First Quantum is a global copper company that produces copper in the form of concentrate, cathode and anode, and has inventories of nickel, gold and cobalt. They operate long life mines in several countries and employ approximately 20,000 people worldwide.
The company is well-known for its ‘can do’ attitude and specialist technical, engineering, construction and operational skills, which allows it to develop and successfully run complex mines and minerals processing plants. After 25 years of operations, First Quantum is now one of the world’s top 10 copper producers, exporting millions of tons of concentrate from multiple countries to customers worldwide.
BUSINESS SITUATION: First Quantum Minerals’ projects E&I department performs extensive procurement for projects across the world. The team sources materials available for projects, from all corners of the globe. The process was manually tracked through email, spreadsheets and paperwork physically exchanged for authorisation. It was challenging to compare quotations from suppliers in different currencies, and assorted units of measure. The process was onerous and prone to clerical and entry errors, resulting in delays and pressure for the team expected to delivery accurately and on time.
SOLUTION: Seeking to integrate and streamline the processes, the team chose the flexibility of Nintex K2 workflow to deploy automation for some aspects of its procurement and cost-reporting systems, beginning with materials requests, adding a line-level quote rationalization and optimization function. Further enhancements included process automation through shipping, to onsite delivery. This has allowed field employees to access forms and documents and submit proof of delivery, predict delivery mapped to purchase orders and expedite accurate on-time payments.
The feature-rich reporting, incorporating Power BI dashboards, allows drill down and drill up for users to better understand the data, and have complete visualization of procurement of trends and spend across project procurement. With standardised reports and multiple consolidated data sources, the team can share reporting and dashboards across the organisation, using multiple platforms and devices. Reports can be updated, amended and enhanced as and when required.
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