Mining industry maintenance managers ensure the equipment that searches for and recovers valuable metals and minerals works as designed. These managers may soon be making another type of search, this time for new maintenance technicians and operators. The mining industry workforce is getting older and experienced frontline workers are retiring in ever-greater numbers. This means mines will lose a lot of tribal knowledge these retiring workers have built over their careers. Once these experienced technicians and operators leave, that knowledge is gone… forever.
This whitepaper discusses a way mining companies can preserve that tribal knowledge before it’s lost and pass it along to new hires and less experienced frontline workers today. This digital solution permits remote guidance and mentoring, enabling experienced veterans to give instructions to younger colleagues as they conduct work order repairs, reducing reworks and preventing backlogs.
Key takeaways:
- The mining industry maintenance workforce is aging
- As older workers retire, they take irreplaceable tribal knowledge with them
- Upskilling and training new hires is difficult due to time and budget restraints
- Skills gaps lead to more reworks and backlogs
- Digital work instructions allows a way to preserve tribal knowledge, cut reworks and decrease backlogs