The 10 Most Recommended Mining Service Providers 2019

Volume-4 Issue-13

www.insightssuccess.com April 2019

The

10 Mining Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

Environmental Talk Eco-friendly Strategies for a Better Tech-enabled Construction World

Editor's Choice 3 Remarkable Innovations in the Field of Printing Business

Stuart Burgess

President & Co-founder

Burgex Inc.

Burgex Inc. Delivering Real Exploration and Claim Staking Experience

E Mining the Essential Minerals for Sustainable Economic Growth

T

he mining industry is considered as one of the fastest growing industries all over the world. The contribution of the mining sector to the economic situation of the world is more significant than one may think. The role of this sector in day-today life is to provide necessary raw materials to help facilitate the assembly of new ones. This in turn makes it essential for the world to practice safe mining to keep the other industries going. Everything we use is either made from minerals or relies on minerals for its production. The technologies that define innovation today depend on minerals.

Maximum products used in modern homes require heavy minerals in some form or the other. The various essential minerals are extracted from the earth through mining. This is the reason mining is important to our daily life, because, without this industry, many industries will be crippled, especially the manufacturing sector. Only through mining, essential minerals can be attained and used for various purposes including economic growth.

Minerals extracted through mining essentially make our lives possible. Minerals are the foundation of life-saving medical equipment, the building pillars for innovative technologies and the body armor on our troops deployed overseas. Minerals are health, innovation and defense. Many people may not realize that minerals and metals play significant role in almost every aspect of our society. Platinum forms the bedrock of modern technologies like smartphones, while gold is necessary to innovations in fields like renewable energy. Silver is a vital component of medical evolutions such as X-rays and antibiotics.

And, without the copper mineral, modern infrastructure systems can’t even exist. These minerals and many more are used in defense equipment and various technologies – helping our troops keep our nations safe.

Mined materials are essential to construct roads, hospitals, to build vehicles and houses, to make satellites and computers, to produce electricity, and also to provide the many other goods and services that customers like to enjoy. Mining is economically important to producing regions and nations. Mining industry provides good amount of employment, taxes and dividends that facilitates to schools, hospitals and other public facilities. Mining industry also generates foreign exchange and it accounts for significant portion of GDP. Mining industry fosters a number of associated and related industries as well. The economic opportunities and wealth generated by mining industry for many producing nations is substantial.

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Only through mining, essential minerals can be attained and used for various purposes including economic growth.

Sharad Chitalkar

The modern world simply can’t function without mining industry; because mineral products are necessary components of mobiles, vehicles, towers, solar panels, fertilizers, wind turbines, machinery and essentially all kinds of construction. In reality, the mining industry is just the foundational point of important value chain. Some mining companies provide clean fouling without production stoppages and enable customers to exceed their production goals and improve health and safety as well as environmental targets.

Some mining organizations specialize in light conversion vehicles. Some mining companies improve the productivity of mineral processing plants and sustain those improvements thereby increasing the profitability of mining operations.

Recognizing the renowned franchises, Insights Success has enlisted “The 10 Most Recommended Mining Service Providers 2019.”

Featuring as our Cover Story is a notable mining organization named Burgex Inc. Burgex Inc. is a mining consulting services company that specializes in mineral exploration, mining claim staking, landman services, general mine consulting, and the access and documentation of abandoned mine sites throughout the Western United States and the world. The founders of the company are fueled by a passion for mineral exploration and are enthusiastic about providing excellent service to their clients. Organization love helping Canadian and Australian publicly traded junior mining companies navigate the claim staking, exploration, and mineral rights management process for their US based projects.

Also, make sure to go through the articles, written by our in-house editorial team to have brief insights of the sector.

Let’s start reading!

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10

Cover Story

Maestro's Opinion Develop Your Innovation Culture For A Futureready Organisation

30

Leader's Take Leadership skills essential for organizational growth

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Mentor's Standpoint Why 3D Printing Consumables Producers need to get involved in Printing Technologies?

Delivering Real Exploration

and Claim Staking Experience

Contents Altum Technologies Clean Fouling Without Production Stoppages

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Articles BorÊalis The World’s Most Advanced Stakeholder Engagement Software

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24

Environmental Talk

FD 4x4 Centre

Eco-friendly Strategies for a Better Tech-enabled Construction World

Specialist in Light Vehicle Conversions

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Interlate Utilizing Data and Technology to Improve Productivity

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Softree Technical Systems

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Civil Engineering Software for Haul & Access Road Design & Optimization

Editor's Choice 3 Remarkable Innovations in the Field of Printing Business

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor

Assistant Editors

Sharad Chitalkar

Jenny Fernandes Bhushan Kadam

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

David King

Amol Kamble

Sanket Zirpe

Senior Sales Manager Co-designer

Co-designer Rahul Kavanekar

Business Development Manager

Passi D.

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Kevin, Mark, Vishal

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Alan, Ajinkya

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale

Research Analyst William Morgan

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

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Cover Story

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Delivering Real Exploration and Claim Staking Experience

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Burgex provides experienced, accurate, and honest claim staking, mineral exploration, and mining consulting services to clients ranging from individual prospectors through major mining companies.

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Stuart Burgess President & Co-founder Burgex Inc.

Cover Story

Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Stuart Burgess and Insights Success: Give a brief overview of your company, its solutions.

Burgex Inc. is a mining consulting services company that specializes in mineral exploration, mining claim staking, landman services, general mine consulting, and the access

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and documentation of abandoned mine sites throughout the Western United States and the world. The founders of the company are fueled by a passion for mineral exploration and are enthusiastic about providing excellent service to their clients. We love helping Canadian and Australian publicly traded junior mining companies navigate the claim staking, exploration, and mineral rights management process for their US based projects.

Describe the ways in which your mining solutions are focused on being customer centric.

Every project is different, and it can be difficult to navigate the mineral rights acquisition and management process here in the U.S. We leverage our experience to help you move your project forward in a way that is efficient and accurate.

Not every solution is going to be appropriate for every project, so we craft a plan that works for our clients by minimizing unnecessary expenses and saving time. We take time to attend conferences and read the latest information on a variety of mineral exploration technology and mineral

Burgex Inc. guarantees full satisfaction of clients with the quality of its exploration, consulting, and claim staking services.

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n an interview with Insights Success, President and Co-founder of Burgex Inc., Stuart Burgess, shares valuable information on Burgex Inc. and its remarkable contribution to the mining industry. Burgex Inc. has staked over 250,000 acres of mining claims for its clients and has experience working in every Western State and across the world. It has provided exploration services and consulting on hundreds of projects for minerals ranging from construction sand and gravel to base metals through industrial minerals. It is currently primarily focused on the United States, but has provided services on international projects as far away as Saudi Arabia.

rights law in order to be able to provide the best services to our customers.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of your company.

Initially we focused only on providing technical access and exploration of abandoned mine sites throughout the Western United States. While this was a very niche segment of the exploration industry to focus on, it gave us a very unique look into the inner workings of many different types of ore deposits. It also gave us the great experience of being able to observe the evolution of mining techniques from over a hundred years. Our growth into claim staking, mineral rights management, project planning, due diligence, and exploration consulting services was really driven from these simple beginnings by our clients themselves.

They really appreciated the work we were doing for them and pushed us toward expanding our services so that they could have a dependable firm to handle multiple aspect of their project.

On some projects we have handled everything from initial sampling and prospecting all the way through claim staking, exploration permitting, testing, drilling, geophysics, preliminary feasibility studies, mine planning, and the eventual sale of the project to a larger group. Almost every year since we were founded we have started offering a new service based on our clients’ needs.

I think we know we are doing a good job because almost all of our business comes through referrals from existing clients. As long as that is still the case, we know we are on track and still growing organically.

What are your thoughts on mineral exploration in the mining industry?

Mineral exploration is critical to the mining industry and really provides all the substance for future growth. Even within existing mines that have been operating for many decades there is still a process of mineral exploration

for the development and de-risking of new resources. The mineral exploration segment of the mining industry can be a wild place and it is changing all the time. New technology and shifting economics are continually driving new technological advancements and geological models for discovery. The latest trend toward the identification and development of metal deposits used in the manufacturing of batteries has led to a shift in the exploration projects that are being funded and developed over the last five years – it will be exciting to see which of these projects make it all the way through feasibility and into production!

What are the evident challenges in the mining industry and what are your strategies to tackle these challenges?

There are numerous challenges that are facing the mining industry right now and we see a lot of them from the cutting edge of exploration. Increasing environmental regulation, geopolitical tensions, looming trade wars, and a shrinking professional base are some of the key challenges that we see right now. One of the most acute on the exploration side is the lack of new engineering and geology professionals entering the field. Unfortunately, it seems like many of the brightest minds have chosen to get into tech instead of mining and exploration and similar traditional industries. We have tackled this problem by identifying bright candidates still in college and bringing them into the company to start getting experience while they are in school.

We think this will give us a great advantage by having fresh in-house talent that is starting out with a diverse basket of real experience. I think the mineral exploration and mining industries also have a large PR problem when it comes to driving home the point that minerals are necessary for life – they are in everything, and to a very large extent an integral part of the deployment of green technologies. Electric cars and renewable energies are all dependent on a very large network of different

Cover Story

mines around the globe. It would be nice to see a larger domestic supply develop for a lot of these key resources.

toward exploring for minerals that are critical to the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy.

These minerals include lithium, cobalt, and copper.

What is your perception on mining exploration in relation to climate change?

Climate change is a hot button issue within many industries and mineral exploration is no different. The potential environmental impact of every mining project is something that needs to be considered from the very beginning of an exploration project. In many ways potential environmental impact is considered by default as economics commonly dictate the placement of a project and things such as transportation distance and overall energy use are considered to determine if a project warrants further development. A project that is economically sound will generally also include energy, transportation, and other efficiencies that are more environmentally friendly and less impactful overall. In other ways the commodity being explored can also have a large impact on the environment overall, many of our clients have shifted their focus recently

According to you, how technology is playing role in shaping the mining industry?

I just recently read an article that Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies, has begun using an autonomous railway system in Australia to service several of its large mines. This technology has the potential to save the company money, but will also likely result in a safer and more efficient system. Cost savings and safety are two of the largest factors that are driving technology in mining applications by using autonomous technology we are within a decade of having mines that operate without having human miners in them at all. This will allow us to access deeper and richer ore bodies that have been inaccessible due to the constraints of the human body. This includes ultra-deep mines such as those found in South Africa, but will also allow us to start mining at the bottom of the ocean and in other hard to reach places.

Within the mineral exploration industry we are seeing a huge impact with drone technology and with geophysics.

Within our company we have been able to recently leverage GIS technology and existing project data with new data collected by our drones to define and refine drilling targets.

This ultimately will improve the accuracy of exploration projects and will reduce the risk to our clients and their investors. The ability to visualize an exploration project in 3D has also led to a greater understanding between engineers, geologists, and the executive team which has allowed for better decision making. In the mining stage this leads to better planning and reduced risk, which works out well for everyone.

Where do you see Burgex Inc. in the long run and/or what are its future goals?

Burgex has been growing quickly over the last few years and plans on continuing to grow and seek new ways to provide better services to its clients. We would like to be in

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Burgex Inc. personally educates clients about the mineral exploration and mining process so that they can make informed decisions moving forward.

a position within the next five years where we are setting the standard for claim staking and mineral rights management services. This would include creating a system where our clients can track their claims and associated filings in real time. We think that there is a lot of potential in improving the current system of claim staking and filing.

On the exploration and consulting side of the business we are always looking for ways to improve the process and streamline the discovery and proving of new resources. We would like to expand our drone and mapping services and push the limits of what is currently available in the industry.

Testimonials by clients “Working with the professionals at the Burgex group has been a blessing for us as we have been clients of Burgex Inc. for over more than a year and a half. Finding such a dedicated, committed and communicative group, strong in process and stronger even in delivering results, has allowed us to move on many more fronts and accomplish what would have been inconceivable just by working on our own.

Their knowledge and experience base on title issues, advice on regulatory processes, their ability to access and process multiple relevant databases of information and communicate results clearly has helped our group move decisively on projects with a strong competitive advantage.

I know they have my back covered, and will look forward to working with them going forward as much as possible!”

– Jean-Pierre (JP) Jutras, B.Sc Hons geology, P.Geol, President/Director, Jade Leader Corp. TSXV:JADE “We have utilized the mining consultation services of Burgex Inc. for several years to provide technical due diligence, market analysis, and valuation reports. The overall timeliness, quality, level of detail, and thoroughness provided by Burgex in their analysis of marketability and valuation, across various mineral types, is above and beyond those of other providers of similar services.”

– Chris Devine, Chief Operating Officer, Green Rock, LLC

“We have worked closely with Burgex Mining Consultants for a number of years. Our experience with Burgex has been unparalled, with respect to the precision of professional services Burgex provides to us, very economically. In fact, we absolutely rely on Burgex. Burgex personnel are not only extremely professional, they are also extremely pleasant to work with. They are capable problem solvers!” – Tom L. Lee, PhD, JD, President, Montana Gold Inc. About the Leader Stuart Burgess has been involved in Burgex since the very beginning and his passion for mining, mining history, and mineral exploration have really been a driving force behind the company’s growth and expansion into new segments of the industry. He enjoys being personally involved in most of the company’s projects and is always looking for ways to improve the services that Burgex provides and give greater value to its clients.

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Develop Your About the Author Natalie Turner is a Keynote speaker and Author of the book Yes, You Can Innovate. Discover your innovation strengths and develop your creative potential which was selected as book of the month in both the UK and Singapore earlier this year. She is the Founder and CEO of The Entheo Network, a global innovation company and has exemplary expertise in the eld of marketing, business strategy, and leadership development. Under her leadership, the company provides a suite of innovative products and services to help individuals and organizations create new sources of value whilst building innovation skills, capabilities and culture. She is also the inventor of the 6 ‘I’s® Innovation which measures innovation strengths of individuals and teams to unlock the innovation culture in an organization.

INNOVATION for CULTURE a FUTURE-READY

Organisation A

s the digital landscape continues to change at a rapid pace, dismantling and disrupting the way that we do business, how can we ensure that our leadership and organisational thinking evolves at the same rate? The CEO is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the company that they lead, which, in today’s world, means ensuring an organisation can adapt to this fast rate of change. To do this, leaders need to know how to innovate with agility and speed. This means, on the ground during day-to-day work, that each employee has a clear understanding of how they contribute to creating value out of new ideas and a common language to enable them to work together. As a CEO, part of your role is to foster a culture of innovation that can harness the often disparate skills and mindsets required to successfully innovate. The key is to understand that innovation is a journey, which includes spotting trends and discontinuities and generating new ideas, through to investing and implementing those ideas that can potentially have the most impact. The skill is to know how to match people’s strengths to the right part.

www.6-i-innovation.com.

How do employees currently react to innovation conversations?

Often, the first people to embrace innovation tend to love ideas and can identify trends, patterns and opportunities. They are curious and fit the classic stereotype of creativity – playful, open-minded and attracted to

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April 2019|

Maestro’s Opinion

Natalie Turner Founder & CEO The Entheo Network

| April 2019

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novelty. Innovation, truly deep and sustainable innovation, combines both creativity and discipline, which are curious bedfellows. It is a considered process that requires a raft of different skills and ways of thinking, combined towards creating a common outcome. In fact, the innovation journey is more like a cycle that can start at any point, not just in the playful and curious spaces.

There are probably many employees in your organisation who do not identify with this sense of curiosity, or think that they have light bulb moments, but who are nonetheless crucial to the success of innovation as an outcome. You will not embed an agile innovation culture without showing employees of all stripes and skillsets where they fit in. The innovation culture needs a common framework and language. Within this shared understanding, different styles are more likely to interact with, and appreciate, the contribution of others. Creating the best environment for each stage of the journey, so that people are empowered to contribute their strengths will improve the likelihood of success.

Understanding the innovation journey Start with aligning teams around PURPOSE, what are they trying to achieve and why? Then move to how they can identify opportunities through understanding trends and patterns, often related to changes in human behaviour. Then move to the creative space where people ignite ideas, through practices such as brainstorming and value proposition design. After you have an array of ideas, submit them to analysis and experimentation, separating the good ones from the bad, investigating whether they are useful, not just novel. The interrelationship between these three spaces is often where you see design thinking processes in action. Now, if you have a few really good ideas that have a high chance of working, start to think through how to best make them work. If not, revisit the original-identified opportunity or generate alternative ideas and solutions.

When ready for investment, innovation leadership is really critical. This is often the graveyard of ideas. Here demonstrate courage; assign resources, whether it is people, time or money. Once ideas are funded, find people who are great at implementation and getting things done. Once the idea is starting to get traction and have an impact, harness the skills of improvement and optimisation to scale and leverage the ideas into other areas of opportunity.

There are no straight roads. This is why innovating is often so difficult. Not only are you trying to do something new,

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you have to harness diversity towards an often unknown outcome. Creating the best environment for each stage of the journey, so that people are empowered to contribute their strengths, will help to create a successful outcome.

This means teaching people when to contribute and when to pass the baton on to someone else. This is true collaboration, anchored in a clear purpose that is focused on the success of the idea.

Give each of your employees a proactive role in the innovation journey Culture could be termed “how we do things around here” and part of what contributes towards this is how leaders act and behave towards the people that they manage and lead.

Even more so when it comes to innovating. If people understand their contribution, they will have the confidence and courage to start thinking of themselves as innovators.

They will also understand when they will have the most impact. The innovation journey needs a different culture at different points; a culture that allows for ideas to be generated is not the same as one needed to investigate those ideas.

Innovation and the CEO Lead by example. Understand the part of the innovation journey that you are best at, and be aware of the bias that you will have because of that. Increase the awareness of yourself and others,so that you can empower everyone to cultivate environments that allow their strengths to flourish.

Ensure that every skillset and its contribution to innovation is respected and rewarded. This can only be done by understanding the whole of the innovation journey, end-toend. Diversity is key, if you have a lot of people who are good at generating ideas, you may end up with very little that actually gets done. If you have a lot of people who are good at implementation, you may end up dealing with today’s work very well, but not have the culture of a future-ready organisation that can adapt to fast-paced change tomorrow. In empowering your leaders and employees to develop their creative potential, in the broadest sense of the word, innovation will start to seep through the whole of your organisation, embedding a culture that will increase the likelihood of you creating impactful value out of new ideas.

April 2019|

The

10

Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

Altum Technologies Clean Fouling Without Production Stoppages

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n an Interview with Insights Success, Bo Malmberg, Cofounder and COO of Altum Technologies shares the journey and contribution of Altum Technologies in the mining field. The company’s goal is to provide its customers with solutions that enable them to exceed their production goals and improve health and safety as well as environmental targets.

Below are the highlights of the interview between Bo Malmberg and Insights Success.

Give a brief overview of your company, its solutions and services?

When an industrial process is started, its operation is optimal. However, soon impurities start to accumulate in pipelines, valves, heat exchangers etc. reducing efficiency and requiring regular maintenance and repair.

The revolutionary Altum high power ultrasonic technology combines traditional ultrasonic cleaning with advanced beamforming techniques to localize and effectively clean a predefined target point. On top of this, Altum’s system is the only one in the world that can be applied externally to any existing production environment without making any changes to the production equipment.

Altum Technologies is the first and only company to use focused power ultrasound to remove fouling from industrial equipment without stopping the process, without dismantling the equipment and without using chemicals. We provide our customers

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the capability to increase their production output and operational & energy efficiency by enabling them to clean their production process without the need of stopping the production.

World is full of fouling issues. We’ve learned that it’s important to be pragmatic in solving the cases and admit that not all cases are perfect for the technology.

Describe the ways in which your mining solutions are focused on being customer centric.

Our solution is designed so that it can be easily adjusted to the specific customer needs. Also, one system can be utilized to solve several issues in different locations of the production process.

What are the evident challenges in the mining industry and what are your company’s strategies to tackle these challenges?

The main issues in mining are improving the production efficiency and at the same time making the operations environmentally friendly by reducing the environmental foot print.

In addition, the improvement of health and safety is has an important role in the industry.

By monitoring remotely we want to assure that our customers are continuously getting the benefits that they are looking for by deploying our solution to their process. Additionally, we provide our customers the latest SW updates that include all the improvements to make the system more efficient.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of your company.

Product must be easily tailored for several different business cases.

Software and in the near future AIenhanced software is the key to cost efficiently tailor products for changing use cases.

Company needs to provide agile services in the beginning to show tangible benefits to new customers.

Seeing is believing, as we tend to say at Altum Technologies.

Our aim is to offer solutions to the mining industry that apply the process cleaning and scaling prevention to the production processes. This approach enables us to tackle these challenges by using only one solution. The production process operates more optimally and gives higher recovery rates, when it is free from scaling.

Thus, the process is also more energy efficient.

The health and safety risks are reduced, when there is no need for the process equipment to be dismantled which, in turn, significantly decreases the need to use hazardous chemicals for the cleaning purposes of the equipment.

What is your perception on mining exploration in relation to climate change?

As a highly energy intensive industry, April 2019|

“Altum Technologies is the only company to use software-guided power ultrasound to remove fouling from industrial equipment without stopping the production process or using any toxic chemicals.”

—Bo Malmberg Co-founder & COO

the mining industry has its responsibility to reduce the impact to the climate change. Many companies have put lots of effort to reduce their environmental footprint over the past decade. At Altum Technologies, our goal is to be a part of this continuous work and take a place in the forefront of provided the needed tools to the industry, so that companies can proceed working and making remarkable improvements in the future.

It is also important to remember that new products can be created and developed with the use of raw materials provided by the industry. Such products may have even bigger impact to the total CO2 emissions globally such as electric cars, for instance.

Where does Altum Technologies see itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals?

Altum will become a major global technology provider in the field of process scaling prevention and cleaning. Our power ultrasound technology will enable different industries to tackle their issues and make industrial companies more profitable. In the future, we will open new offices in different continents and enlarge our partner network to serve our customers even better than today.

Client Feedback The customer has said that after the planned pilot projects and transfer to production use, our solution will impact their operations in a significant manner.

About the Leader Altum Technologies was founded by COO Bo Malmberg and CEO Matias Tainela together with other four cofounders in May 2016. Through their journey, Bo and Matias discovered that their customers were asking for a solution that would clean fouled equipment with power ultrasound without the need to stop the production. As Bo and Matias were lacking knowledge on how to develop such solution, they started to look for the best person to implement this vision.

After some days, all fingers pointed to Edward Haeggström, a professor from the University of Helsinki, Harvard and CERN. Edward approved the idea and highly appreciated Matias and Bo’s understanding of the industrial market needs. Edward already had a world-class team that can develop a high-power ultrasonic solution such as the one needed. This is how Altum Technologies begun its development.

Later the company received publicity attention after winning Slush 100 pitching competition in 2017. Bo Malmberg pitched Altum’s power ultrasound solution in front of thousands which led the company to creating connections with new customers and investors.

Another customer found our solutions beneficial in reducing maintenance and increasing energy efficiency. | April 2019

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ECO-FRIENDLY Strategies for A BETTER TECH -ENABLED

CONSTRUCTION WORLD T

oday, the national and global economies are on a consistent booming pathway. There is an upsurge in the use and implementation of cutting-edge technology in the construction-tech companies.

Recognizing these technology trends, many constructiontech solution providing companies are focusing on its usage and adoption. Additionally, these global corporations are now majorly swinging their interest in executing sustainable construction procedures thereby leading to an increase in sustainable building materials reaching to the masses.

It is essential for the construction-tech companies and developers to adopt the ecological values which can ensure

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sustainability and longevity to withstand the market complexities. The customers and corporations are shifting towards preserving the environment and the constructiontech industry is following the suit. Besides, rapid population growth demands an eco-friendly environment to live in.

There is a need for strategies that provide alternative construction solutions to safeguard the environment.

Therefore, the construction-tech companies are planning to implement cost-effective eco-construction practices.

Using Eco-friendly Material Sustainable tech-based construction operations can involve the use of environment-friendly and non-toxic paints, solvents, and building materials. This can enhance an April 2019|

Environmental Talk

organizations’ productivity highgrounds in the constructiontech industry lending a hand towards construction of an eco-friendly building. This creates healthy and safer indoor spaces in homes, offices, and recreational areas. Besides, the integration of eco-construction practices in the technology will prove to be a long-term benefit for commercial and industrial buildings leading to the end-toend customer satisfaction.

Using the safe, natural and readily available insulation material like the sheep’s wool can prove profitable for the construction. The recycled cotton sourced from shreds of discarded clothing can be a strong move towards non-toxic insulation and sustainable construction. Also, the byproduct of the timber industry wood fiber made from wood chips can represent a good eco-friendly insulation option.

Reducing the Demolition Procedures Instead of dumping the hazardous materials like concrete and structural steel into landfills, these can be recycled and reused for various other tech-based construction operations.

Using the industrial crushing amenities, the small-scale as well as large-scale construction-tech organizations can recycle these materials into dry aggregate for new construction operations. This would provide the organizations with a substantial savings opportunity and can help reducing the demolition construction procedures. It will also aid and cut-costs associated with the disposal of toxic materials from the site. Additionally, recycling and reusing the carpet, flooring and ceiling materials can be a small but strong move towards eco-friendly construction environment.

Implementation of Locally-obtained Resources Construction materials are transported over an extremely long distance with greater consumption of energy in that transportation phase. But emphasis can be placed on the use of locally-sourced materials with green construction. Also, this would reduce the carbon footprint, and creates a far more efficient tech-based construction processes. The use of the resources available in any city or town can help, support, and grow the local businesses on a large scale.

Conserving and Recycling the Water Water is the key enabler for every construction-tech operations; residential, industrial or commercial. Hence, water must be conserved to power the implementation of eco-construction processes into any kind of constructiontech project. This can involve simple techniques like rainwater harvesting and or watershed management. This collection and storage of rain-water can be used for

landscape irrigation. In addition, the recycled rain-water and its condensation from HVAC units can also be collected and used for same causes. The constructiontech companies can take advantage of recycling water | April 2019

through readily available water resources which would otherwise go down the drain.

Long-term Sustainable Solutions With the soaring energy costs, investing in solar power could be a long-term sustainable solution for tech-based construction companies. It can cut-costs, reduces grid reliance, and lessens the strain on electricity providers.

The construction companies can transform the rooftops of the homes and buildings into generators with the use of this solar power and maintain a good electricity flow.

To take one step further, use of photovoltaic windows consisting of solar cells can boost the operations controlling interior temperature.

Another way to execute successful eco-friendly construction practices can be achieved through the use of wind power. Having turbine fans at the rooftop of a building can help in producing energy and also reduce electricity consumption. Besides, they require little maintenance, maintain indoor air quality, and reduce utility investments.

Appropriate Use of Land With the increasing population, urbanization of smart cities is also on its way. Planning for green space and multipurpose areas can be significant in avoiding land degradation. The construction techniques can support the ideology of eco-friendly tech-based construction with the suitable use of landscape. Appropriate use of land by the builders, architects, and designers while developing a building, will encourage the addition of green spaces on rooftops or in other parts of that building. This will provide the masses with a multiuse space.

The future construction world would witness transformations with more sustainable and alternative construction methodologies. However, creativity and innovations in tech-enabled construction practices will ensure the maximum longevity of resources for future generations. Also, these innovations will be the cornerstones of the developments and could help in leaving a better landscape for next-gen. Eco-construction practices and technological advancements will open the future doors for the green construction leading to a cleaner and greener construction-tech world.

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The

10

Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

Boréalis The World’s Most Advanced Stakeholder Engagement Software

I

n an interview with Insights Success, Christine Crowe, who works in Boréalis’ Business Development Office, shares insights on the company’s journey and its valuable contributions to organizations through its stakeholder engagement software. Boréalis helps organizations build enduring and trusted relationships with their most important stakeholder groups. Its field-proven software reduces social risks and increases positive outcomes based on shared value creation.

Below are the highlights of the interview between Christine Crowe and Insights Success.

Brief overview of Boréalis, its solutions and services.

Boréalis helps organizations around the world build trusted relationships with their key stakeholders – primarily through its stakeholder engagement software that provides organizations a single platform for planning, engaging and measuring the success of their stakeholder engagement strategy. We also lend our expertise in stakeholder engagement to clients needing help in identifying needs, building and training teams, etc. We’re the only company in the world that combines sophisticated stakeholder engagement management software with extensive on-the-ground experience. As result, we are able to help organizations globally turn social risks into stakeholder acceptance. Our website, www.boreal-is.com, includes a number of client success stories resulting from the implementation of Boréalis software.

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Boréalis is based in southern Quebec, but its team routinely travels to customers worldwide, working on-site with them to configure and implement the software as well as to provide any training and strategic expertise that may be needed. The company was created in 1998 and has 70 employees and a strong network of global partners. Over 50 percent of Boréalis’ employees are software developers.

corporate objectives – whether it’s implementing a proactive stakeholder engagement plan, managing grievances or monitoring regulatory compliance.

We permanently invest in R&D and release about four software updates each year. Our clients are always working with the most advanced software out there. (Learn more about Borealis Technologies: www.borealis.com/technology)

Ways in which Boréalis software solutions are focused on being customer centric.

Boréalis stakeholder engagement software was developed from the ground up to meet specific customer needs in the mining industry. Once organizations in other sectors caught wind of what mining companies were able to do with our online platform, they came knocking on our door. The crossover to other industries was quite seamless. Most issues related to stakeholder relations apply to any sector where securing a social license to operate is essential to corporate and project sustainability. I’m talking about issues like community engagement, land access and management, social and environmental performance, public affairs and government relations, etc.

Our software is now used by major organizations working in utilities, oil & gas, consumer goods, real estate, government, healthcare and more.

(Interesting case studies available at: www.boreal-is.com/resources)

Experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped Boréalis’ journey.

Boréalis’ CEO and founder, Patrick Grégoire was working on a major pipeline in 1998 when he had the creative epiphany that led to the development of Boréalis software.

Companies were just starting to consider community and social risk as part of the execution of their projects – and the implementation of international social impact programs was still in its nascent stage. We implemented Boréalis software with global players in natural resources, which quickly validated its ability to drive results. The company has continued to play a leadership role in major infrastructure initiatives around the world, including pipelines, renewables, hydroelectric, mining, oil & gas, wind power, ports, and railways.

We are closely involved with our clients and constantly improve our software based on their direct feedback to ensure they’re reaching their

Challenges in public participation and stakeholder engagement and Boréalis’ strategy for tackling them Being proactive so that you can create productive stakeholder relationships built on mutual respect, transparency and trust. But being proactive requires

April 2019|

“Industry-leading stakeholder engagement tools and expertise for securing a social license to operate.”

—Christine Crowe Business Development Office

real-time access to meaningful data. You need to know who your key stakeholder groups are, how their expectations, opinions and level of influence are changing over time, what regulations and standards you need to comply with, what commitments have been made – the list goes on and on.

Most organizations now recognize the need to systematically collect stakeholder data. But herein lies yet another challenge. As this pile of vital data grows, it takes the right tools to be able to easily access the pertinent information, analyze and track it, and report it in a meaningful way. Boréalis software is the only platform that can turn endless piles of data into clear, actionable steps for guiding strategy and high-level decision making.

How social media and public expectations changing the landscape of stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility Today’s interconnected world means that people are now aware of corporations’ activities even thousands of kilometers away. Anyone from directly impacted households to national governments and lenders can influence the course of a project to varying degrees – at a speed unheard of just a decade or two ago.

As a result, organizations are no longer treating stakeholder engagement and CSR as an afterthought, but as essential business functions that need to be optimized. They’re now putting much more effort into building productive relationships with stakeholders. They’re also turning to AI-driven technological tools like Boréalis software to streamline processes so that they can engage with more stakeholders more often, without having to add more staff.

| April 2019

Where does Boréalis see itself in the long run?

We have helped to usher in the modern era of stakeholder engagement and our global community of practice means we’re at the forefront of where the field is headed. We’re now incorporating AI learning into our software so that it actually lessens the workload of teams, freeing them to spend more time engaging with stakeholders rather than manipulating data. In the long run we’re committed to leading this space to support purpose-driven communication strategies.

Client Feedback “You have really shown me how the IT-solutions of the future look like and how a very well thought through solution service can revolutionize and speed up implementation and change management.” – Daniel Ördén, Solution Owner, Business Solutions/Solution Area DPOP, IKEA Range & Supply, IKEA of Sweden AB (Consumer Goods) About the Leader Christine Crowe works in Boréalis’ business development office, where she focuses on helping companies in the energy and environment industries across the Americas meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives. Her technical background and international experience performing field census work and developing advanced fuels from waste for utilities gives her a comprehensive view on stakeholder engagement. This expertise is extremely valuable to organizations implementing a proactive stakeholder engagement planning and management tool like Boréalis to ensure sustainable infrastructure modernization.

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The

10

Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

FD 4x4 Centre Specialist in Light Vehicle Conversions

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ining industry has decided to go 100% electric in underground mining and is the first major industry branch leaving fossil fuels behind and embracing alternative energy sources. FD 4x4 Centre is very proud to be part of this transition.

FD 4x4 Centre specializes in light vehicle conversions for the mining industry. It offers a range of conversions for most common light mining vehicles as turn-key solutions.

The best-known product of FD 4x4 Centre is the Tembo 4x4 e-LV, the electric light vehicle based on the Toyota Land Cruiser. It has already been sold to mining companies worldwide. Its conversions range from simple vehicle safety improvements to drivetrain and bodywork replacements. Examples of the custom build conversions are mobile offices, enhanced flatbed platforms, and primarily the electric conversion.

FD 4x4 Centre’s own engineering department designs heavy-duty products, which are manufactured inhouse. It offers modifications such as rollover protection structures

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(ROPS), bumpers and protection to drivetrain upgrades, as well as services such as fleet management and on-site maintenance and training.

Addressing Needs of Customers When FD 4x4 Centre receives a new enquiry it always go into a conversation with the customer and visit the mine site where the vehicle will be used. This way it can get to the bottom of the problem of the customer, and take every aspect into account to get to the best solution and convert the vehicles for these particular customer needs.

grounded in the local agricultural sector, it slowly switched its focus to off-road 4x4’s and mining industry. It offers a complete range of services, 4x4 accessories and 4x4 spares for private owners and professional customers, government and aid & relief organizations. With experienced mechanics, a competent metal workshop and state of art CAD designers it can help clients with all their needs. It offers good quality parts with great value for money.

100% Electrical Conversion

The example of Boliden Tara is quite evident of FD 4x4’s commitment.

During a meeting with Boliden Tara mine it became clear that FD 4x4 Centre had to search for a solution for the emissions underground as the diesels didn’t meet the regulations anymore. And this was the start of the 100% electric conversion project.

The mining industry has a bad reputation regarding health and environment conditions and has to comply with legislation which is becoming stricter every year. As a result the biggest challenge is to bring down the exhaust emissions underground, therefor FD 4x4 Centre developed a 100% electrical conversion of the Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser, the Tembo 4x4 e-LV.

Wealth of Experience

Reducing Carbon Emission

FD 4x4 Centre has almost 50 years of experience in the production of special parts and vehicles. With the roots of the company firmly

FD 4x4 Centre’s CEO Frank Daams has a very clear vision of how the light vehicles in the mining industry should be implemented and April 2019|

“FD 4x4 Centre is a leading specialist in light vehicle conversions for the mining industry.”

—Frank Daams CEO

converted to 100% electric to reduce the mining industries carbon footprint. Reducing carbon emissions results into major benefits like clean and safe working environment and effective cost reducing by lower maintenance and operational costs and less downtime.

Since 2014 Frank Daams is in charge of FD 4x4 Centre, putting emphasis on in-house production and special projects for clients all over the world.

Frank owns FD 4x4 Centre together with his wife Tineke. He says, “We try to look ahead 5 to 10 years and prepare for the changes we see in society. It gives us a lead in many fields, for instance in the mining sector and with the Tembo 4x4 e-LV. All our projects are teamwork.

I want everyone here to enjoy their work and be proud of what we produce. We get a lot of trust from our clients, they allow us to make fantastic projects.”

Centre is to completely develop and build a dedicated 100% electric mining vehicles in house, under its own Tembo 4x4 e-LV label.

Broad Vision for Future FD 4x4 Centre is ambitious and has a skilled workforce, that looks ahead constantly. It delivers quality products and innovative solutions for the 4x4 and off-road market of tomorrow. Its aim is to become one of the top producers of off-road products and accessories. For its clients it offers a complete package from design to production and maintenance, all under one roof. If a part or product is not yet on the market, FD 4x4 Centre can make it for clients based on their requirement. FD 4x4 Centre wants to distinguish themselves by the high level of knowledge in products and the market and also envisions finding innovative solutions.

Electrification of Light Mining Vehicles FD 4x4 Centre will be seen as the industry’s leading company in electrification of light mining vehicles. It is currently working hard to expand its global network of local partners and have set up strategic partnerships in the big mining countries. The future goal of FD 4x4

| April 2019

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Mark rees

Chief Operating Officer

Secucloud GmbH

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April 2019|

Leader's Take

Leadership skills essential for

organizational growth Trust is the key for sustainable development of organizations

C

an one learn leadership? Every winter semester I pull my students through the whole spectrum of “Leadership Theory Parts I and II”: Taylorism; French & Raven; Blanchard; McGregor; Maslow et al. At the end of the semester I have them test their knowledge in a tricky exercise involving a climbing rope and blindfolds. They have to – whilst blindfolded – form, storm, norm and perform as a team and lay the rope (which they are not allowed to let go of) in a predetermined shape on the ground. And yes, they always achieve the objective – one way or another. In contrast I have experienced this exercise as a team member of highly paid and experienced managers and witnessed first-hand the utter failure to even manage a plan, let alone achieve even half of the objective.

Although to be fair, what the managers did achieve (as opposed to the students), was a whopping great conflict of personal differences, with which the rest of the seminar was used to sort out. So what was the difference between these two groups?

A business acquaintance of mine once introduced me to the “power of trust” as a basic concept of leadership. He argued that if there is no trust between the leader and the led, then the possibilities for sustainable leadership are extremely limited and indeed most probably restricted to a short period. Without trust in human relationships there is however a form of leadership and to reference French

| April 2019

and Raven, it is the positional power of coerciveness and reward – the proverbial carrot and stick. That works for a while as long as the (micro) manager exclusively owns the processes and information as a means of control. I believe in the long run, this strategy fails. No (high performing) employee deliberately hangs around for very long in such a situation. I’ve seen this happen numerous times.

Again considering the group of students and the experienced managers with their climbing ropes and blindfolds, what I perceived was extreme differences in levels of trust. The students – in their seventh semester – were close-nit. They were just entering their final thesis, they have common objectives and after 3 and half years spent on campus, an intrinsic trust to one another. In contrast the managers came from varying business units of a large company and were “thrown” together to improve their leadership skills and develop as a leadership group within the company. Each manager had his (the group was all male) own agenda and personal career objectives etc. Each was competing for power and influence before the board. Instead of collaborating to achieve the climbing rope objective, all the micropolitics came out in the exercise and trashed any trust that might have been there at the outset. The evening log fire at the beach was a flop.

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About the Author Mark Rees is the Chief Operating Ofcer at Secucloud GmbH, Hamburg. In his last position Mark Rees was Managing Director of E-POST Development GmbH in Berlin, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post. There, he led an international team comprised of several hundred employees in agile DevOps development teams, and was

T

rust as a subject is rationally difficult to grasp. It is one of those things we intuitively feel as being present (or not) in human relationships. To get a grip on the term, let us start with Peter Drucker’s definition of management “turning resources into production”. Now consider that what leadership does in a company is to apply strategies (resources) to achieve objectives (production). On the one hand the objectives should be such that they inspire people, bringing out their best qualities both in skills and collaboration.

Secondly and as a rule, it is the leader who drives the strategy in order to achieve those objectives and this is the key area where trust within the team and across teams can emerge. It is the means utilized to achieve the ends that define so much about an enterprise. There are of course coercive means, non-compliant means, even illegal means etc., thus the old excuse for bad behavior “the ends justify the means”. In such an environment sub groups form, secrecy becomes endemic and there can only be mistrust and suspicion between people.

responsible for employee direction, as well as the entire budget in the areas of IT security, DevOps, quality assurance, operations and user experience. In his work as COO at Secucloud, Rees applies his expertise in agile leadership and his many years of experience in interdisciplinary IT organizations in the Media and IT security industries.

Approaching the skill of leadership whith consideration of social and ecological factors allows decisions to be made under the reflection for example, of waste reduction, for the good of the many, for sustainable growth etc. In utilizing social and ecological factors in decision-making processes, our unique human form of emotional intelligence is an influential force that significantly influences behavior both of oneself as a leader, and as a member of the collective (the business unit being led). Over time common values and understanding emerge in the group, which in turn develop (forms and storms) and fortifies the culture (the norms), thus producing the high performance unit that every person blessed with the opportunity to lead can aspire to. If you get there it’s the best job in the world!

Trust is a human trait that is available to us all. You can’t simply buy it by attending a leadership seminar, doing an MBA or reading a book. Trust has to be earned and shared unconditionally as a gift. It can be rejected, withheld, it is breakable and can be destroyed in a second. Yet for all its non-tangibility and fragility, it has more power to achieve than anything else in the leadership toolbox.

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April 2019|

The

10

Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

Interlate Utilizing Data and Technology to Improve Productivity

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eal-time data analysis is proving to be a point of difference for Brisbane based Interlate, and according to the company’s Director of Strategy, George McCullough, this live reaction to changes in the value chain provides outstanding results.

Acknowledged Leadership George has a mining technical background with significant operational experience in applying technology to improve productivity. He has international experience across a range of commodities and mining methods.

Recently Mr. McCullough explained how Interlate is integrating their platform with the operations teams of mines around the country and detailed how Interlate’s systems work to identify potential efficiencies.

Leading on from his operational experience, he has had roles in consulting, product development, marketing and executive management for a variety of international mining services and technology companies.

Feedback to Operations Teams The data revolution is sweeping the mining sector, with Interlate at the forefront of the charge, taking a holistic view of the complete value chain for mines.

George is an acknowledged leader who relishes in working with high performance teams to create solutions for complex problems. He is an enthusiastic advocate of adopting solutions and technologies from outside industries.

By not only looking at live data, but also historical information, as well as the context of a given mine’s processes, Interlate provides around the clock feedback to operations teams in real time.

While there may not necessarily be anything fundamentally wrong with the procedures of a given operation, Interlate’s systems work to find possible efficiencies that can significantly impact on productivity, or operating costs. The company estimates that of the 1,400 mineral processing plants globally, improvements are possible in 70% of those facilities.

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Taking an Alternate Approach George McCullough, the Director of Strategy for Interlate, explains that by looking at the overall value chain of a given mine in real-time, inefficient sections can be more accurately identified.

While a traditional approach to data analysis sees isolated portions of a mine scrutinised, Interlate seeks to minimise disruptions over the entire production chain.

George said, “By having a total picture of what’s happening we can find patterns, which gives us insight to how mining operations can improve.

The operations teams can react to those insights in the right timeframe and increase their productivity.

Also, by having access to the right information when operations teams need it, they can avoid potential stoppages or downtime. In that way, delivering data in the right timeframe can actually reduce operations’ risk.”

Tunnel Vision A core strength of Interlate is the fact that the company’s staff come from operational backgrounds, and thus, understand the constraints and stresses of the task.

While the attention of operations teams is on mine safety and continual operation, often focus can be lost on the bigger picture.

George said, “We’re not in any way implying that people are doing something wrong in their operations teams, it’s just that in our experience there is a lot of local optimisation; people focus on the things that they know. They take care of those components, but they are not necessarily aware of downstream impacts of their decisions, or what is happening in other areas of that value chain.

In our experience, the cause of inefficiency is not incompetence; it’s being limited to a view of your local area of operations, rather than an overarching perspective.”

April 2019|

“The operations teams can react to those insights in the right timeframe and increase their productivity.”

—George McCullough Director of Strategy

The Advantage of Live Core to Interlate’s advantage is the live feedback the company’s systems provide to the mines.

Some forms of data analysis can look to improve performance down the track, but Interlate seeks to add value as events are unfolding.

hand over a result, we literally become an extension of the operations team.

Getting that historical data, but also the operating context, is what helps us deliver meaningful insights to the operations.”

The Human Factor As the digital transformation and continuing progression of automation makes waves in the mining sector, one factor is often overlooked – the human decision-making process.

George said, “The mining companies in general are pretty good at doing real time data acquisition. Interlate adds value by taking that real time data acquisition, and putting it through some pretty sophisticated analytics - we’ve got experts that can look for improvements, and then we can deliver that back in the same timeframe as the data is being collected.”

“From the Interlate perspective, you cannot gloss over the role of people, which is still driving productivity. That is really the core of our business, one of our central philosophies.

Looking Back to Look Forward While Interlate’s point of difference is in live feedback, that information can only be made possible via insight into the history of the mine.

When a company makes a decision, it’s a person who makes the decision: a real person, not a machine. People are still vitally important in making decisions that are going to have huge impacts on companies and their productivity.

Working from a baseline of previous data, Interlate combines many factors from the mine site to seek efficiencies.

Data can help those people make decisions more confidently, and make better decisions quicker, by getting real-time insights to those people.”

George continued, “There’s actually quite a bit more involved than purely ones and zeroes in data; a part of that historical component is the actual operating context of the site, and this is a key feature of how Interlate works.

We are very different in our approach to traditional consulting companies; we don’t do analysis in isolation and | April 2019

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3

Remarkable

Innovations

in the Field of

Printing

Business 36|

April 2019|

Editor’s Choice

I

n the year 1450, when Blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg ďŹ rst introduced a movable type press in the German city of Mainz, a printing revolution had got erupted.

This invention encouraged more people to proliferate and distribute their creative/informative ideas though printed texts. Sooner, plethora of work related to literature, religious scriptures, scientiďŹ c papers, ontological treaties, law texts among other started publishing out in the European region which later got adopted globally at large scale and helped individuals and others to promote/sell their ideas.

This printing revolution still considered as one of the most important event in the history of printing and for the humankind as a whole. With the passage of time many other inventions have been taken places that have boosted the printing business at large.

Here we have enlisted some of the recent developments that are worth mentioning, and which are also considered as a turning point for the arena of printing business.

Nano Printing: 3D printing has witnessed many remarkable breakthroughs in recent years, Nano printing is one such innovation. Due to this cutting-edge printing technology it is now possible to print and integrate tiny components directly on to the integrated circuits include micro-lenses onto photonic circuits and deformable structures on MEMS actuators.

Interestingly, what was a dream some decades ago has become a reality with this technology as it is now possible to print microscopic objects with complex geometry and sizes of nanometres to several millimetres. Such things can be printed on a single printing step and that too on a scale which was not possible before. Such innovative change of on-printing brings new perspectives for developing nano and microscopic 3D component in a hassle free manner.

| April 2019

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Moreover, its application has significance in many vital areas including Artificial Organs, Tissue Engineering, Stem cell-based Regenerative Medicine and Therapy, Fabrication of Nano Scale Devices among other. Customers also reap huge benefit by utilizing this technology as it provides great precision, stability, and support 3D custom design at large scale.

How this Technology Works?

In this printing technology, Nanoscribe’s Photonic Professional GT system uses the technique of two-photon polymerization. In this process a laser gets expose to a photosensitive resin by a high-numerical aperture objective that too in a controlled trajectory following CAD design.

The interesting thing here is that the material gets solidified only in the laser focused spot and thus allows printing the exact 3D structure with submicron features. Such advancements have expanded the use of this technique for printing pre-manufactured circuits and opens new ways for executing on-chip printing as well. Nanotechnology for printing – is truly innovative as it alters materials at the atomic and molecular level.

Water-based Printing: Many printing technologies use inks made from harmful chemical substances which creates negative impact on the printer, wearer and the environment at large. Usage of harsh chemicals and toxic waste also always keep various regulatory agencies on vigil. Therefore, there was a dire need of a technique which can do a fine printing by minimizing the bad effects on environment at large. The birth of water-based printing fulfilled that need.

The innovation of water-based printing has started a new era in printing space which is hugely considered as environment friendly. In this technology, the ink is not made of plastic and other damaging petroleum or fossil fuels; instead ‘water’ here is act as the main solvent and thus makes it an environment friendly printing technology.

Moreover, what are making this technology scalable and popular are its other fascinating features famously includes its fine print quality and affordability over the other prevailing printing technologies.

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Its solvents decrease the time and heat necessary to absorb the ink film on fabric and instead of just spreading on the outer layer of the fabric, its ink flow deep into the fabric and create a much better look and ultimately a much better end-user experience. Further, water based inks are thinner and you can actually print with higher precision to give a good texture as compared to thicker inks like plastisol.

Moreover, the increased softness and flexibility of waterbased prints have the potential to win customers heart every time when they touch a fabric printed using this technology.

Many leading organization are considering this technology over plastisol and it is just the matter of time before this technology becomes an industry standard in the printing business.

Conductive Ink: Invention of conductive ink is one the greatest milestones in the business of printing and it has the potential to change thefuture of printing business as well.

What’s unique in this technology is its ‘ink’ which contains conductive materials like silver nanoparticles or conductive polymers which gives them the ability to conduct electricity. This conductive (Silver) ink has multiple uses today including printing RFID tags as used in modern transit tickets, they can be used to improvise or repair circuits on printed circuit boards as well. Although, this technology is in early stage and its mainstream adoption may probably takes several years but it is a promising technique which can be effectively used in many different applications including the creation of interactive posters, billboards, and other advertising materials.

Interestingly, this technology also holds promise to play sound just by touching a paper or connect you to your phone app just by interacting with a poster on the wall that is linked to the app. Moreover, it has the same capacitive sensing technology that is present in modern day electronic devices like tablets, smartphones among others.

April 2019|

The

10

Most Recommended

Service Providers 2019

Softree Technical Systems Civil Engineering Software for Haul & Access Road Design & Optimization

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n an Interview with Insights Success, David Mills, Cofounder of Softree Technical Systems, describes the journey of Softree Technical Systems and about its contribution to the software industry. Softree Technical Systems develops and supports high quality software tools for engineers working on corridor based projects such as roads, pipelines, and railways.

Applications of Softree products have been utilized by engineers in the civil, forestry, oil and gas, military, government and mining industries. Its engineering team focuses on developing innovative solutions to problems its clients face on a day to day basis. Softree is dedicated to working with its clients to keeping the standard of its software to the highest possible level. It prides itself on keeping its programs light, fast, and easy to use.

Below are the highlights of the interview between David Mills and Insights Success.

Give a brief overview of your company, its solutions and services.

Softree is a developer of engineering software in both civil and natural resources markets, including forestry and mining. Softree has been providing innovative software solutions for surveying, mapping and civil engineering for more than 25 years. We develop software that is innovative and powerful. We’re always trying to tackle new large and complex engineering problems. But leave the complicated stuff to us. Our software works hard behind the scenes so that our users can

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always enjoy a simple and intuitive interface.

using it, mining companies are able to design their access and haul roads faster, in house, and at a lower cost.

Softree has three core products: RoadEng - Softree’s road and site design software. It is ideal for applications in resource industries: forestry, mining, and energy. RoadEng allows for the geometric design of ramps, access roads and haul roads with constant feedback from real-time window interactivity.

Softree Optimal - Softree Optimal is a vertical alignment optimization program that runs as an add-on for RoadEng, or other civil design products. Ideal for haul and access road optimization, it generates the lowest cost vertical alignment based on the ground surface, the horizontal alignment, and the design parameters and constraints entered by the user. It will bring down road construction costs by 10-30% or more.

Terrain Tools – Terrain Tools is a software toolkit for 3D mapping, terrain modelling and land development. Fully geo-referenced, it reads a variety of formats including LiDAR, Shape, DWG and images.

Alongside TIN and contour map creation, it offers a variety of simple but powerful features available for site design and grading. Create 3D surfaces: terracing, channels, ditches, pads or sub-surface zones.

Describe the ways in which your mining solutions are focused on being customer centric.

Our software is designed for the engineer, not a CAD Tech. Also, by

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of your company.

The core goal of our company is to develop software tools that are easier to use.

Other CAD-based civil design software systems try to do too much. More is no longer better. I read a survey recently of CAD-based design users and it revealed that only a fraction of the software’s functionality is used. In many cases, users weren’t even aware if their software could do a specific function, much less how to go about doing it.

Our goal is to avoid that – we often take functions and features out of the software if they are not important. Our software is easy to use, easy to complete your project.

What are the evident challenges in the mining industry and what are your company’s strategies to tackle these challenges?

Access road and haul roads represent a significant cost to mining operations.

Designing lower cost roads (in terms of earthworks) and better roads to reduce cycle times are important to us.

RoadEng with our optimization add-on included can do just that!

Our software allows engineers to design the lowest-cost haul road design that satisfies their design constraints & standards. Optimization technology April 2019|

“Easy to use engineering software solutions.”

—David Mills P.Eng, Software Engineer & Co-founder

automates the creation of your vertical alignment and can bring down construction costs by 10-30% or more.

What is your perception on mining exploration in relation to climate change?

Access and haul roads, along with the actual mines themselves, create a lasting mark on our physical landscape.

It is important to us to create tools that allow the engineer to best determine the location of the roads and to minimize the earthworks involved in creating them.

Designing an efficient haul road is of critical importance.

Haul roads in both their construction and more so in their use, are a tremendous cost in mining. The cost and total emissions from transporting the mined materials can vary greatly depending on the design of the road.

Where does Softree Technical Systems see itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals?

Softree is focused on continuing our development of easy to use engineering software tools and leadership in the area of corridor optimization. We are nearly to market with the next level of alignment optimization, horizontal optimization.

And we are very excited!

Client Testimonials McElhanney discovered “RoadEng” while looking for an easier way to deliver resource based road designs. Years ago, we tested the software with immediate success, going from watching training modules on the weekend to project delivery without delay in the following weeks.

Since that time, it has quickly become a company-wide standard tool for the design of linear based projects

| April 2019

including resource roads, construction access, pad design, pipelines, pedestrian trails, etc. We regularly us it to manage large LiDAR base plans, conceptual engineering, earthworks balance, and preparation of final drawings (planprofile-cross sections-mass haul). We believe its greatest strengths are how easy it is to learn and fine-tune design alignments. The ability to have the plan, profile, cross section, and mass haul open at the same time provides a great visual aid for designers which leads to more effective designs. The addition of “Optimal” provides valued engineering for large projects based on a wide range of criteria by automating the process. The Softree team is friendly and provides great support.”

– Jason Paquette, AScT, Senior Technologist, McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd Softree sticks to its word in providing a “Clean Simple Approach”. As they say “The key to good software is its ability to deliver power without complexity”. So true! I highly recommend Softree, and we are proud to be a client.”

– Matt Mahoney Design Engineer Franklin County Public Works Department, Franklin County, WA “We really like the ease of use of RoadEng, it lets us try a variety of alignment options and quickly provides us with material quantities differences” “The software is relatively easy to use, with minimal time invested in learning and maximum time spend on design optimization.”

– Travis Peterson, Canada Projects Limited, Calgary, AB About the Leader David Mills, P.Eng is a principal in the company. He does a little of everything at times, Mostly software design, development, testing, support and documentation.

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3D Printing

WHY

Consumables Producers need to get involved in

PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES? “To sell the oil, give away the lamp!”

T

his Chinese proverb already made sense thousands of years ago, when a certain wick sucked up oil of a defined viscosity – and it certainly helped finding new customers for the seller’s oil. This principle has always been utilized; think of the razor blade, game console sellers, mobile phone service providers –or 2D Printer producers offering the machine even at a loss, knowing the specially designed cartridge will more than compensate for the poor hardware deal by selling the modern oil: The ink.

Unfortunately today’s giant chemists like BASF, Covestro, Evonik and the like believe in the “Open Platform Initiative” of the new sun in the 3D printing sky, Hewlett Packard. This is certainly a good deal for HP, as they already lost reputation during the years they couldn’t deliver -after having announced their new technology way before. Realizing their patents and building the machine became a nightmare, thousands of unplanned man-years went into this endeavor; and the big players on the chemical side didn't really know how to access the market that was so young, undeveloped –and still doesn’t show a clear path as to what technology will “win”. So the chemists tested the waters with HP, and it looks as if both sides have found a winning position.

Why then “unfortunately”?

Because both sides will fail: If you dig into the annual reports, truth is that the printer sellers make their profit

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margin on the oil side –they need to sell consumables in order to finance R&D and machine production. On the other hand the chemists produce their oil, well adapted to the machinist’s needs. Should the hardware partner face economical reality and be forced to achieve margin by taking the nice consumables business into his own hands, the chemist will realize how helpful he was –and how helpless he is now.

And there is even a third loser: The 3D printing r/evolution is retarded! The machinist only knows his kingdom, he creates machines. But 3D printing is about chemistry, the oil is king, for sure! So the chemist should invent the new technologies, as he defines the ingredients of tomorrow’s magic substances, enabling incredible properties. Carbon3D is a good example here, his founder, Joseph Desimone, is a chemist, the well funded company received over $ 400 mn and is a unicorn, showing a pre IPO value easily surpassing $ 1 bn.

So chemistry it is! The next revolutionary printing step will be brought to life by a chemist’s imagination.

This is why these big players need the courage to add a hardware leg and start tinkering with prototypes. They cannot wait for the machinist to tell them what material they need, neither for customers cozing their wishes. In the end product producers don’t care about machines, technologies and chemistry, all they need is affordable

April 2019|

Mentor’s Standpoint

material properties for production methods that need less post processing, like assembly. The time is in favor of intelligent more complex design, the chemistry can offer the properties, but the hardware is lacking speed, reliability and affordability. That is why 3D printing didn’t climb up the industrial ladder and injection molding still isn’t replaceable.

In consequence, hardware is the chemist’s “must have”, as it is the chemistry that defines the printing rules, the algorithms, and the speed. It all starts with the combination of molecules, and the hardware is the necessary evil the chemist needs to bring to a working prototype level; a TRL 5 (technology readiness level, 5=technology demonstrator) would already be sufficient, so the baton can be passed on to the professional machinist for optimization of the hardware side.

This is exactly what we do at Geniusthingks.

With a bucket full of 3D Printing inventions we don’t talk to printer producers, but to chemists at first. They give all the necessary input to determine material properties and speeds. We offer technologies from FDM filament heads mixing colors and materials, to huge daylight resin printers, gel pushing robots for prototypes surpassing 100 m³ of print volume, house printing robots -and our specialty: drum printers that will replace these lame ducks of planar printers, ac/decelerating for every layer.

Printer design will see a paradigm shift in the coming years, when chemistry allows for faster layers than today’s machines can offer mechanically due to their physical limits.

Industrial production needs to come close to injection molding speeds plus assembly time, so layer-speeds of 100 m/sec need to be achieved.

This is more than a breakneck speed for the current producers; with HP offering 7.55sec/layer, claiming to be 10 times faster than the next fastest machine, their “industrial” future doesn’t look too bright.

Geniusthingks however has filed several patents potentially surpassing this requirement and is looking for partners to realize the prototypes.

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Markus Ulrich Founder & CEO

Geniusthingks

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Markus Ulrich is the Founder and CEO of Geniusthingks. His think tank offers unconventional solutions for tough nuts to crack, mainly in the 3D printing and smart bullet weapons-industry. Markus studied mechanical engineering, founded and led an IT-database company for 13 years and built machines all his life.

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