Rambler Metals & Mining

Before Fiix: Paper-based chaos

For Scott Britton, General Manager of Operations at Rambler Metals & Mining, the decision to adopt Fiix was a major turning point. His team was supporting two sites and 160 employees using a paper-based system. Before looking into a CMMS, Scott knew his team was facing some specific yet preventable problems. “We have a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week operation, and the way that it worked before was, whoever was finishing up their 12-hour shift would have to write pages of notes for the person starting the next shift. Writing those notes could take up to an hour, and of course, the next person would have to spend the first part of their shift going over the notes to make sure they didn’t miss anything”.

When it came to work orders, it was clear that their system needed an overhaul. “If something needed to be fixed, it would get written down on a post-it or scrap of paper and delivered in person. This often meant that our maintenance team would have to spend time shuffling through multiple post-its or notes, trying to decide which problem could be fixed the most quickly.” In short, there was time being wasted and efficiencies being overlooked.

Whoever was finishing up their 12-hour shift would have to write pages of notes for the person starting the next shift.

Finding the right solution

When Scott started looking at CMMS solutions, his needs were clear. He knew that a cloud-based solution that could offer the connectivity his team required was a must. He considered on-premises solutions that were specific to the mining industry, but they proved costly and a poor fit for the relatively remote location his team was working from.

Once he knew he what he was looking for, Scott and his team developed an 8-touchpoint scoring system, where each option could score 1-5 for each measure, resulting in a possible total score of 40. Of the 5 vendors that were considered, Fiix scored a 36, with the next best competitor for their needs coming in at 26.

After purchasing Fiix, Scott’s team got to work learning the system. They made extensive use of the training videos offered, and got everyone on board quickly. “Even the technology-averse guys who have trouble, say, using an ATM, could understand how to work the system now,” notes Scott.

Mining results

Scott’s immediate hopes for Fiix came to fruition quickly. “The biggest and swiftest benefit we saw after implementing the system was that our technicians were able to go back to turning wrenches much faster”. Before adopting Fiix, there were only 8.5-9 hours of possible wrench time per shift, with the remaining time being set aside to document, sort, and prioritize asset notes and work orders by hand. Now, there are closer to 10 hours of wrench time per shift.

The difference to Scott is clear. “There’s no guesswork anymore. We can now prioritize everything before we start work, and we’re able to document where everyone’s spending their time. In just a few months, there’s been an 8% increase in productivity, and we project that will increase to 15% over the next three months”.

The biggest benefit has been turning documentation time into wrench time.

Gaining perspective

There have been additional benefits to using a CMMS that Scott wasn’t expecting. “We now have additional data for all of our assets, which means I have answers I didn’t have in the past. And we’re using the software in ways we didn’t think we would. For example, we now have data that’s used by payroll since everyone’s hours are being tracked accurately now.” Using the software has also proved to be a huge cornerstone of Rambler’s lean strategy, which Scott is looking forward to continuing to improve.

Looking ahead, Scott knows that Fiix will continue to help his team gain productivity and asset knowledge, and is quick to recommend the solution to other teams. “It’s a responsive, comprehensive, and cost-effective solution that’s very intuitive to use.”

I would recommend Fiix to all junior mining companies.