Organizational engineering and typification of organizational structures of an underground mine

The article discusses approaches to organizational design and typification of mine structures as a case-study of underground mines of Nornickel’s Polar Division. The significant changes in organizational structures in the last ten years are described, including creation of Medvezhiy Ruchey company in 2018, placement of non-core assets in Norilsk Supplier Group in 2018–2019, setting-up of the Specialized Mining Equipment Plant in 2021 and motor transport associations in 2022–2023. Emphasis is laid on interconnection of organizational structure and ore mining processes. An effective structure should take into account specificity of the main operations (access, preparatory work, stoping, haulage), and auxiliary and supply processes, as well as the general process flow chart of a mine. It is a tenable necessity to transform the organizational structure periodically (cardinally once in ten years and in a minor way annually) for adapting to changes of the external environment. The details of introduction of planning centers at the mines of the Polar Division in 2019–2020, which made a framework for the development of ‘digital’ mines, are given. The tools of mining operation planning and control (model MineScape, MineSched, dispatching, automated mining practice management), which improved operativeness and validity of production planning, are described. An important achievement was the typification of organizational structures of mines in 2023, with six functional verticals: director of a mine, deputy directors of safety, duty and production, chief engineer, industrial resources, production and facilities management. Such distribution shut down duplication of functions, reduced erroneous decision-making and ensured adequate solving of practice-related problems. The economic effect of typification of structures includes optimization of labor compensation fund, reduction of administrative charges and improvement of work performance owing to the articulate vertical distribution of functions and introduction of the advanced apparatus of automation and digitalization in mining practice. The modifications promoted development of organizational engineering as an important element of efficiency control at a mining company.