Presentado en XIII CONAMIN 2021, organizado por el Capítulo de Ingeniería de Minas del CD Lima CIP.

Por: Edilberto Telada Huamán, gerente general en Teincomin.

Abstract

The mining industry and the current economic context in the world generate a complicated position for many companies in the sector; competitiveness reflected in terms of productivity, costs and safety is essential for an organization to be successful, as well as to remain active during the downturn in metal prices and thus generate profitability throughout the value chain.

Aiming to achieve this level of competitiveness, Teincomin's technical team of operations and projects proposed initiatives and action plans to improve process quality, reduce costs and operating expenses by applying the Lean Six Sigma methodology, whose main objective is to identify and manage improvement opportunities in excavation and support projects with Raise Climber equipment. 

Lean Six Sigma is the enhanced combination of two scientific methodologies focused on maximizing productivity. On the one hand, the Lean philosophy is oriented to optimize the value chain and eliminate waste; on the other hand, the Six Sigma method is focused on process improvement.

In this sense, united under the same methodology, they have resulted in maximizing process efficiency and minimizing costs, consequently, the organization generates greater profitability in the project and, in turn, executes it in compliance with the client's standards. Aimed at any company specialized in mining, regardless of the category or industry, covering different processes in its operation, but with the initiative to seek profitability.

In this case, it is applied to projects. It details the impact obtained with the Lean Six Sigma methodology in each of the phases of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving and controlling, consequently it has been possible to improve the profitability of operations. The implementation of projects to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs has been very favorable for the organization, since the impact has been reflected in profitability.

These projects executed in the mining unit have had a positive impact on the reduction of operating costs, reflecting significant savings of 17% and the solution to the mine's problems. Therefore, based on the needs of the execution, key success initiatives have been determined to close the optimization cycle, rationalize the consumption of supplies, meet the needs of the operation, manage strategies with stakeholders, optimize each of the unit operations, rethink the infrastructure of services in the unit, and implement control mechanisms to ensure operational continuity and efficient management.