BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance: Technology Roadmaps

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Executive summary

This report is a detailed description of the technology roadmap that will help the company BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance to manage its complex activities in the future. Better roadmaps are presented for security, infrastructure and core systems. The give technology roadmap for security will be of highly beneficial for the company in managing its security systems in the best possible way. Similarly, the technology roadmap of core system will help the company to manage the main functional areas properly. The technology roadmap for infrastructure has properly taken into consideration the need for the company to improve its infrastructural facilities.

Introduction

This report is the presentation of a technology roadmap for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance. Technology roadmaps refer to the usage of technological tools to perform the strategic activities of the organization. Technology roadmap is essential for a business organization to improve its efficiency for widening the market share. “The Technology Roadmap (TRM) concept is a consultative process that is designed to help industry, its supply-chain, academic and research groups, and governments come together to jointly identify and prioritize the technologies needed to support strategic R&D, marketing and investment decisions.” (Technology roadmaps, 2008). Technology is not only a concept that is related to only production and other technical activities in the organization but also a concept that is related and should be applied in every activity in a business organization for improving its efficiency.

This report gives a detailed technological roadmap for the given case of BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance. BHP Billiton Alliance is the largest coal miner and exporter of Australia. “BMA is a 50/50 alliance between the world’s largest diversified resources company and the world’s largest general trading company.“ (About BMA, 2008). The increased complexity of the business and the competition prevailing in the market has necessitated the need to make a technology roadmap for various systems in the company.

This report outlines the technology roadmap for the company in four areas such as security, infrastructure and core systems. Since the company is engaged in coal mining, security is a cause of concern. A better technological roadmap in security is intended to make the employees as well as the organization secured from the hazards that might arise. The infrastructure of the company includes all the internal and external infrastructural facilities of the company. Technological road map is very much essential for the sooth functioning of all the facilities in the organization. The core systems of the organization include the HR, pay roll and finance. A technological roadmap for these core systems outlined in this report.

Main body

Industry overview

Though BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance is a coal major of the country it faces stiff competition from other players. The other major coal mining companies in Australia are Anglo Coal Australia Pty Ltd, Aquila Resources Ltd, Centennial Coal Company Ltd, Coal and Allied, Felix Resources Ltd, Gloucester Coal Ltd, Griffin Coal Mining Company Pty Ltd, Jellinbah Resources Pty Ltd, Loy Yang Power, Macarthur Coal Ltd, New Hope Corporation Ltd, NRG Flinders, Rio Tinto Ltd, Straits Resources Ltd, Wambo Mining Corporation Pty Ltd, Wesfarmers Curragh, Wesfarmers Energy Ltd, Wesfarmers Premier Coal Ltd and Xstrata Coal Australia. Among these companies the major competitors are Anglo Coal, Xstrata Coal and Rio Tinto. “The main activity of firms in this industry is the mining of black coal for either domestic use or export. Mining includes the actual extraction of coal, together with associated activities such as coal washing.” (Black Coal mining in Australia, 2008) Due to the large quantity of mining assets in Australia, many foreign companies have started eying the market. The foreign companies are competing to either acquire or form partnerships with Australian mining companies.

Agriculture and coal mining are the two major economic activities in Australia. Among them coal mining is the major activity. Therefore any contingency in the coal mining industry will have very great impact on the country’s economy.

The concerns of the people and government about environmental safety have forced the government to be strict on the environmental protection standards of coal mining companies. The regulations by government on coal mining industry cannot go beyond a limit as it will affect the economy of the country as a whole. The environmental hazards caused by coal mining is much more that the one caused by agriculture. Most of the government regulations on coal mining companies create additional cost burden for companies to meet the standards. “By the 1970s, most mining companies in Australia were obligated under their mining lease to address air and water pollution concerns, and to rehabilitate mine sites.” (Mining and biodiversity, Rolfe, 2008) This regulation has great impact on the cost structure of BHP Billiton. The company has its mines at different locations and rehabilitation costs for these mines will be higher. Since the industry is large and the companies operating in the sector are less, it is easier for the government to regulate the industry. Change of government and political factors will impact the industry sector to a great extend in the form of regulations and deregulations.

Technology roadmap

Every technology roadmap will have three phases namely preliminary phase, developmental phase and follow up phase. A planning process is included in the preliminary phase. In the developmental phase the actual technology to be implemented is developed and implemented. In the follow-up process the working of the applied technology is assessed.

Security

Security in an organization can be seen in different perspectives. Security refers to the protection from the hazards due to nature of the job and protection from theft and other human activities in an organization. “Safety excellence is recognized as good business.” (Our safety improvement roadmap). Security is a very high cause of concern in the company as the company is involved in coal mining. Removing coal from the earth’s surface through mining is termed as coal mining. Coal mining is a complex activity that involves the usage of different chemicals and machines. The harmful chemicals used in the process make the employees’ more prone to health hazards. Safety also involves protection of the employees from natural hazards. Providing better safety measures is a planned approach by the organization. The most suitable technology must be implemented in the security management of the organization. The technology roadmap for security is as follows:

Determine the complexity of work

The complexity of performing mining and related activities should be determined by a proper analysis. A planned job analysis can be performed for this. The job analysis will help to outline the complexity to perform the job and the hazards that will arise from the performance of a particular job. The study must be conducted by the experts in this field.

Understand the existing situation

The existing situation in the organization should be clearly studied. The past records of hazards occurred in the organization should be analyzed in detail inorder to determine the frequency of occurrence. Moreover the major objective of examining the history is to study the reasons for the occurrence of such hazards.

Analyze the existing security system of the organization

The next step is to analyze the existing security system of the organization. The viability of the existing security systems for managing hazards should be studied.

Implement the new technology

The above three analysis will clearly explain the action plans to be taken in the present situation. The intensity of the complexity of work will help to develop new machines and tools for helping the employees to speed up the process with little efforts. By way of studying the past experiences the company can understand the areas to be developed. The security system that could have helped the company in that past situation should be implemented so that it can avoid such hazards in the future. The security systems that are used by the competitors must be considered for and implemented in the company.

Follow up

A follow up should be done at specified time intervals which may be twice or thrice in a year. After the review the result has to be compared with the past experiences of the company inorder to track the rate of improvement.

Infrastructure

A better infrastructure is very essential for the success of every business organization. The infrastructural facilities refer to the availability of space and other basic requirements that are essential for carrying on a business. The word infrastructure is a combination of building, land, better electric supply, better communication facilities and other basic requirements for the survival of a business. Even though all the infrastructural facilities are important for the business, better electric supply and better communication facilities are more important. Communication networks in the organization are to be of superior standard inorder to ensure smooth flow of information both internally and externally. Similarly electric power supply is the primary essential. The communication systems of the company will be distracted when there is a failure in the electric power supply. Another notable feature of communication system is that it changes very easily. Better and improved technology is being launched in the market every day. Thus the already existing systems will become obsolete very easily. A better technological roadmap is essential for the company inorder to survive in the highly competing market. Even though the company is the market leader in the segment inorder to sustain the existing market it has to make developments in the infrastructural facilities. The technology roadmap for infrastructural improvement in the company can be enumerated as follows:

Examine the present telephones networks of the company

In this process the present telephone network system of the company should be analyzed. The telephone network system must be analyzed on the basis of parameters such as its cost of maintenance, benefits gained from it, its coverage etc. This analysis will help to determine whether the existing telephone network is enough for the company in future.

Examine the system network of the company

The computer system network of the company must be examined in detail. When the work load of the company increases the computer systems will also have to be increased accordingly to manage the additional work properly. When the work load increases and changes have to be made in the departments or sections, the system network will also have to be changed. Therefore in this step the changes or alterations to be made in the departments should be properly examined.

Compare the server with the workload

The server of the company should be compared with the increased workload. The server of the system might be having less processing capacity and with the present speed it may not be able to manage the whole network.

Implementing the most modern technology

After completing the above steps successfully proper steps are to be taken for improving the situation. Telephone networks have to be improved in the area of mines as this will be of highly helpful at the time of any hazards. Similarly the system has to be upgraded to the most modern processors to ensure speed of operation. As the company is the market leader it will have many diversified activities. When the business activity improves the servers and other systems will have more and more data flooded to it. This necessitates an upgradation in the existing system. As per the previous process, a periodical follow up has to be made in this area too.

Core systems

HR, payroll and finance is included in this area. A technological roadmap is highly essential for the company in these areas. As the company is a big business enterprise Human Resource management is also a very complex activity. The HR activity of the company includes all activities concerning the employees from the time of recruitment till his termination of employment. There are many complex activities in between recruitment and termination of employment. Management of all those activities is not a one time activity. Technology implementation has accelerated the speed of HR management and will have to be updated at adequate intervals. The pay roll is included in the HR activities. Similarly, finance is another core activity that needs to be updated with technology. Technological implementation in financial activities refers to the usage of software systems for computation, accounting and other financial matters. The usage of new systems in the financial management has fostered the speed of operation of the financial department. In the case of BHP better technology in HR and financial management is essential inorder to ensure quality and efficiency. The steps to be followed for the implementation of technology in core activities are as follows:

Classification of the employees

The employees are to be classified on the basis of nature of the job. The pay scales and method of determining the pay scales has to be properly explained. The time intervals at which the employees are to be paid should be determined.

Parameters for performance appraisal

A proper parameter has to be developed for performance appraisal. The different rankings that should be given for the employees must be properly understood.

Determine the complexity of existing financial management

The existing financial management system of the company must be properly analyzed. This will help to determine the area to be improved.

Application of the system

Based on the classification of employees a software system has to be developed. The system should have the employees properly classified. The wage calculation system for each classification has to be developed in the system. All these should also be integrated to the performance appraisal so that the final remuneration is determined by the system easily. If the analysis shows that the existing system is outdated for managing the existing financial matters, an upgraded system has to be introduced for serving the purpose.

Conclusion

The report has given a detailed structure of the technological roadmap for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance. The vision of the company is to be the market leader of the world by mining and supplying best quality coal. For the achievement of this objective every sub-activities of the company should function properly. The technology roadmap has been given for all the areas that should be looked upon for the success of the business and achieve its final objective.

Reference

Technology roadmaps: Introduction to technological roadmapping, (2008). Industry: Canada. Web.

About BMA, (2008). BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance. Web.

Our safety improvement roadmap, BHP Billiton Sustainability Report 2006. Web.

Black coal mining in Australia – industry report: Definition, (2008). IBIS World. Web.

Mining and biodiversity: Rehabilitating coal mine sites: The black coal industry, John Rolfe. Policy. Web.

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