The Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) has been evaluating this mild hysteria and is attempting to expand its services and understand the huge demands being made by the mining industry globally.
Amidst this flurry, SAMSSA has decided to implement a number of important pieces in the flight plan that will strengthen its long-term viability.
The first step is to make every attempt at improving the business operating systems of the SMEs within the supply sector. SAMSSA has introduced a Business Solutions Centre for anyone interested in continuous improvement and finding the optimum system that creates efficiencies, so each company can respond to the increasing demands of the mining sector. Creditable software that has proven successful will be offered to anyone interested in moving forward and having some direct influence over escalating demand. Traffic controllers are important to maintain order and proven software such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), eCatalogues, Document Management Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP), for example, can be your traffic controllers. These are now available on the SAMSSA website for anyone looking for a solution.
We also need competent pilots and we are very proud of our management leadership in the member companies of SAMSSA. We have decided to recognize the dedicated leaders with vision and competencies to grow companies and create wealth and employment.
The SAMSSA Hall of Fame will recognize management leaders who have developed and provided advanced technologies and/or products and services that have improved the efficiencies of mining globally and domestically and have built or assisted in building companies in Northern Ontario that have proven to be successful.
The leaders in the mining supply and service industry have proven that mining is only as efficient and productive as the quality of products and services provided from mining supply companies. Over 400 Northern Ontario mining supply and service companies can boast of their historical influence in mining camps worldwide and their significant employment opportunities for skilled personnel making this sector larger in number than all direct mining and refining jobs in Northern Ontario.
Making all this happen are industry managers and leaders who have improved their craft and management skills and have created a major industrial sector that is recognized globally.
SAMSSA wishes to recognize those leaders both living or deceased by hosting and honouring the best member leaders at our annual meeting held every December and acknowledging the time, effort and competencies these visionaries have brought to Northern Ontario.
The winners will be an integral part of the SAMSSA web site in a special portal that recognizes their valuable contribution and they will receive a special token of appreciation.
Finding co-pilots to assist with the flight is also important. With the assistance of Dr. Doug Goldsack, formerly of Laurentian University, we held a strategic discussion with a number of highly qualified PhDs in Engineering in Laurentian’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. This exchange was an attempt to strengthen research partnerships between SAMSSA members and young, bright academics who may wish to affect change in operational processes in active companies. Further contacts will be investigated and hopefully develop into stronger connections between academia and private sector companies.
SAMSSA is also continuing to find solutions with its partners in education to find skilled workers and trades people who will assist companies to grow and meet demands. The need for an able crew of competent people makes the flight plan better and provides the ongoing human capital needed for success. SAMSSA has been working with Cambrian College and College Boreal to recommend appropriate programs and co-op placements that will fill the human resource gap all mining supply and service companies are experiencing. College Boreal Trades Department recently held a round table with industry and faculty to look at ways of working together to find a solution.
The wings are spreading and the long-term relationships are growing. SAMSSA is in flight and ready to go.
