In 2014-15, EMI was commissioned to review the maintenance operations and implement ZoneMaintenance at a large underground gold mine in central China.
The site was struggling to achieve its targets, and maintenance costs were increasing dramatically every month. The company’s Australian Asset Manager needed support from someone he could trust and depend on.
It was EMI’s first exposure to this incredible country, and we were thrilled with the opportunity.
We found the Chinese locals friendly and just as interested in our culture and lifestyles as we were in theirs.
They had a very good understanding of what’s happening in Australia. And they were even familiar with my home state of Tasmania, which was a big surprise to me as I was quite ignorant of where I was in China and what was happening locally.
However, at the site, conditions were rough and dated.
My initial impression was that I’d walked back in time to the late ‘80s or early ‘90s - to the goldfields where safety and contamination control were not a high priority.
Not only that, but adding the obvious language barriers and cultural differences, and we found ourselves with a challenging situation to deal with.
Maintenance practices were noticeably poor and inefficient. But some very experienced and knowledgeable individuals were keen to learn more and improve their processes.
These workers saw the opportunity to learn from an external source they would never have had access to within their own networks.
In fact, this project was not about showing them what was wrong.
It was about helping the team learn and apply changes to make their work-life easier, safer, and more efficient.
We became well aware of the growth and resource demands due to the sheer amount of in-progress and completed projects in the areas we visited.
The banner photo at the top of the page was taken at Guangzhou airport. I counted 32 tower cranes on this one project alone. Incredible.
All up, our project was carried out over five months, including a four-week visit on-site. And our scope included Atlas Copco Jumbo's, Caterpillar AD45B trucks, and R2900G loaders.
Although translating from English to Mandarin was problematic, it gave the mechanics some good laughs during the first release. Our lesson was not to trust online translators from various locations around the world. However, somebody told me that 80% of it was reasonably accurate, which was comforting.
While it was a challenging project, it was also a fantastic experience. Taking in the sights and experiences that tourists would never have had access to.
So if you get the opportunity to take on a project in China, I suggest you seriously consider it.
As with everywhere we go nowadays, security and safety is a risk. China may have its own issues, but if you’re smart about what you do, where you go and who you deal with, you'll be fine.
If you have any questions, I’m more than happy to chat.