AAOM Handbook

considered independently. Any Production Strategy parameter may have interdependencies or interactions with other parameters. Changes to operating parameters may also change process efficiencies and/or require changes in Service Strategies. Operating Parameter changes can also modify the operational life of the process, i.e. there can be a trade-off between short term gain and longer operational life. In a mining process this could be to high-grade the ore body in order to improve short term cash flow at the cost of a reduced mining life. In a mineral processing plant this could be to increase operating loads in order to increase short term cash flow at the expense of reduced plant life or earlier re-investment in a new plant. In a supply chain process this could be a reduction in the supplier base leading to increased risk of exposure to supplier failure. Production and Service activity outcomes and durations, and operating specification values, are never constant. They exhibit the inevitable variation that all real processes have. Additionally, there can be dependencies between some of these parameters, e.g. in a gold plant there is typically an inverse correlation between feed grade and recovery (i.e. as feed grade goes up recovery in the process goes down). Predicting the outcome that will be delivered from a choice of Production and Service Strategies means that we may have to deal with the independent and dependent variation that occurs in each of the potential strategy parameters. This will be dependent on the Target specification limits, required confidence level, and time period/sample size over which the target performance is assessed. To deal with variation successfully we must use a statistical model.

Purpose

To specify the most cost effective way to operate the process.

Quantity

The deliverables from setting a Production strategy shall include; • One flowsheet of the Production process work steps. • One list of Production Strategy critical issues/opportunities.

• One set of data quantifying alternate scenarios for feasible combinations of Production strategies (this may include the statistical modelling of the feasible combinations). • One set of Production strategies, selected to be the most cost effective. • One set of operating specifications for each step of the production process flowsheet. • One list of Production process work steps executed by machines. • One set of specifications for automatic control systems. • One list of Production process work steps executed by people. • One set of implementation action specifications (tasks) for each Production process work step executed by people. • One set of Work Packages for implementation of Production work steps (tasks) executed by people. • One set of service level specifications for resources required for Production work.

© McAlear Management Consultants 2006

Operational Planning: Set Production Strategy

Updated: August 2018

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