Striving for sustainability goals does not come at the expense of productivity or profits. It starts with deriving insights that can be turned into actionable change. The availability of data arms role players with the kind of insights that enable them to improve productivity and impact the bottom line, while also managing operations within regulations and sustainable practices.
This was the key takeout of a webinar hosted by Michelin South Africa, the leading mobility company. The session saw mining mobility experts come together to provide solutions that enable sustainability development in the mining sector.
The webinar titled, Harnessing Sustainability to Impact Your Bottom Line in Mining, led to robust discussions, with speakers contributing to the conversation around how African mining businesses use technology and sustainable solutions to positively impact their bottom lines.
The conversation comes at an opportune time as we’ve just passed the two-year mark of the Carbon Tax Act of 2019 that came into effect on 1 June 2019. The act allows for businesses to claim a tax-free allowance for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
“We understand that the industry effectively needs to do more with less, with safety being key,” says Hein Venter, Michelin’s Global Account Manager for Mining Business Line. “For our customers sustainability is a key element of their long-term strategies and our approach starts with delving deeper to learn more about the goals and operations of the mining organisation.”
Venter stated that technology is a key enabler in partnering to apply practices in line with businesses’ sustainability goals. “Harnessing technology is very important because monitoring the operations is the first step to understanding where improvements can be made,” he said. “And it presents a great platform for organisations to collaborate on addressing the gaps through innovative products and services.”
The other speaker, Fabien Taillardat, Michelin’s Head of Mining for Africa, India, and Middle East emphasised that technology is extremely crucial as without measuring, output cannot be improved. “Every mining organisation is aiming for a safe way to reach new efficiencies. Our mining services and solutions at Michelin have been designed with that in mind, to enable a business to find the right data sets, monitor them, and make informed
decisions to benefit and bring value to the business,” Taillardat said.
Just as in many other industries, mining organisations face the challenge to produce more while consuming less. This requires constant streamlining and optimisation within operations.
Michelin’s approach to total productivity helps customers do just that. Thanks to leading tyre innovations like those in the MICHELIN XDR3 Extra Load and service solutions like MICHELIN MEMS4, Michelin offers to help trucks carry more loads faster without compromising tyre life.
Meaning you can achieve the same level of production with fewer trucks and less fuel consumption. Because Michelin mining tyres are designed to last longer this helps ensure less resources are consumed in production and less energy exerted in shipment as well as in use. And all this positively impacts the bottom line, while utilising a more sustainable approach. Taillardat added, “Using technology is also an important enabler to operating across Africa because it easily allows a team of experts to assess data and make recommendations remotely at a great distance, especially in recent times with the travel restrictions.”
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for businesses. With the global pandemic also intensifying the sense of urgency for prioritising climate resilience, the ask for any business is that sustainability be a cross-cutting concept.
For the mining industry, this ask is similar and it impacts the business across all stakeholder levels, pulling organisations closer to both local and international communities.
