold Coast, Australia
Why
Mineral Technologies has to share information – such as equipment specifications, designs and tender documents – with customers and sales people all over the world. With all designs and documents held at the company’s head office in Queensland, Australia, it was becoming harder to manage information requests from multiple time zones effectively.
The existing Windows/Excel-based data management system was cumbersome, unregulated and inefficient, leading to drawings being recreated over and over again. Reporting capability and document security was limited.
Alex de Andrade, GM – Equipment & Technology at Mineral Technologies, says: “Changes were often instigated in different areas of the business in an uncontrolled, unregulated manner without proper consultation. This could lead to manufacturing and supply errors later, costly re-work and customer frustration.”
Results
Mineral Technologies already used SOLIDWORKS for 3D design. It made sense to adopt a data management package that was familiar and comfortable: SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM.
“We can now provide remote access to our business development and tender documents, with 24 hour accessibility to our sales team around the world. They are no longer dependant on head office working-hours only.” Alex says.
The project was rolled out in just 4 months.
“It was super quick, Alex says. It usually takes a year, a year and a half. The collaboration between Downer, Intercad’s tech team and the administrator skills within MT was a key part of the success.”
The time and cost savings for easier access, instant search capabilities and automated document control are substantial.
“Around $35,000 a month”, according to Alex.
