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BusinessExcellence Weekly

ISSUE No. 69 | www.bus-ex.com

tedagua:

water, water

everywhere Spain’s bid to lead the global desalination market

Swakop uranium:

petra diamonds:

rwandair:

HERE’S WHY ONTARIO, CANADA

IS YOUR NEXT

BIG IDEA Opportunities for mineral exploration in Ontario abound. Powered by global leaders in innovation and safety standards, our mining practices are among the safest and most sustainable in the world.

With business costs lower here than in most G7 countries, Ontario suppliers are more competitive – so you can depend on quality goods and services, delivered on time, on spec and on budget. Innovation is at our core. Make Ontario your next big idea.

YourNextBigIdea.ca/Mining

$2.9B

in non-metallic minerals, including diamonds, was produced in Ontario in 2012

$2.6B in gold

$1.5B in copper

$1.4B in nickel

$787M

in other metals such as platinum and silver

Paid for by the Government of Ontario.

business excellence

Business John O’Hanlon Editor johanlon@bus-ex.com Will Daynes Editor wdaynes@bus-ex.com Matt Johnson Art Director mjohnson@bus-ex.com Louise Culling Production Designer lculling@bus-ex.com Richard Turner Director of Sales rturner@bus-ex.com

Business Excellence brings you content from leading business influencers and strategic thinkers providing inspiration and guidance to help you and your business grow.

We showcase some of the best examples of successful organisations from around the world giving you a unique insight into how they operate.

Vince Kielty Director of Editorial Research vkielty@bus-ex.com Sharon Rooke Administration & Operations srooke@bus-ex.com Matt Day Head of Technology mday@bus-ex.com Andy Turner Chief Executive aturner@bus-ex.com

Contributors Exact Software Business Software Developers

HINT: For the best experience, click the fullscreen icon

Markus Christen Associate Professor of Marketing Tommy Arvinell Managing Partner

Subscriptions & Enquires info@bus-ex.com

Jacquard House, Queen Street, Norwich, NR2 4SX. England

Infinity Business Media Ltd

The content of this magazine is copyright of Infinity Business Media Ltd. Redistribution or reproduction of any content is prohibited. Š Copyright 2013 Infinity Business Media Ltd.

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issue No.69

6 6 technology

Professional services – thrive in a genuinely global, flexible market space

14

Two key reasons why professional services companies need the right ERP.

14 operations

Sizing a sales force & setting its direction

Markets change, competitors react and your sales force can easily be left looking at yesterday’s needs: sizing and allocation are the key.

22

22 Tedagua

Water, water, everywhere

Tedagua is a significant player in Spain’s bid to lead the global desalination market: as its domestic market contracts the company is concentrating its efforts overseas.

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contents

32

32 Petra Diamonds

A diamond in the rough

A leading independent diamond mining group, Petra Diamonds is fast becoming an increasingly important player in the rough diamond market thanks to the leveraging of its impressive asset portfolio.

40 SEAMIC

Promoting responsible mineral development in Africa

The Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), an international organisation under the umbrella of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: its sphere of influence continues to widen as does the relevance of its services to both public and private sector interests.

48 Swakop Uranium

Namibia’s gift to global green energy

Chinese capital and the combined resources of southern Africa’s experience in mining come together in the Husab uranium mine, a project that confirms Namibia’s leading position as a uranium oxide producer.

48

58

58 RwandAir

Winging to Africa’s heart

RwandAir is a young airline with a young fleet: it is making full use of Rwanda’s position to link with Africa’s capitals and beyond.

68 University of Kentucky – Lean Systems Program 2013 Lean Users Conference: Leaning in the right direction

Glenn Uminger discusses the recent 2013 Lean Users Conference, shares some of its success stories and reveals his early hopes for next year’s event.

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Professional servi genuinely global, fle

Two key reasons why professional se Words by

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Exac

Technology

ices – thrive in a exible market space

ervices companies need the right ERP

ct Software

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he professional services landscape is changing – and fast. Professional services firms are embracing the opportunity to tackle new markets, finding economies of scale in larger operations that align well with international clients. However, with increased complexity comes greater difficulty in managing the business effectively. Expansion must not come at the cost of efficiency and responsiveness.

As a result of this, it’s clear that the human shape of these organizations is also changing significantly.

Key trend 1: Internationalization Whilst small professional services firms remain in the majority, many of the businesses that dominate the sector have successfully realized growth in volume and complexity through geographical expansion. Whether organically or through M&A, they have successfully sought out new opportunities abroad and committed to creating genuine in-country presence overseas.

Diversity as a defense mechanism To have the best chance of surviving into the medium to long term, diversification can be an important part of the corporate strategy – not just in terms of the services and expertise that you’re able to offer, but with respect to physical location as well. With every country experiencing problems of some kind, not to mention the introduction of new measures and regulation to try and repair the damage, spreading an operation across borders can be an effective way to manage the risk

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and uncertainty associated with any one region or set of evolving legislation.

Fertile ground for M&A In the period following 2008, most western economies have seen a significant drop in demand for consultancy and other professional services. As belts tightened, the appetite for hiring external experts for major projects had to be decreased.

Handle it in-house, wait or forget. While successful services companies changed their priorities and business models to adapt to the changing environment, many either didn’t survive this drop in demand, or were led into significant downsizing.

This in turn provided new opportunities for the stronger businesses. Healthy companies with cash in the bank or continuing access to finance could put M&A firmly on their strategy radar. Absorbing or joining other businesses provided an effective route for companies to achieve international growth, strengthening their

Technology

“To have the best chance of surviving into the medium to long term, diversification can be an important part of the corporate strategy” position by spreading potential risk over multiple markets.

International reputation a valuable asset Firms that can source the investment needed to achieve this expansion often find an immediate advantage in tendering for work against smaller domestic companies. The prestige associated with running an international operation can be a key differentiator in competing for work with local only companies, particularly if customers have international ambitions of their own.

Green shoots sprouting from the ashes In addition to the new opportunities that are appearing as Europe evolves out of the crisis, the rest of the world also offers niches for services companies willing and able to offer services overseas. The BRIC countries, for example, are showing a thirst for ‘Western’ knowledge. Domestic enterprises are luring companies in to benefit from their experience as they look to capitalize on new markets filled with expanding businesses. German car manufacturers starting up joint ventures with Chinese automotive companies is one example, the learnings of a mature multinational the key to enabling these local operations to continue their impressive growth curves.

Both parties benefit with such an approach, the western company able to gain valuable penetration in a new sector. The local knowledge gives them a head start in overcoming the challenges associated with breaking new ground, whether economic, social or cultural. They get an open door to the economies actually achieving and maintaining growth.

Emerging markets showing signs of maturity Whereas this was initially only interesting for manufacturing and wholesale businesses, the rapid development of these markets has now made it compelling for services businesses. The relatively young companies who have excelled there are now in need of experienced management, accounting and legal advice. The combination of local presence and international experience from a trusted foreign brand can be a powerful sales tool with prospective clients. And with most of the emerging markets having invested heavily in education over the last decades, why not benefit from highly skilled individuals who are able to deliver excellent quality for a fraction of the cost associated with western professionals.

Key trend 2: Flexibility People today want greater choice than ever before, being able to make the most of their talents and their earning potential,

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“In terms of supporting this change toward greater selfemployment, connectivity and mobile technology is playing a major role” while also having greater control over their work-life balance. Traditional employment models are increasingly seen as outdated and irrelevant. More and more people are turning away from fixed employment to work for themselves.

They see themselves as products, uniquely positioned and hyper-specialized, branding their experience against specific corporate issues.

reputation is on the line. Having local skills is no longer essential, it now a realistic option to bring in a genuine specialist from almost anywhere. In line with the benefits of internationalization, a new office in Asia could still benefit from lower local salaries for the majority of employees, with specific expertise shipped in whenever it’s necessary to ensure promises to customers are kept.

Cultural shift It’s become so commonplace that some commentators have suggested a near future where payrolls consisting of 50% fully-contracted employees, and half freelancers. Despite the challenges of managing a workforce with such a large external component, this flexible set up is widely considered to offer benefits for companies of all sizes.

Underpinned by technology In terms of supporting this change toward greater selfemployment, connectivity and mobile technology is playing a major role. As the ease with which telecommunications become available further increases, it’s likely that more than 5 billion people will have access to mobile technology and internet within the next ten years. And not just within the growing collection of mega cities – broadband is coming to the rural communities of the world at pace. A global consciousness, the likes of which has never been seen before, will become a distinct reality. Insight into what the rest of the world is doing, in real time, will become practically taken for granted. And companies will be able to look for both customers, and expertise, almost anywhere.

Cost effective Despite the relatively higher fees demanded by freelance consultants, using contractors allows companies to easily adjust the payroll in line with workload, without compromising the ability to take on and deliver complex assignments.

And with their enthusiasm to make their skills count and expand their personal portfolio, the contractor will often work wherever they are required, and with the determination and commitment expected of someone whose personal

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Corporate evolution How this will affect the development of companies has been much discussed.

Technology

Many have suggested the emergence of mega-companies, conglomerates that extend their reach on a genuinely global scale. They will likely expand their portfolios to include presence in wide, diverse ranges of products and services, using their financial might and brand power to reach out to and then attract new customers.

At the same time, a further explosion of microentrepreneurs will likely be a key component in these gigantic corporate engines. They will target niche skills, using powerful interconnectivity and global communications to allow them to service practically any client anywhere.

In ‘Age of hyper specialization’ MIT’s Tom Malone suggests something similar - super specialized freelancers doing fractions of existing jobs on a global scale. Given how many work floors now have freelancers in the mix, it seems we’re already well on the way to realizing this scenario.

Indeed, flexible workforces are already a significant aspect of many smaller services firms experiencing insecurity

in the current financial climate. In harder times, working with outsourcers, subcontractors and freelancers equals ‘no projects, no costs’. Significant flexible layers in companies will become more and more common, making it easier to run a ‘skeleton crew’ when business is slow.

Personal marketing easier with ‘The human cloud’ MIT have referred to use of the ‘human cloud’ by all kinds of services businesses, platforms built by intermediaries connecting freelance professionals with corporate jobs. In addition to simplifying job-hunting for self-employed specialists, the facilitate human resources and recruitment activities for companies, often providing additional services for tracking and then managing performance and financial transactions. If this trend continues, it could soon be that company HQs regularly consist merely of management and some specialized professionals – the rest of the company’s

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“The future seems to hold the promise of increased international expansion” activities taken care of by people who are brought in as and when it’s necessary.

The importance of the right IT infrastructure The future seems to hold the promise of increased international expansion, supported at least in part by the adoption of more flexible workforces.

Global enterprises will offer high quality services, leveraging empowering digital communication to blend external niche expertise with a core of more traditional employees. That said, whatever the chances awaiting these businesses, it’s also clear that these changes will bring significant new operational pressures – for both management and IT. Get ready Any professional service business looking to continue its development and achieve growth will likely have these two areas on their strategic radar. With that in mind, what should they be doing to ensure they are ready to profit from these trends when relevant opportunities appear? How can you prepare your company for a journey in either or both of these directions? How do you compete successfully against the other companies that leverage these trends successfully?

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Technology

Choose software with international support Working in an international environment will ask a great deal from your company, both strategically and operationally.

HR alone, with employees in different countries, from different backgrounds and speaking different languages will be a major challenge. And then there’s the financial side – cross-border data management and reporting, with overall co-ordination of financial results to follow at the top level. Accounts payable and receivable may need to be managed in multi-currency, with transactions not always directly related to the country they’re realized in. How will you handle sending a Spanish consultant to a project in the UK? Invest in ERP that can support multi language, multi legislation and manage central master data from across multiple subsidiaries and you’ll be off to a great start.

Choose software with full integration Project management and administration will also need to work smoothly with the ERP system, integrated with financials to ensure minimum information leakage and maximum insight across the company.

Strong control mechanisms will need to

“The future of your company may well rest in hands outside your country” be in place, as will powerful solutions for planning and resource management to ensure you know who’s doing what, when. It will help ensure people are optimally deployed on the projects that are underway, and that it’s clear who is available for the ones sitting in the pipe.

Maybe you’ve got a consultant in France looking for work, and a project in Africa short on capacity. You need to be able to put 2 and 2 together to ensure efficient profitable use of resources.

Internationalization and flexibility – perhaps the two key themes shaping the future of professional services operations.

The future of your company may well rest in hands outside your country, hands that perhaps aren’t even on your direct payroll. Taking time to ensure the right IT structure is in place will enable businesses to benefit from the exciting opportunities these changes in the market space will certainly offer.

About the author Exact develop ERP, CRM, HR, financial and industry-specific business software for more than 100,000 customers around the world. Based in the Netherlands, where they remain market leader in the SMB segment, their on-premise, hosted and cloud solutions focus primarily on manufacturing, wholesale & distribution, professional services and accountancy companies. With offices across Europe, Asia, Australia and America, their internationally oriented products combine with local support to offer real customer value. Read more Exact business insights at: www.the-biz-box.com

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Sizin & settin

Markets change looki

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Operations

ng a sales force ng its direction

e, competitors react and your sales force can easily be left ing at yesterday’s needs: sizing and allocation are the key Words by

Markus Christen & Tommy Arvinell

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A

too small sales force is a loss of income and a too large or incorrectly allocated one is a waste of resources. Many companies use their sales managers’ gut feelings to determine how many sales people they should have and how they should be allocated. This means that one of the most important decisions for growth and profitability is based on the hidden assumptions of a few people.

A company we recently worked with discovered they were spending too much resources on segments with little potential and too little on segments with great potential – they were wasting resources in some markets while missing opportunities in others.

A sizing and deployment analysis answers the questions: • H ow large should the sales organization be?

• How are resources best allocated across geographies, segments and products?

With the current dominance of financial management in most companies, sales executives need to learn to speak the language of finance – they need to be able to present fact-based evidence to effectively argue for and secure the resources necessary to capture the potential of their markets. That evidence has come within

easier reach as companies have much more data on markets, costs and sales force activities than they had just a few years ago. Today, most companies have a CRM system of some sort. The data in them are of varying quality but the quality gaps can usually be bridged fairly easily.

We propose to use data on markets and profitability to find the best number and allocation of people, and if any assumptions have to be made, to make them explicit and clear so that they can be valued and so that any risks associated with them can be managed. Experienced sales managers’ instincts are valuable and should be used, but assumptions should be clear and used in a structured approach, as no single person can know all markets and customers and then balance that versus revenue and profit potential.

Traditional approaches to sales force sizing and allocation The budget approach is based on the faulty argument that “we have as many sales people as we can afford”. This is counterproductive since sales spending should not be seen as a cost but an investment that provides a return. A sales manager in a company that uses the budget approach will likely need convincing arguments to gain support to change the sale force size, as budget levels tend to become anchored and stick over time.

“Sales executives need to learn to speak the language of finance – they need to be able to present fact-based evidence to effectively argue for and secure the resources necessary to capture the potential of their markets” 16 |

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Operations

“The most commonly used approach is based on historical revenue and margins�

The most commonly used approach is based on historical revenue and margins.

A sales person is assigned an estimated target revenue or profitability and sales resources are allocated to segments and products so that each sales person’s territory meets that target. The strength of the approach is its simplicity. Simplicity is valuable as it makes it easier for people to understand and to motivate changes.

But revenue and profitability are historical while sales resources should be invested where the future potential is. Therefore this approach is best in markets and for product and service offerings that change very little.

A similar approach is to replace historical revenue and profitability with potential revenue and margins. This approach can be useful as it is forwardlooking and relatively simple. It does however not account for the threshold effect and decreasing return on sales (see below), and it requires almost as much data as the more comprehensive return on sales optimization.

With a work build-up approach, companies estimate the amount of work needed to cover targeted segments and add that work up to get the number of people required. It is a good as a complement to other approaches and for new markets where potential cannot be estimated.

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Scientific approaches to sales force sizing and allocation Optimizing return on sales Return on sales optimization (ROS) utilizes basic optimization techniques to find the size and allocation of the sales force that provides the highest profit for the company. The return on sales optimization approach has been used for decades in industries with large sales forces like healthcare and pharma. The sales force however is a cost centre but also a means for revenue generation, and since ROS optimizes profits, as opposed to sales cost, it is a powerful tool to gain insights into profit and revenue management.

The profit optimization is based on estimates of potential sales through an estimation of the sales response curve (see graph), data on segment and product profitability, and costs for sales resources.

A strength of ROS is that it takes the threshold effect and the decreasing return on sales into account. The threshold effect is a consequence markets and customers requiring a certain amount of sales resources to start generating significant sales. There is no point for a sales rep to spend time to identify a customer’s needs if he does do not have time to finish the deal, and as the word spreads, within the customers’ organizations or between customers in a segment, companies typically spend less sales resources for additional euro of sales. Similarly, as the market potential becomes exhausted it takes an increasing amount of sales resources to secure each additional euro of sales, making it nearly impossible to capture 100 percent share of any market. Not accounting for these effects may lead to incorrect conclusions,

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especially for large changes in sales force size or allocation.

The weakness of ROS is that it requires estimates of return on sales that sales managers are not used to making explicit.

They will feel uncomfortable doing so, at least the first time around, and there will be errors in their estimates. Therefore a ROS exercise should be iterative, to allow for testing and scenarios, and it should be used regularly to enable a feedback and learning process based on actual outcomes. An additional benefit of ROS is that it can generate not only sizing and allocation insights but also sales and call plans.

“A strength of ROS is that it takes the threshold effect and the decreasing return on sales into account”

Operations

“With the most efficient sales units identified, a company can identify best practices within the best-performing units and leverage those best practices to make the other sales units as efficient.�

Efficient frontier benchmarking Efficient frontier benchmarking (EFB), as a tool for operational improvement used to benchmark and improve operational efficiency in various industries, has been proven effective for sales force sizing and allocation. It has been used in industries like for example business equipment manufacturing and production equipment manufacturing. It utilizes the statistical techniques regressions and linear programming to determine the optimal size and allocation of the sales force. It can effectively account for differences in markets, competitive situation and market potential, and identify not only the optimal

size and allocation but also the efficiency frontier across a company’s sales units.

Therefore it has the valuable additional benefit of providing data on the relative efficiency of the internal sales units. With the most efficient sales units identified, a company can identify best practices within the best-performing units and leverage those best practices to make the other sales units as efficient. The profitability impact of making all sales units as efficient as the most efficient one is likely as large as that of achieving the optimal size and allocation of the sales force. To be effective, EFB requires a number (typically more than 10) of fairly homogenous sales

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districts, some knowledge of competitive activity, and data on sales, sales costs and sales activities that is readily available in most companies.

Considerations for implementation The scientific approaches ensure that the decision of sales force size and allocation is based on facts, that assumptions are made explicit and can be tested, and that the decision will have the highest quality possible. However as no approach is perfect it is advisable to use a combination of approaches to balance their respective strengths and weaknesses. For example a scientific approach combined with a simpler approach as a reality check.

Balance number of sales representatives with number of people in sales supporting roles A sales person needs support to be effective. This is especially true in complex industrial sales where many companies have specialized roles for example for technical sales and pre-sales engineering. When managers change the number of sales representatives they also need to scale the number of people in supporting roles accordingly. Take caution as the optimal ratio of sales to sales support people can vary across segments depending on how customers buy.

“The scientific approaches ensure that the decision of sales force size and allocation is based on facts�

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Where in the business cycle are you?

Market potential is a key piece of information in several of the sizing approaches. The problem is that potential can vary greatly over the business cycle. To determine the optimal size of a sales force size based on potential at the top of the business cycle can greatly overestimate the optimal size and profit potential. Sales resources are expensive to attract and train and having to let go of them due to an error in estimated potential can be a costly mistake. This can vary depending on the economics of the business but as a conservative rule of thumb we recommend companies to size their sales forces using a potential at approximately 25 percent from the bottom level towards the top level of the business cycle.

What is your time perspective?

The optimal size of the sales force depends on which time perspective you adopt. This is simply because spending on sales resources is an investment that takes time to bear fruit – new or reallocated sales people will need time to develop business with their new customers and they will need time to learn. During that time they will not be as effective as the current sales people are, but the company will have the full cost (except bonuses) from day one.

Manage risk A company we recently worked with discovered they were targeting too many new segments, running the risk of not

Operations

“The most important consideration is probably the competencies of the current people”

The best way to mitigate these risks is to gradually transition towards the optimal size and allocation while collecting new data and reiterating the sizing and allocation exercise to confirm (or contradict) earlier results.

gaining critical mass in any of them, and facing a great risk if their sales expectations were not met.

There are great costs and risks involved in a large change in sales force size and allocation. The scientific approaches to sales force sizing and allocation can provide powerful insights with potential to greatly improve the performance of a company. The conclusions are however based on data that may contain errors.

No market data is perfect, markets can change, competitors can react and expected returns may not materialize.

Companies with long sales cycles need to take extra care, as they will need to spend more before they see the results of the changes.

Plan the transition carefully Besides risk, the most important consideration is probably the competencies of the current people, cost and time to train them, and availability of people to recruit. Managers need to have a structured approach to define the competencies required to sell and identify any gaps versus the competencies of their current or newly recruited sales people.

Competence gaps can be for example lack of product or industry expertise, or lack of consultative selling skills. Managers also need to make sure sales people do not end up spending too much time on travelling. These considerations limit how quickly the targeted size and allocation can be achieved.

About the authors Markus Christen is Associate Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, the top-ranked business school in Paris, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. His work has appeared in Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, Management Science, the Harvard Business Review, and the Financial Times. Professor Christen consults with corporations and teaches courses on marketing and pricing strategy in INSEAD’s top-ranked MBA programs and in various executive seminars in Europe and Asia. He has also worked in industry for several years, as a production engineer, consultant and marketing manager.

Tommy Arvinell is Managing Partner of Wallhof Associates, a management consultancy focusing on commercial strategy and operations. Wallhof Associates has offices in Sweden and Russia. For 15 years, Tommy has worked with industrial and technology clients in Europe, Asia and the USA on strategy, commercial effectiveness and organization effectiveness. He holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD and a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Linköping University.

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Water, water,

Tedagua is a significant player in Spain’s b as its domestic market contracts the comp

written by: John O’Hanlon |

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Tedagua

, everywhere

bid to lead the global desalination market: pany is concentrating its efforts overseas

| research by: David Brogan

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Tedagua

T

Tertiary Treatment of the WWTP of Altona (Melbourne, Australia)

he Ancient Mariner complained abut the lack of drinking water on his ship in 1798 but fails to mention (perhaps Coleridge didn’t know) that Samuel Pepys had requested one of his naval captains to carry out “… an Experiment of producing fresh water (at Sea) out of Salt” as early as 1684. The outcome of that is not known, but it can’t have been that successful as onboard desalination doesn’t seem to have progressed much until the invention of the multi-stage flash (MSV) distillation process in 1955.

The desalination industry has grown exponentially: so has the water treatment industry, particularly in emerging markets But the technology and the market are constantly changing. One of the most agile players in this market since it was founded in the Canaries 1983 is Tedagua (Técnicas de Desalinización de Aguas SA). It started out as a small company but was acquired in 2001 by the leading Spanish infrastructure group ACS and was incorporated into the Cobra Group, which operates in the field of green energy. Tedagua was established due to the need for drinking water in the Canary Islands. Thanks to the support of Cobra, Tedagua has had the opportunity to grow substantially and is now one of the biggest and most respected water companies in Spain, and globally. The company now has permanent locations in all 5 continents, and is an international leader in the design, construction, operation, maintenance and engineering of desalination plants, systems for producing drinking water from brackish feedwater, and plants for recycling water

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from sewerage feedwater. The company is also a leader in the design and construction of plants for treating and reusing urban and industrial waste for electricity generation. It has delivered more than 150 water treatment plants with a global capacity of 2,400,000 cubic metres per day.

One of the main reasons for the company’s success is the support it has received from its collaboration with Cobra Group, as it has been

awarded projects it would not have been able to handle before the collaboration. An example of such a project is the water treatment plant in Lima, Peru, which we discuss below. Today Tedagua has the capacity to act as a global player, says its CEO Miguel Ángel Fernández.

“This is why today, whenever the opportunity arises to bid for a new contract, in a new country, we rarely turn it down. And once we have worked in a new territory we like to

“Whenever the opportunity arises to bid for a new contract, in a new country, we rarely turn it down” 26 | BE Weekly

Tedagua

Installation of the submarine infall of the WWTP of Taboada (Lima, Peru)

set down a permanent base innumerable cities and there.” Because of different countries across the world – to name only a few it has legislation and regulations installed plants in Australia, it is always difficult to start Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Panama, a project in a new country, Year Tedagua Costa Rica, Central America, he adds, but the culture of was founded Tedagua is to be very proactive the Caribbean and Africa. rather than risk-averse when One really important it comes to expansion. current project is to build The success of this strategy is largely down the largest wastewater treatment plant in to the company’s greatest asset, its people, South America in Lima, Peru. Lima claims who show great personal commitment in Mr to be the world’s second biggest desert city Fernández’s opinion. “I think our excellent after Cairo. Operations began at he Taboada technicians are a really important element WWPT in February this year, and the plant in giving us an edge over our competitors.” will boost the treatment of sewage water in The can-do culture that they demonstrate Lima and the neighbouring city of Callao. has gone a long way to establish Tedagua Until now, most of the sewage water from as a truly global company, operating in Lima and Callao, with a population of over

1983

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nine million, has been sent out to sea without any prior treatment or filtering — 20 cubic meters of raw sewage per second. The new plant will deal with an average flow of 14, and peaks of 20 cubic metres per second. No chemicals or disinfectants are used in the treatment process, and after several stages of treatment, the water will be sent out to sea along a 3.5 kilometre underground pipeline.

This year the company has also signed a contract to improve the drinking water systems in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

These three projects alone demonstrate the global scale of the company, but this has been built up over a period of time with many small desalination plants executed for hotel complexes or small farms in the Canary Islands, the large sea water

“I think our excellent technicians are a really important element in giving us an edge over our competitors”

Beni Saf Desalination Plant (Algeria)

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Tedagua

WWTP of the city of Escatrón (Spain) with the Combined Cycle constructed by Cobra Group at the end

desalination plants of Escombreras in Spain or Skikda and Beni Saf in Algeria and tertiary treatment plants such as the RWTP in Altona, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia or the WWTP at Taboada in Lima (Peru), the largest in South America.

North African countries like Algeria have never had enough water for their people. The World Health Organization considers Algeria to be “water stressed” and desalination is a significant part of its water solution. The Beni Saf desalination plant went into operation in 2010, a facility designed to produce 200,000 cubic metres of quality water to cover the

needs of a population of 750,000 from the region of Oran and neighbouring areas.

Tedagua was the main contractor for the design and construction stages of the plant and subsequently assumed responsibility for its current task of management and maintenance of the facility over a 25-year period.

So the first decade of this century has been good for Tedagua, says Fernández. But the emphasis is now moving away from the domestic market. “From our point of view the AGUA programme has effectively come to an end, and the opportunities that arise in

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Construction of one of the seven sand removals of the WWTP of Taboada (Lima, Peru)

Tedagua

2,400,000 Cubic metres of water delivered by Tedagua treatment plants per day our own backyard are more directed towards residential, service and industrial markets.

Our big focus is now on the international market. India, China, Australia, Arab Emirates, America and North Africa, for example, are all investing in desalination and inviting tenders for large desalination plants.” Spanish companies, he adds, are very active in these international markets, and Tedagua itself has installed capacity in many of them.

The forward strategy for Tedagua is to grow, and to be the strongest and most recognised company in its sector, says Miguel Ángel Fernández. “More specifically, we would like to grow within the industrial sector. For example, we have signed a very important industrial contract with a Colombian petroleum company – a plant of 80,000 cubic metres a day. The company will, however, also focus on other areas, such as food and mining. The mining sector, especially in countries such as Australia, Peru and Chile, has considerable requirements in the field of water management.”

For more information about Tedagua visit: www.tedagua.com

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Petra Diamonds

A diamond in the rough A leading independent diamond mining group, Petra Diamonds is fast becoming an increasingly important player in the rough diamond market thanks to the leveraging of its impressive asset portfolio

written by: Will Daynes research by: Robert Hodgson & Candice Nice

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Petra Diamonds

F

The Kimberley underground mines in South Africa

irst listed on the AIM in 1997, with a market capitalisation of ÂŁ10 million, Petra Diamonds has since grown into a leading independent diamond mining group and an important supplier of rough diamonds to the international market.

A year after its listing Petra made significant new kimberlite discoveries in Angola, before later identifying a sizeable kimberlite field in the country at Alto Cuilo. As a result of its rapid success the company entered into a joint venture in 2004 with BHP Billiton to continue the exploration of its Angolan projects.

In the years that followed Petra would go on to merge with ASX-quoted Crown Diamonds, operators of three producing diamond mines, and would acquire assets including the Koffiefontein mine and the Kimberley Underground mine in South Africa, as well as the Williamson mine in Tanzania. In 2013, the company’s production has increased to 2.7 million carats.

In acquiring a total of five of the world’s most important diamond mines Petra has compiled for itself a major diamond resource of more than 300 million carats. With this base behind it the company has set out a transparent growth plan that is expected to see production rising from its current levels to approximately five million carats by the end of the 2019 financial year.

Everything that the company has achieved to date has been with the aim of becoming a diamond mining group of global significance.

Through its strong and responsible leadership, Petra is investing in the expansion and optimisation of its world-class assets in

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Petra Diamonds order to deliver significantly geovia increased production in the GEOVIA’s (formerly Gemcom) longstanding partnership years to come. Underpinning with Finsch Mine spans more than a decade. “From open Petra’s strategy is a focus pit to underground long hole open stoping and block on safety and sustainability, caving, Finsch’s use of GEMS and PCBC in addition to thereby driving value GEOVIA’s software customisation and services have for all stakeholders. been key to the success of Finsch’s extensive and varied mining operations”, Johan Langenhoven, Survey Analyst, Petra operates an Petra Diamonds. integrated and transparent www.3ds.com/geovia business, with commitment to its values being present at every step of the production cycle. At the forefront of said cycle is the company’s exploration programme, which is presently focused in Botswana, where modern exploration techniques offer the potential to make new discoveries in previously explored areas. Meanwhile, from a mining and development perspective Petra operates both underground and open-pit operations in South Africa and Tanzania, with expansion plans in plans for each of its core assets.

Following the processing phase, where ore material is disaggregated to extract the rough diamonds, the cycle moves into the sorting process where, once cleaned and acidized, the rough diamonds are sorted by in-house experts who assign them to parcels according to their shape, size, clarity and colour. Last but not least, Petra’s internal marketing team sells the rough diamond parcels by competitive tender in the key markets of Johannesburg and Antwerp, Belgium.

Over the years the company has invested significant capital in order to extend the lives of its mines. Such an approach has helped reaffirm the fact that it is a business very Cullinan mine in South Africa much focused on value as opposed to volume

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production, with Petra going to great efforts to meticulously plan its mining and processing operations to capture a mine’s optimal rough diamond profile.

Petra is committed to the responsible development of its assets and as such corporate social responsibility is integral to the way that the company structures and operates its mining, development and exploration projects.

In its own words, Petra strives to make

a lasting contribution to the “triple bottom line” of people, profit and planet. This involves enhancing the local environment to the benefit of employees and communities, and is achieved through various initiatives that aim to stimulate local socio-economic development, as well as by upholding high standards of environmental stewardship.

As well as endeavouring to create a zero harm environment for its employees to work in, the company also works to

“Petra has tried to foster a culture in which innovation and creativity in the workplace is encouraged and rewarded”

The Koffiefontein mine in South Africa

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Petra Diamonds

Rockbreaker breaking ore on top of a grizzly underground at Cullinan

ensure that these same men and women are empowered and accountable for their own actions, something it believes encourages them to work to the very best of their abilities at all times. Furthermore, Petra has tried to foster a culture in which innovation and creativity in the workplace is encouraged and rewarded. The company believes that no-one knows its operations better than its own employees and accordingly it looks to leverage its internal skills-base wherever possible.

When it comes to its end product, Petra believes in the responsible mining and sale of its diamonds, and will only operate in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process.

As a legitimate diamond miner operating in South Africa, Tanzania and Botswana, 100

percent of Petra’s production is fully traceable and conflict-free.

As is the case with any forward thinking business, Petra is always looking to generate efficiencies across its operations and has applied a “back-to-basics” approach designed to review and assess areas for improvement at all times. Key focus areas at present include power and water usage, security and the effective use of labour. All of this is conducted in the knowledge that using past experience to improve future performance is integral to the company’s long-term success.

For more information about Petra Diamonds visit: www.petradiamonds.com

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SEAMIC

Promoting responsible mineral development in Africa The Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), an international organisation under the umbrella of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: its sphere of influence continues to widen as does the relevance of its services to both public and private sector interests

written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Candice Nice

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The Director General of SEAMIC

SEAMIC

S

EAMIC traces its origins back through the next phase of its development. to the late 1970s with the He explains the changes he has seen so far as establishment of the Eastern follows. “In the late 1990s, thanks to the well and Southern African Mineral advanced restructuring programmes in Africa Resources Development Centre and the privatisation of the minerals sector by (ESAMRDC), supported by UNDP and African states, the role of governments with various bilateral support programmes from respect to the mineral sector was changed the UK and Japan. Its headquarters were to become a regulatory body, and because of established in Dodoma in central Tanzania, this the role of SEAMIC was also changed. and in those days its remit was principally to SEAMIC was reorganised with a new role to carry out regional geological surveying and provide mineral related services and trainings to provide consulting services for programs and hence started to draw in the private sector of its founding member states, Ethiopia, as well as public institutions. The new role of Tanzania and Mozambique. These were later the Centre was realigned to become a mineral joined by Uganda, Angola resource services provider”. and the Union of the Comoros The Centre has a Governing followed by Kenya in 2006 Council, made up of the and Sudan in 2010 bringing Ministers responsible for the total membership to mineral resources from the eight. The name ESAMRDC member states. It is supported African states currently was also changed to the more by a standing committee members of SEAMIC pronounceable SEAMIC, and of the Ministers’ advisers. moved its operations to an The Board of Directors extensive new site at Kunduchi, to the north supervises the activities of the Centre and of Dar es Salaam. In 2007, at a meeting reports to the Governing Council which meets in Maputo, Mozambique the organisation once a year to approve the work programme announced that it was now open to all and budget of the Centre.

SEAMIC is now an ISO 9001:2008 African states, with a mandate to provide mineral related quality services and testing certified institution, with state-of-theas well as consultancy work for the private art laboratories. “The facility provides and public sectors. The mission of the the member states and the private Centre is to “Promote socio-economic and sector, including small and large scale environmentally responsible mineral sector mining operations with geoinformation development in Africa.” and associated data processing services, The Director General Ketema Tadesse, who particularly geochemical and airborne served as Chairman of the Board of Directors geophysical data processing and mineral from 1997 until he took over the executive analytical laboratory services, for the entire leadership in 2006 to lead the organisation region,” he says.

8

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The work of the Centre is distributed across two major departments providing five technical services. These are: 1. Testing of chemical and environmental samples is carried out in the laboratories under the Chemical & Environmental Service, whose capabilities include whole rock analysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and AAS/ICP-OES techniques, fire assay gold analysis and purification.

2.

M ineralogical, Petrological and Gemmological Service conducts analyses including X-ray diffraction technique; to name only a few of the techniques at its disposal.

3. Then there’s the Minerals Processing and Small Scale Mining Service that serves

big mining companies and small scale mining operations in processing and upgrading of different types of minerals and conventional bench scale operations; 4. Industrial Minerals Applications Service for bench scale industrial minerals product development mainly ceramic assay crucibles, tableware and other products; and 5. Geoinformation Services for geoscience data management and dissemination.

There are 35 permanent members of staff, with a core of nine professionals, five technicians and seven laboratory assistants.

The Kunduchi site covers a large area, Tadesse points out, and it needs its large warehouses to house all the rock samples it is sent for

A gem cutting training course practicing faceting of gemstones

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SEAMIC

“Our principal activity is making high tech analytical services available to major companies, to small scale enterprises, and also to our member states” archiving and sample preparation prior to analysis. The laboratories themselves are fully equipped and certified. Work on mineral processing, chemical and environmental analysis, gemmology and petrology (including a separate lapidary unit for working on grinding and polishing gemstones) all have their own separate sections, and there is another for industrial minerals.

On the one hand these facilities are working laboratories, providing services to clients – at cost (without any profit) both to member governments and the private sector clients, making this undoubtedly the best value-for-money resource available in Africa.

“Our principal activity is making these high tech analytical services available to major companies, to small scale enterprises, and also to our member states with a view to provide an incentive to developers and thereby accelerate mineral resources development in the member states,” says Tadesse. “And within the technical departments we also provide training in instrumental analysis, sample preparation, assaying gold and precious metals and a whole range of other specialisms for university students and the private sector.”

On the other hand this is a training facility, unique on the continent of Africa and possibly one of its best kept secrets. Demand for its

services will grow significantly as more states join SEAMIC, and the proposed students’ hostel at Kunduchi, for which the land has been set aside, will be built. Training is a significant source of funds for the Centre, though no fees are charged to universities and students sent by member governments and private companies are charged at cost.

Among the courses on offer are a three week gemstone cutting course for miners, dealers and other interested parties, mineral laboratory management, environmental analysis, ore beneficiation testing methods, geophysics and geoscience data processing, The lion’s share of SEAMIC’s income which is up to 60 percent comes from the US $62,000 annual contribution paid by each member state, while the remaining income of 40 percent is derived from the sale of other services and training activities, notably chemical and environmental analysis and the work done on samples by the minerals processing laboratory. A further source of income is consultancy work, gem cutting and identification, and ceramics. The last is a growing capability: the ceramics laboratory has produced low tension electrical insulators and fire clay crucibles for the regional markets, and now makes a range of tableware that is sold to support the work of the Centre.

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The geoinformation department deals with data processing and management as well as documentation and archiving data. This important work contributes to the mapping of geological data for the whole of Africa, and SEAMIC co-ordinates the submission of the survey data from different states to the One Geology portal, which aims to create dynamic digital geological map data for the whole world.

The information for Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia has already been uploaded.

SEAMIC has achieved much under Ketema Tadesse but he has a number of other pressing objectives in his sights. One is to pursue capital projects through joint venturing – an example would be to establish a gold refining plant on the Dar es Salaam site. Another is to advance the goals of the African Mining Vision (AMV), which was adopted by Heads of State at the February 2009 African Union summit following the October 2008 meeting of African Ministers responsible for Mineral Resources Development. “It aims to make better use of Africa’s mineral wealth in ways that will benefits population and help them rise out of poverty,” he says. The AMV is a first and foremost developmental mining approach that insists that the road to growth is through building economic and social linkages that benefit Africa itself. The African

Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) an implementation body for AMV has been established by the African Union through the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) which will make use of the services of SEAMIC’s Geoinformation facilities and expertise in realising this vision. This programme for the coming five years will be funded by the World Bank and the governments of Australia and Canada with the aim of collecting geoscience data and process the same; and analyse samples generated from explorations activities from all African countries. SEAMIC has the capacity to receive and analyse this data, and the Director is keen to see the agreement finalised.

A further goal is to set up a regional minerals analytical ‘fingerprinting’ laboratory for the eleven member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), headquartered in Burundi. Its main objective will be to install a high tech laser ablation mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analytical technique to pinpoint where particular minerals come from with the view to avoid exportation from conflict zones. The program is designed to stop illegal mining activities that are fuelling conflicts in the Great Lakes

“All the ore deposits in the Great Lakes region will be analysed and entered into a database” 46 | be weekly

SEAMIC

Environmental samples analysis using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) technique

Region. “All the ore deposits in the Great Lakes region will be analysed and entered into a database. Anyone wishing to sell a commodity will be obliged to send it to the laboratory for analysis to be established at SEAMIC. Once the samples are analysed by the LA-ICP-MS analytical technique the results are sent to Burundi to be matched against their master database. The benefits to these governments will be incalculable, and it will be a useful source of revenue for SEAMIC too.”

As set up, and as defined by its name, SEAMIC is a regional body. However as soon as it concretises its pan-African initiative and as other countries outside of the eastern and southern African region join the organisation, SEAMIC will have to drop its S and E and align itself with the new agency being set for

the whole of Africa, “... to create equitable, transparent and optimal exploitation of Africa’s mineral resources.” The African Minerals Development Centre’s creation by the AU and UNECA that was announced in March this year, is envisaged to benefit SEAMIC in the very near future as the data processing work that will result from the setting up of this new body will be allocated to SEAMIC. To make use of the expertise and the already installed laboratories invitations have been sent by SEAMIC to all mineral rich African nations to join the Centre.

For more information about SEAMIC visit: www.seamic.org

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Swakop Uranium

Namibia’s gift to global green energy Chinese capital and the combined resources of southern Africa’s experience in mining come together in the Husab uranium mine, a project that confirms Namibia’s leading position as a uranium oxide producer

written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Jeff Abbott

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Swakop Uranium

C

onstruction of one of the world’s largest uranium mines was officially inaugurated on April 18 this year, with fireworks, foot-stomping, marimbas and a fountain that danced to classical music, when a ground breaking ceremony took place at the mine site in the desert near Swakopmund in Namibia. Swakop Uranium’s $2.5 billion Husab project has been in development since the signing in Beijing of an EPCM contract in November last year, but the ground breaking ceremony was an opportunity for the partners in the project, including the China Africa Development Fund, the China Guandong Nuclear Power Holding Company (CGNPC) and the Namibian government-owned Epangelo Mining Company to reiterate the project’s importance for Namibia.

The Swakop deposit is undoubtedly the most significant uranium discovery of recent years, even decades, said Swakop Uranium’s CEO, Mr. Zheng Keping. “It will elevate Namibia past Niger, Australia and Canada to the second rung on the world ladder of uranium producers,” he said. “The eight kilometre uranium mineralisation has been confirmed as the highest grade, granitehosted uranium deposit in Namibia.”

Until April 2012, Swakop Uranium was a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Extract Resources, an Australian company listed on the Australian, Canadian and Namibian stock exchanges. During April 2012, Taurus Minerals Limited of Hong Kong, a subsidiary of CGNPC, a large, clean energy corporation under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration

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Swakop Uranium Commission (SASAC) of Joy Global the State Council of China, It starts with an unparalleled commitment to mining. became the new owners Our business is focused solely on serving surface and following a successful underground mining operations with superior equipment takeover of Extract Resources and direct service that achieves the lowest cost per unit of which was subsequently production over the life cycle. delisted. CGNPC’s investment Our reach is global, with facilities and service centers that span six continents and more than twenty countries. But in Swakop Uranium was our focus remains local. Our people and services are close not only the biggest in to the mines to provide better decisions and solutions.

Namibia since the country’s Above ground and below, we strive to create a more independence, but also seamless experience that raises the bar for the entire by far the single biggest industry. And it starts with Joy Global. investment by China in www.joyglobal.com Africa. In November 2012, the Namibian state-owned mining company, Epangelo, and Swakop Uranium finalised an agreement for the subscription of a ten percent stake in Swakop Uranium in a deal valued at $226-million.

More than $100 million was spent in getting the project to the construction phase, which as we have seen will cost another $2.5 billion.

The mine is being developed as a conventional, large-scale load-and-haul opencast mine, feeding directly into a conventional agitated acid lead process, incorporating ion exchange and solvent extraction circuits. Both these processes are necessary to obtain the optimum amount of uranium from the ore and to concentrate and

“Husab will elevate Namibia past Niger, Australia and Canada to the second rung on the world ladder of uranium producers” be weekly | 53

purify it. Construction of the Husab mine, is progressing well. Most of the main contracts have been awarded, bulk earthworks are well in progress, construction of the permanent road and bridge to the mine site is under way. Nampower, Namibia’s state energy supply company, has approved guaranteed power supply of 50 MW for the mine and the first water was delivered via a temporary pipeline from the Rössing reservoir into a newly-built pond on the Husab mine in February 2013. For this purpose, Swakop Uranium purchased a redundant pipeline from Areva (owner and developer of the Trekkopje uranium mine). Permanent water will be come from a desalination plant, either from the large-scale plant Areva built to supply water to its own mine, or from a new desalination plant that is going to be built near Swakopmund.

The tight schedule for construction envisages a plant in full sustainable production by the end of 2016. Pre stripping will commence next year; the next significant target is to have a stockpile of a million tonnes of run of mine (ROM) material ready by mid2015, with the permanent water supply so critical to the project available by the end of the third quarter of that year. At that point it will be possible to ‘cold’ commission’ the

plant, with first uranium production taking place by the end of 2015.

Assembly of the massive Komatsu haul trucks that will be used on the mine started in August 2013. The trucks, each with a payload of 327 tonnes, are delivered to site in a knocked-down kit form at a rate of two trucks per month. While 26 of these trucks will be procured during the project phase, 39 of them will be operating on the mine when

“Each gigawatt of increased new capacity will require about 150 tpa of extra uranium mine production” 54 | be weekly

Swakop Uranium

the mine starts producing at as two South African road its nameplate capacity of 15 authorities,” said Komatsu’s million pounds of uranium Gerhard Klopper. The huge dump bodies are the last part oxide per annum. Getting of the truck to be fitted: it the first two dump bodies takes two cranes to lift them. the 2,250 kilometres from 15 million pounds of Johannesburg to the site in Capital cost of the uranium oxide (U₃O₈) is June was a major logistics Husab Project within spitting distance of operation. The bodies are 14.6 metres long, 10.7 metres the largest uranium mine in wide and 5.4 metres high. the world, McArthur River “Every step of the journey had to be carefully in Canada, which can produce up to 18 measured and investigated before the million pounds a year. It is certainly a lot 50-tonne load could be granted permission more than its local competitors Rössing, the to travel. Even then, strict conditions were longest running operation producing around applied and the vehicles needed to be four million pounds annually and Langer accompanied by at least two escorts from Heinrich at about five million pounds. That the transportation company Transcor, as well it is backed by China comes as no surprise.

$2.5

Billion

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Swakop Uranium Despite the question mark that Germany’s retreat from nuclear posed, as well as the Fukushima incident, nuclear remains the most developed source of green power and is being enthusiastically pursued by China, India – and even the UK. Swakop Uranium’s, director of communications and stakeholder involvement Grant Marais, says that even though the uranium price will remain low in the short term, the company believes that prices will increase substantially in the medium and long term.

The World Nuclear Association 2011 Market Report reference scenario (following the Fukushima accident) shows a 48 percent increase in uranium demand from 2013 to 2023, he says. “Each gigawatt of increased new capacity will require about 150 tpa of extra uranium mine production routinely, and about 300 to 450 tonnes of uranium for the first fuel load. About 435 reactors with a combined capacity of over 370 GWe, require some 78,000 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate, containing 66,000 tonnes of uranium from mines, or the equivalent from stockpiles or secondary sources, each year. This includes initial cores for new reactors coming on line.” Uranium mines worldwide currently supply some 68,800 tonnes of uranium oxide, containing 58,344 tonnes of uranium. That’s about 86 percent of utilities’ annual requirements and it leaves a significant shortfall, he adds.

For more information about Swakop Uranium visit: www.swakopuranium.com

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Winging to Africa’s heart RwandAir is a young airline with a young fleet: it is making full use of Rwanda’s position to link with Africa’s capitals and beyond

written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Robert Hodgson

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RwandAir

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R

wanda may be one of Africa’s smallest nations, and one with an unenviable recent history to say the least, but since its now President Paul Kagame was elected in 2003 it has experienced a decade of relative peace and security. This has enabled Rwanda to take advantage of its strategic location within the African continent. ‘Landlocked’ can also mean ‘central’: Rwanda is situated at the heart of Africa, and therefore well placed to act as a hub for regional air traffic

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The country’s new national carrier began operations on 1st December 2002 under the name RwandAir Express, with passenger transportation as its primary activity though it held a concession to carry out airport ground handling of freight at Kigali International airport, Kanombe, as an ancillary activity.

In March 2009, following a tragic accident at Kanombe, it was decided that the airline would stop being a fleet borrower and become a fleet owner and operator. To mark the change of direction the company changed its name to RwandAir.

RwandAir

Since 2009, RwandAir has built a reputation as a reliable timekeeper that offers affordable fares to most capital cities in eastern Africa while operating a young, state-of-the-art fleet. Passenger numbers have just about doubled each year as the airline acquired new aircraft and opened new destinations. Today the airline operates a fleet of seven aeroplanes made up of two Boeing 737-800 NG series planes with a capacity for 154 business and economy class passengers, two Boeing 737-700s seating 120, two Bombardier 75-seater CRJ900

NextGen and a Bombardier Dash 8-200.

RwandAir was the first African carrier to fly the 737-800 NG with its interior mood lighting and enhanced ‘Sky’ interior design.

This aircraft offers a much higher operating range capability than was previously available, in the region of 6,000 kilometres.

RwandAir is now able to offer direct flights to south-western Europe, Asia Minor and Southeast Asia as well as the Middle East and any number of West African destinations.

In April this year Bombardier Aerospace and RwandAir announced that a purchase

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RwandAir agreement for one Q400 Oando Marketing NextGen turboprop airliner Oando Marketing is Nigeria’s leading petroleum retailer, at a cost of approximately distributing 1-in-5 litres of petroleum products sold in $33 million. “As demand Nigeria. It also supplies jet fuel to local and international for domestic and regional airlines in search of efficient aircraft refueling services. travel in Africa accelerates, A subsidiary of Oando PLC, Oando Marketing delivers our 67-seat, dual-class Q400 excellent service by leveraging a variety of operational strengths. These include skilled staff, presence at Nigeria’s NextGen aircraft will ensure key international airports, fleet of ultra-modern aircraft RwandAir is well positioned refuellers and strategic partnerships to provide services to offer increased capacity across West Africa, most recently with GOIL in Ghana. on popular routes that are Oando is ISO 9001: 2008 certified, a member of Joint being opened and serviced Inspection Group (JIG) and a Strategic Partner of IATA. with our 37-seat Bombardier www.oandopic.com Dash 8-200 aircraft,” said John Mirenge, RwandAir’s Chief Executive Officer. “The Q400 NextGen turboprop is the right aircraft to develop our domestic and regional market and to firmly support RwandAir on our path towards growth and increased profitability.”

Stressing the importance of getting fleet selection right for the passenger profile that RwandAir is targeting, he added: “We are also complementing our new dual-class Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen regional jets by offering similar cabin amenities on the Q400 NextGen aircraft, providing for a seamless passenger service between the two aircraft models and aligning our total fleet strategy towards a unified passenger experience. We

“Africa is not short of people who want to fly” be weekly | 63

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Africa, and its Q400 NextGen www.royalpetrolco.com aircraft will join more than 40 Q400 and Q400 NextGen aircraft that are already in service with, or have been ordered by, eleven operators in nine countries in Africa. Now RwandAir serves most East African Community (EAC) capital cities with daily flights and flies to Johannesburg and Dubai three times a week.

Recently it introduced flights to Lagos in Nigeria, Libreville in Gabon and to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. Current destinations include Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Johannesburg, Brazzaville and Dubai.

In 2012 RwandAir launched direct flights to Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city and a key centre for the mining and minerals industry. Until then there were no direct flights between Kigali and Mwanza and passengers

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“We are in the heart of Africa and almost every other African country is between three and four hours’ flight time from Kigali” had to travel via Dar es Salaam. Additionally the company has codeshare agreements (a form of aviation industry arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight) with SN Brussels on the Kigali-Brussels sector and Ethiopian Airlines on the Kigali-Addis Ababa sector. In February 2013, Mirenge announced that the airline would soon add Accra, Cape Town, Harare, Juba and Zanzibar to its list of destinations.

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John Mirenge, himself a Rwandan citizen, was appointed CEO of RwandAir in October 2010. A graduate of Uganda’s Makerere University he is also Chairman of Tristar Investments and Prime Holdings, a government-owned investment company, and a director of The Rwanda Investment Promotion Agency. From 2008 until 2011 he also served as a non-executive director of the South African power

RwandAir

utility Eskom. Under his leadership the company has broadened its horizons.

Keeping up passenger numbers is not the primary problem for a growing carrier like RwandAir, he says. “Africa is not short of people who want to fly. But over the last 18 months we have developed our strategy and stopped thinking like a small airline.

We have decided that rather than just meeting existing demand we need to go out and create it. We want to be a catalyst for air transport in the region, stimulating the market and demonstrating that flying is not something reserved for the well-off.”

He would like to see Kigali become a mini-hub within Africa; and this is no fanciful vision. “We are in the heart of Africa and almost every other African country is

between three and four hours’ flight time from Kigali,” he points out. Apart from the codeshares it already has in place, RwandAir signed an agreement with Turkish Airlines two years ago that extends the African carrier’s reach into Asia, particularly South East Asia, as well as other international destinations including North America. With a young and competitive fleet, RwandAir is now in a much better position to realise Kigali’s potential and its aspiration to become what has been describes as the economic turntable where east meets west.

For more information about RwandAir visit: www.rwandair.com

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University of Kentucky - Lean Systems Program

2013 Lean Users Conference:

Leaning in the right direction The University of Kentucky’s Lean Systems Program Director, Glenn Uminger discusses the recent 2013 Lean Users Conference, shares some of its success stories and reveals his early hopes for next year’s event

written by: Will Daynes research by: Vince Kielty

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W

hile the theme of the conference remains mostly the same, the finale of a year’s worth of hard work, what we do hope to do is mature the event and the presentations that take place each year,” states Lean Program Director, Glenn Uminger. The conference he is referring to is the University of Kentucky’s Lean Systems Program, 2013 Users Conference, held on 10-11 September, 2013.

“While this conference is still in its infancy, what with 2013 being only its third year, we are greatly encouraged by the increase in attendance that we have witnessed compared to previous years,” Uminger explains. “Even more importantly is that we continue to see a growing number of strong examples of Lean applications being adopted by businesses from a wide range of industries.”

This increase in examples led to this year’s conference being typified by the sheer volume of rich and meaningful presentations that took place, each of which highlighted the success individuals and businesses have had when it comes to the implementation of Lean processes, and the subsequent results of this.

“There were certainly a number of key themes that consistently appeared during the

Pete Gritton, retired Toyota Human Resources VP and Lean instructor leads a discussion at the 2013 Users Conference

conference,” Uminger highlights, “from the reinforcement of just how critical hands-on, decisive leadership is to Lean transformation to the importance of setting out a clear plan from the offset. Tying in to the latter point was the idea of enduring consistency, whereby companies must realise that adopting Lean is a test of endurance and one that requires flexibility and adaptability. Last, but by no means least, it is about people and aligning the behaviour and performance of people to your business’ plans.”

As one would expect, these themes helped make up the building blocks of some of the more impressive case studies showcased at

“We continue to see a growing number of strong examples of Lean applications being adopted by a wide range of industries” 70 | be weekly

University of Kentucky - Lean Systems Program

“What Uminger has seen has clearly given him even greater optimism about the future adoption of Lean processes” this year’s conference. Two of the standout examples that immediately come to Uminger’s mind involve the healthcare sector, specifically the efforts of T.J. Samson Community Hospital and Dr William Thornbury.

In the case of T.J. Samson Community Hospital, what it has done is apply Lean thinking to the way in which it delivers patient care, both from a day clinic and overnight care perspective. Recognising the need to expand their operations, the hospital acquired an abandoned former Wal-Mart building and meticulously went about redesigning it into a dedicated clinic.

“What the hospital did,” Uminger says, “is compartmentalise the functions of the clinic to deliver a quick, fluid service to all who visit it, making the process of arriving, receiving treatment and leaving a streamlined one. The success of the clinic has also led to the main hospital itself being able to better clarify its own function, services and processes as well.”

As far as Dr Thornbury, whose brother Neil is in fact COO of T.J. Samson Community Hospital, is concerned, his presentation focused on how he has been using Lean thinking to deliver as much service to as many patients as possible. Dr Thornbury’s answer was to develop and implement a revolutionary e-visit service dubbed Me-Visit. Designed to

strengthen the relationship between patients and their physician, Me-Visit helps patients connect with their medical provider using mobile technology.

“This device that Dr Thornbury has implemented allows his patients to contact him via their mobile device, upon which he can utilise his knowledge of the patient, their history and various symptoms to diagnose and prescribe treatment quickly and efficiently,” Uminger enthuses. “Furthermore,

Brandon Spencer, Kentucky Chick fil A manager, discusses how they have incorporated lean principles to running the kitchen side of things in their stores

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Jenny Cerwinski, Lean Coordinator at T J Samson Community Hospital explaining how consideration of flow, positively affected their new clinic setup

Dr. Neil Thornbury, COO, des lean transition underway at

“Like Lean itself the very adoption of the process is about constant improvement” he can attach all the necessary documents and information about the diagnosis and treatment at the same time. What that essentially means is he is providing the patient with more information and support in a matter of minutes than would be achieved through a face-to-face visit. This is something that really encapsulates what Lean is all about and it is something that he is working

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to promote across the country.”

With the 2013 Users Conference only a matter of weeks behind us, thoughts have already turned to 2014’s event, occurring on 30 September and 1 October next year.

“Our early hopes for next year’s event are that we will hear examples from our client companies that show a deeper penetration of Lean thinking and the use of broader

University of Kentucky - Lean Systems Program

scribing the current status of the T J Samson Community Hospital

Ownie McBride, Lean Systems Program instructor answers an attendee’s question at the 2013 Conference

applications that create great success stories,” Uminger reveals. “On top of this of course we would love to see attendance levels continuing to rise and we think a 25 percent increase on this year would be a good target for us to aim for.”

Turning back to the present day and all that Uminger has witnessed in the past several weeks, what he has seen has clearly given him even greater optimism about the future adoption of Lean processes throughout different sectors and industries.

“Like Lean itself,” he concludes, “the very adoption of the process is about constant improvement. In order to help facilitate this we continue to work with both our established and newer client companies

tangibly, joining them out onsite or inviting them to our facility, and what we have seen gives us great encouragement. Long before we think about who will be presenting at next year’s conference we will be helping these companies to develop their implementation and practical application of the process.

That will ultimately mean that next year we can not only look forward to hearing more mature examples from our previous clients, but also about the next generation of Lean success stories.”

For more information about University of Kentucky - Lean Systems Program visit: www.lean.uky.edu

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