If you’re a mechanic or engineer in coal mining, iron ore mining, or another type of mine, who has a good idea to fix that reoccurring problem, who do you go to?

Red tape is a killer of all good ideas, and the mining industry is not short of it.

Torqn is a soon-to-be-launched global connection platform for users, suppliers, and regulators of industrial plant and equipment. Among other things, Torqn is a place where red tape is cut.

If you’re someone like co-founder Troy McDonald – with a career as a mining engineer and former President of Illawarra Coal – a direct line to Australian miners is what’s needed to share what they know, to work around slow-moving management, and drive change with manufacturers.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

‘One of the biggest benefits to Torqn is the ability to rapidly diagnose a problem,’ said McDonald.

 ‘This really accelerates improvement. As a miner or a manufacturer, you can find out the perception of an innovation and how to solve a problem.

Barriers to fixing reoccurring problems is a blight on the industry

‘Engineers, mechanics, and operators have a barrier with Management where they are forced to fix that same thing every day of the week,’ continued McDonald.

‘If they have no contacts, miners are often left high and dry. Now they can get information they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten in real time.

Democratise innovation – that’s just what’s needed

‘Our users now have avenues and opportunities to learn that’s not controlled by others in Management,’ continued McDonald.

‘Where the manufacturers aren’t giving value on the ground then there is a significant opportunity to go elsewhere for those insights. The manufacturers will be prompted, if not forced, to provide better innovations.’

Tricky problems revealed and resolved quickly

‘There are problems that don’t always have obvious solutions and that’s when Torqn will help most,’ said McDonald.

‘I had a case where noise levels were too high for health & safety standards and our engineer had to reduce noiseby 5 decibels. After some noise modelling, sharing that problem with the community may reveal systemic issues with the equipment and the way others have fixed them.

‘The manufacturers will be put on notice as these problems across the industry are revealed and allow the industry to work more collaboratively to solve them.