ABSTRACT
The mining and metals sector is among the last significant industrial area to begin to move forward aggressively with the use of integrated computer systems to renew and improve all areas of the enterprise. These areas include financial management, materials management, maintenance, processing/production, and the supply chain. Momentum began to build in the mid-1990s, to embrace the information technologies available off-the-shelf to significantly renew these and other business processes across the value chain that, in many cases, have remained unchanged for decades. The impetus for this movement is rooted in the belief, on the part of early adopters, that there is a solid business case for change, a business case which helps to significantly address executives’ long-term business concerns about maximally leveraging corporate assets and stakeholder/shareholder value.
