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| Capital project management at greenfield mine site |
Context / Scope of project
Development of a new 55 mtpa iron ore mine with associated rail and port infrastructure was already underway. The project was 21% behind schedule and 23% above budget, with existing contingency sums almost exhausted. Performance was being adversely affected by fast-track design, logistic constraints of a remote location, turnover of contractors and high competition for resources. Given the late stage in project development there was little scope to make design changes – PIP was asked to focus on identifying areas of high completion risk and helping to deliver them through problem solving, project management and implementing improved wiring. For the highest priority areas, we remained on site for several months to help deliver the results and transfer skills to managers and supervisors.
Client achieved:
- Rail sleeper manufacturing had not previously achieved production capacity – 50% improvement over 3 months exceed original target and recovered 8 weeks of schedule time
- Bulk earth moving productivity increased from less than 2000 ccm per week to over 3000 ccm per week within 8 weeks
- Track laying machine had only achieved 55% of plan but through improved output (more than 200% improvement in daily output) completed on time
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What we did:
Reporting and control
- Reviewed all remaining spend items
- Identified and prioritised all cost and schedule overrun risks
- Created improved weekly reporting (report content and formats, meeting agendas etc) between owner, EPCM team and major contractors
- Established Results Action Reviews (RAR) meetings from Project Director to Site Project Managers, and from Project Managers to major contractor managers
- In highest risk areas, implemented RARs to front-line supervisor and work crew level
- Implemented variation management system for each major contract
Productivity management
- Established productivity KPIs for major civil works
- Developed production flow-charts and de-bottlenecked key sub-processes
- Developed demobilization plans for mobile equipment to ensure removed from site and ceased charging as soon as work complete
- Improved work sequencing and resource allocation
People management
- Modified EPCM management structure to increase management time in the field
- Changed out underperforming project managers
- Increased productivity of work crews through short interval control and front-line coaching
- Managed and improved hiring and retention practices to reduce staff and contractor turnover
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