Process Approach in a Mining Company: LW Bogdanka S.A. Case Study

This article concerns the management of the Polish mining company Lubelski Węgiel (LW) Bogdanka S.A. The main aim of this paper was to describe the whole process of implementing a process approach to management in one of the most important mining companies in Poland. The objective of the research presented was the incorporation of the process approach in LW Bogdanka S.A. to enhance its management and to improve the effectiveness of its mining process. This paper uses a case study method and presents a practical incorporation of the process approach and its results. The first phase of the proposed solution included building a map of business processes. Then, the research consisted of an analysis of existing processes; the introduction of new solutions, mainly in the field of infrastructure and IT systems; and changing the awareness of key process owners. The motivation for applying this approach was to achieve greater efficiency and continuous improvement in LW Bogdanka S.A. The main results and achievements were not merely limited to the development of a map of processes and subprocesses, but also led to an improvement in organizational structure, changes in approach to company management, a diagnosis of problems in the most important company departments, and the proposal of solutions to them.