Case Study - Data and Information Management - Port InfrastructureCoal Export Terminal - NSW, Australia

A bulk materials handling facility was experiencing significant issues with completing ship loading tasks on time due to poor availability of data and information.

Loading rates were being tracked and acted upon with the data available.  This data provided limited accuracy in root cause analysis efforts and tracking of process changes post improvement initiatives.

The challenge was to analyse the data and information management process, and improve the precision of both the measurement system and categorisation (attributes) to increase the accuracy of planning, scheduling and decision-making.

Working closely with the businesses Process Engineers, EnterpriseIS process mapped the information flow and attributes required to manage processes from Inbound Road and Rail, through to Ship Loading.

EnterpriseIS developed a detailed Data Collection Plan for all information and attributes required to manage the process. We completed a Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) exercise to determine whether or not the systems of measurement used are reliable and not contributing to the variation being observed in the collected data.

We then completed an Attributes Agreement Analysis to understand and align key delay areas and categories to manage performance of the plant.  

At completion of the project we clearly identified and resolved the lack of a suitable time utilisation model, mismatches between calendar and actual time, discrepancies between data reports (different figures reported on same process), Incorrect or insufficient delay categorisation, incomplete total time allocation and mixed production processes using same recording methodology.

Finally we implemented a Visual Management process to monitor performance across the Company.