5 advantages of adopting ERP in the mining sector

The mining sector comprises activities related to the extraction and transformation of natural resources, especially minerals such as gold, silver, copper, iron or coal, among others.

It plays a fundamental role in the economic activity of many countries since, in addition to providing raw materials for other industries, it is a sector that generates a large amount of employment and has a large number of people dedicated to this activity.

In fact, in Spain, more than 29,000 people currently work in this sector, which has an annual turnover of more than 4 billion euros.

In addition, these activities can have a significant impact on the environment, so organizing them in a sustainable and responsible way is essential for their contribution to society.

What is an ERP?

An ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, a resource planning system. In other words, it is a software or digital program that automates and manages all the processes carried out in a business during its activity. According to a study, 52% of companies already use this system to manage their resources.

Among its functions, we can highlight several types of management:

• Financial: allows you to keep track of the revenues, expenses and profits made in a company.

• Supply: offers the possibility of organizing all processes from the purchase of a material through production to its final sale to a customer.

• Inventory: facilitates logistical control in a company and optimizes the search, location, and distribution of products.

• Resources: includes the possibility of managing the documents necessary for the maintenance of a company, such as payroll or invoices.

• Reports: allows measurements and analysis that help to make decisions based on data.

5 advantages of adopting an ERP

Are you in the mining sector and thinking about using an ERP tool to manage your business? If so, we are going to show you 5 advantages that will help you to solve your doubts:

1. Include all your activities in the same tool: it will help you to unify all your business resources, such as material, means of transport, machinery or employees, in the same software to manage them more efficiently and improve productivity.

2. Possibility to automate repetitive tasks: In the mining industry, you constantly have to deal with elaborate data, such as the type of materials or resources. Sometimes this process can be time-consuming, so using a digital tool such as an ERP can save a lot of time, optimize the use of resources and significantly improve data processing errors.

3. Manage all your information in a common database: you will be able to consult from anywhere and at any time all the necessary information about your business, since you will find it in the same program. This will allow you to be more flexible and maximize your time to be more productive.

4. Detailed follow-up of your resources: an ERP will offer you the possibility to measure the results of your business at any level in order to detect strengths and areas for improvement. For example, you will be able to check if your business is organized correctly or if the people employed in the extraction of materials are sufficient or if some can focus on distribution management activities.

5. Reduce costs during the production process: in addition to being able to anticipate possible circumstances, having all the information in the same tool such as ERP can help you reduce time when performing tasks and, therefore, reduce costs that can be used to invest them in another area.

These are just some of the advantages that an ERP can offer to your mining business. If you want to discover new techniques and tools to optimize your SME, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter!