Iron ore has been the core of our operation over the past 130 years, but to optimise our core business now and in the future, we also need to mine and upgrade data – our digital ore.
Our ambition is to establish a new world standard for mining and to make LKAB the world's most sustainable mining company. To succeed, we must also be the most digitalised industrial company in the world. The transformation is complex and we are not aware of all of the challenges that await us – but of one thing we are convinced; digitalisation enables solutions to the challenges we will face. It is essential for success in realising the greatest industrial transition in Swedish history.
Digitalisation creates an even more sophisticated human-machine interaction. Our co-workers have even more insight, thanks to an increased information flow with near-realtime data. This leads to faster, better decisions. Digitalisation also contributes to the realisation of our goal to become fossil-free. By transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet, we can now reduce carbon dioxide emissions and energy use through better coordination of transportation and more efficient use of machinery. The latter also relies on high-quality data.
Mining has long taken place under ground. Now we're moving our operation up to the cloud. By moving to the cloud, we improve the availability of high-quality data. This allows us to create synergies between data users and operating areas. We are also working with new technologies that facilitate production. With graphical simulations and models of future plant and processes, we can test solutions in theory before implementing them in practice. This improves both quality and profitability.
By 2045 we will have set a new standard for what an industrial company can be. We will be completely fossil-free in terms of both products and processes. No one should be injured at work – not one person, ever again. At the same time, we will increase productivity by 50%. And when we reach that goal we will not be finished – that is only the beginning.
Digitalisation is making us a smarter LKAB, and that is a prerequisite for being the LKAB of the future.