The opportunity to serve as President of the prestigious Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) was made possible because of an Anglo American scholarship 39 years ago—a pivotal moment that set me on a career path spanning various roles and startup ventures in the mining industry.
Over the past decade, I have been privileged to broaden my experience by consulting across diverse industries globally. This exposure revealed something profound: what I had previously considered mining-specific challenges are, in fact, universal across many sectors.
At its core, a mining operation is made up of a complex system of interconnected activities—from exploration through mining operations such as drill and blast, load and haul, to beneficiation, and outbound logistics.
What has become increasingly clear through my cross-industry work is that, whether we examine chocolate manufacturing, tissue paper production, toilet paper converting plants, lab-grown diamonds, or high-tech equipment lifecycle management, they all share a fundamental characteristic; they rely on value streams of interconnected activities to transform their products with the organisation trying to maximise throughput while effectively managing performance variability. The only real difference lies in the technical requirements of each industry, which demand specific expertise in chemical, mining, processing, or metallurgical engineering.
Across all these industries, I've observed a consistent pattern, which is that performance is driven by the efforts across engineering, production, and processing, by individuals (and some heroes) who react and work diligently as situations unfold in real-time. General managers and their management teams typically operate tactically at two to three levels below their pay grade, focusing primarily on explaining yesterday's poor performance rather than looking forward to set up the operation for success. The scene resembles an under-7s soccer match—wherever the ball moves, a cluster of players follows.
The common response to an issue arising? Add yet another ad hoc meeting to address this.
This effort-driven organisation remains consistent, regardless of whether operations are greenfield digital manufacturing facilities, the latest digital mines with advanced process control, or systems run on paper and Excel spreadsheets.
Surprisingly, more real-time data can result in increased data noise, greater indecision, and in some instances, lower performance.
Despite these value streams operating significantly below their capacity, organisations continue to invest vast amounts of capital in additional equipment to increase performance or in the glossy-brochure promises of Industry 4.0 digital technology and real-time data solutions that most often do not deliver on these promises.
Have we under-invested in our most valuable resource—people? Even Tesla realised this with their fully automated Model X plant that was not performing.
We must focus on designing the ecosystem—or what is sometimes referred to as the operating model—of our organisations. This goes beyond the often-cited triad of people, process, and technology, and the simplistic views of traditional change management.
AI has the potential to add significant value but also adds another level of complexity into this ecosystem design for the organisation of the future.
You will need to attend the SAIMM AGM to hear my full presidential address where I will discuss the causes of an effort-driven organisation and cover the fundamental building blocks and requirements of an operating model, including some recommendations of where and how to start implementing a people-centric approach.
Gary Lane – Biography
With a passion for transforming the mining industry, Gary Lane has established a global reputation as an industry leader and innovator over the past three decades.
Gary's distinguished career began with Anglo American, where he held various engineering and project management roles, successfully delivering multiple mega capital projects. After completing his MBA, he co-founded Cyest Corporation 23 years ago, a pioneering consultancy focused on mining optimisation that helped reshape industry approaches to operational excellence.
His entrepreneurial vision led to the launch of a technology startup dedicated to next-generation mining solutions, followed by the establishment of the Vuuma Group of companies eight years ago. The Vuuma Group specialises in accelerated adult learning and people-centric consulting with an emphasis on systems thinking—addressing the critical human element often overlooked in technical industries.The Vuuma Group specialises in accelerated adult learning and people-centric consulting with an emphasis on systems thinking—addressing the critical human element often overlooked in technical industries.
Gary is a Fellow of the SAIMM and served as the Chairperson of the SAIMM Technical Programmes for the past 7 years.