The mining industry’s biggest partner – ERP systems
I have been doing a lot of research lately on the mining
industry and how beneficial and actually crucial it is the have the proper ERP
system in place to assist in the everyday running of a mine and eventually to grow
your business and to show a return on your investment. Mining is one of the
most demanding industries out there and if not run properly it can leave
communities devastated and thousands of people with no income.
ERP systems have been designed out of necessity as there was
a need for a system to assist in the planning and running of big organisations
such as the mining industry.
Even as early as the 70’s was there a need for an enterprise resource planning
system. Obviously have there been a lot of systems designed that made the
processes of running a business easier, but only a mere ten years ago did the
concept of ERP systems arise.
When starting your business are there a lot of factors to
take into account such as financials,
production, human resources and customer relationship
management. All these departments play a crucial part in any business.
Following will be some of my findings of what to look for in
the perfect ERP system
specifically aimed at the mining
industry. Disclaimer: findings of a blogger, researcher and sometimes a mad
man and not that of a mining mogul.
FINANCIALS
The most important factor when starting a business is the financials. A lot of money has
been injected and probably a lot of investors took the leap of faith of
investing in you and your mining venture. It is important that an ERP system
can handle your mine’s financials. Financial accounting, creditor’s accounting,
payment management, cost accounting and investment accounting are just some of
the functions that an ERP system should be capable of handling.
PRODUCTION
PLANNING AND PRODUCTION
After year one when the mine is up and running it is important
to start looking at production
to increase the revenue of the mine and also keep the investors happy. Work
schedule management, technical data configuration, linking to weighing scales,
cost calculation, quality assurance and capacity planning should be on top of
your production wish list.
MATERIAL
REQUIREMENT
All ERP systems should consist of a material
requirement module that can assist in the categorising, arrangement and
rearrangement of materials for certain production lines, a benefit is that
these modules can be set up well into the future, this will be beneficial for
companies to plan a whole years production in advance and even further if the
need arises. These requirement modules can be customised in any way the user
sees fit for him or her to execute the task efficiently.
SALES AND DISTRIBUTION
At this stage things are looking up and it
shows that the mine is starting to show a return on investment and that the
mine is ready to start selling its produce. ERP systems have sales and
distribution software included that can assist in the managing of sales and
taking care of distribution schedules to ensure these products get delivered to
the promised destinations. Also look out for capabilities such as setting up of
contracts, offers, order entries, delivery and shipping planning and invoicing.
WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT
Warehouse
management goes hand in hand with a mine’s production planning. Warehouses
need to communicate with the production department in setting up inventories to
keep track of what stock enters and leaves the warehouses. This in turn will
trigger certain production notifications. Management of locations, workload
analysis, preparing of orders and tracking of operations will be key functions
that will help in running your warehouses successfully.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)
CRM is a complete
customer management system that will ensure open communication channels between
all your clients and suppliers. And for the more adventurous people out there
can CRM systems be used to run marketing campaigns and drip marketing campaigns.
HR
Human
resources are essential in any major corporation, this will help you keep
tabs on all your employees and also take the stress out of managing their pay
rolls. Clocking in and out of staff is easily manageable. Training schedules
can be set up and talent management can be tracked.
There you have it, a complete system that
ensures transparency throughout all of your business processes. Most
importantly, the right ERP system
can and should show a return on your investment and this system itself is an
investment as it can grow with your business.
I can safely say that I know a bit more about
the mining industry and how crucial it is to have an ERP system tailor made to
you and your company’s specific needs. Luckily do I not know enough yet to start
my own mining company,
but I am willing to offer my consulting services to any unsuspecting victim.