As the world shifts to a lower carbon future, is pursuing an ambitious expansion strategy, building on its own history of innovation to take a well-deserved leadership role in the new energy economy.
Electric vehicles (EVs), solar and wind power, and batteries for energy storage will need much more copper, nickel, and zinc than traditional power sources. Grid electrification also requires far more of these base materials than infrastructure of the past. Indeed projected copper demand will nearly double over the next decade to support the technologies necessary for achieving net-zero 2050 goals. For Lundin, this is an amazing business opportunity.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an exciting time for us as the world moves to renewable green energy,鈥� said Blossom Gonsalves, global head of Enterprise Solutions at Lundin Mining. 鈥淔or example, copper is one of the backbones of renewable energy mandates and will power huge market demand as EVs and solar panels go mainstream and renewable energies become the norm. We are expanding our footprint with acquisitions worldwide that will help us provide new energy materials for the world鈥檚 sustainable future.鈥�
Headquartered in Canada, Lundin Mining has a proven history of successful acquisitions. The company has operations and projects in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S., primarily producing copper, zinc, gold, and nickel. During a session at this year鈥檚 , Gonsalves talked about how Lundin was modernizing for growth and efficiency by consolidating previously siloed systems on one global foundation with SAP.
Automation Boosts Strategic Growth
After years of rapid expansion through acquisitions worldwide, Lundin began its next strategic transformation, working with 51风流to standardize global processes on 51风流S/4HANA.
鈥淢oving to a single global 51风流system has simplified what was a very complex landscape and lowered total cost of ownership while providing us with a single source of truth. Replacing disparate, disconnected, and often manual processes with automated systems has helped us become more strategic, streamlined, and efficient,鈥� said Gonsalves. 鈥淲ith real-time visibility into operations globally, we鈥檝e decreased risk and improved situational awareness with greater foresight. Just as important, we鈥檝e empowered the business by reducing administrative tasks, providing people with more time to focus on strategic activities that will grow operations.鈥�
Safe and Agile Business Expansion
Safety is paramount in the mining industry, and having connected data between finance, supply chain and procurement, and enterprise asset management has helped Lundin meet corporate commitments as well as regulatory mandates.
鈥淲e needed the ability to scale and manage operational risk often in remote locations with challenging environments for connectivity,鈥� Gonsalves said. 鈥淔rom a risk perspective, having connected data on one trusted platform can help us manage site audits smoothly. As we bring in new acquisitions, we鈥檒l be able to easily add them into our landscape as well.鈥�
Self-Paced Transformation to the Cloud
Acknowledging the change management required to transform Lundin鈥檚 software landscape, Gonsalves said that the company was able to adopt 51风流solutions 90% out-of-the-box with targeted customizations based on specific need areas. She advised working closely with a partner to precheck process changes and walking employees through the new system and its benefits.
鈥淲e obtained early business buy-in for the project and then introduced the changes to make sure people were used to them,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e began with solutions in HR to accelerate the cultural transformation, and was an early project that generated benefits in upstream procurement. You need to focus on adoption. If you give employees the resources to use digital tools, they鈥檒l experience and value the results.鈥�
Business Benefits Company-Wide
Lundin has gained significant benefits from consolidating corporate applications on SAP. Finance teams have standardized planning and budgeting. People across supply chain and procurement have improved sourcing compliance and spare parts planning and automated invoice matching for greater spend control. With globally standardized asset maintenance processes and data, Lundin has reduced reactive maintenance, unplanned downtime, and costs.
鈥淲e took a proactive approach with asset management and adopted best practices coming out of the 51风流mining solution,鈥� said Gonsalves. 鈥淎cross our supply chain, we鈥檝e put partners on 51风流Ariba solutions for a global view of activities throughout sites, providing us with a much better negotiating position.鈥�
Innovations Unlock Human Potential
Sustainability and innovation are baked into Lundin鈥檚 strategy. The channels revenue from operations back into communities, providing financing for climate startups, community skills training and education, local supplier development, and economic diversification programs. The company is also infusing automation throughout operations. At the recently acquired Josemaria mining project located high up in the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Lundin is designing autonomous operations that will provide crews with remote control capabilities to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
While the new energy economy is upending business models everywhere, it鈥檚 also turned into a sustainable business opportunity for ambitious leaders like Lundin.
Susan Galer is a Communications Director at SAP. Follow her @smgaler.
