Environmental sustainability in the mining sector: evidence from Catalan companies

This paper examines the adoption of environmental practices in small and medium sized companies inthe surface mining industry in Catalonia (Spain). To fulfill this aim, a survey of 41 items concernint environmental management systems and environmentally sustainable practices has been conducted. Results show that companies have committed themselves to environmental and sustainable issues. The majority of companies claim to understand the effects of their activities on the environment and they care for responsible access and management of natural resources. Restoration plans and the annual waste declaration are mandatory in Catalonia, and rational resources exploitation practices have been adopted by a high percentage of mines. Finally, some examples of good environmentally sustainable practices are introduced.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Characteristics of the 3 most common types of occupational accident in Spanish sub-surface and surface mining, from 2003–2008

The rate for work related accidents in Spanish mining has decreased during recent years. However, the incidence rate per 100,000 workers in the Spanish mining sector in 2007 was significantly higher than the ones reported in the mining industry of other countries. This result implies that studies and research should be carried out in order to reveal the nature of the factors influencing the high incidence rates of the Spanish mining sector. Thus, this article offers features of the 3 most common types of accident of the Spanish mining industry during the period of 2003–2008. For each type of accident, the analysis proceeds as follows: 1) Modeling of the adjusted exponential distribution in terms of workdays lost; 2) Calculation of the risk index adjusted by age group of injured workers; 3) Identification of the 3 main deviations or immediate causes. Los índices de siniestralidad laboral en la minería española han disminuido en los últimos años. Sin embargo, la incidencia por cada 100.000 trabajadores en el año 2008 era considerablemente mayor que la de la minería de otros países. Ello implica que deban realizarse estudios e investigaciones que pongan de manifiesto la naturaleza de los factores que influyen en la alta incidencia de siniestralidad laboral del sector minero español. Así, en el presente estudio se presentan las características más importantes de los 3 tipos de accidentes más frecuentes de la minería española en el período 2003-2008.Por cada tipo de accidente se realiza lo siguiente: 1) Modelización de la distribución de los accidentes en función de los días perdidos; 2) Cálculo del Índice de Riesgo por grupos de edades de los trabajadores accidentados; 3) identificación de las 3 principales desviaciones o causas inmediatas de los accidentes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Responsabilidad social corporativa en la minería: criterios e indicadores

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) includes economic, social and environmental aspects, and it has particular significance in mining. This paper explores the subject of CSR in the mining industry and the main synergies between CSR and environmental, safety and quality management systems, whose adoption has increased during recent decades. It proposes the establishment of a set of criteria for sustainability, ethics and human capital (to be called CSR criteria). Whilst various international bodies have proposed CSR guides and indicators (commonly used as references for Stock Market investments), there is evidence that the size of the company can act as a moderator factor to the adoption of those systems. The paper offers an easy-to-use CSR performance chart (composed of 31 indicators and a global index), intended as an internal measure for companies of CSR continuous improvement.La Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) incluye aspectos económicos, sociales y medioambientales, y tiene especial importancia en la minería. En este artículo se explora la disciplina de RSC en la industria minera y las sinergias principales con los sistemas de gestión medioambiental, de seguridad y de calidad, la adopción de los cuales ha aumentado durante las últimas décadas. Se propone el establecimiento de un conjunto de criterios de sostenibilidad, ética y capital humano (denominados criterios de RSC). Distintos organismos internacionales han propuesto guías e indicadores de RSC (normalmente utilizados como referencias para cotizaciones bursátiles), pero hay evidencias que el tamaño de la empresa puede actuar como factor moderador en la adopción de estos sistemas. En el artículo se presenta un cuadro de control de RSC fácil de utilizar (formado por 31 indicadores y un índice global), pensado como una medida interna de la mejora continua de la RSC de las empresas

Tercerca llengua a l'àrea d'empresa dels graus d'enginyeria

En els graus d’enginyeria, dues assignatures obligatòries, Empresa i Organització de la Producció, formen la matèria d’Empresa a l’Escola Politècnica Superior d’Enginyeria de Manresa, ambdues assignatures estan aplicant l’AICLE (Aprenentatge Integrat de Continguts i Llengua Estrangera) compaginant l’anglès amb el català i castellà. Escoltar, parlar, llegir i escriure són els mitjans per aprendre nova informació i per a comunicar-la. L’alumnat té una autèntica necessitat de fer servir l’anglès i hi té força interès. No obstant, tenen força dificultats a l’hora de parlar i, en general, a l’hora de construir les frases. L’avaluació es fa per mitjà de diferents activitats. Una important dificultat per a aplicar l’AICLE és la manca de recursos. En aquest treball presentem les diferents tècniques i recursos que fem servir a cada assignatura.Peer Reviewe

Lean manufacturing, de la fàbrica grisa a la fàbrica verda

Aquest treball explora les sinèrgies entre lean manufacturing i la sostenibilitat, per tal de valorar en quina mesura el fet de treballar amb el model lean contribueix directament a la sostenibilitat i fins a quin punt hi pot contribuir indirectament, facilitant la implantació de programes específics

Gestión de la subsidencia minera en la cuenca minera potásica de Cataluña

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Optimizing Stochastic Supply Chains via Simulation: What is an Appropriate Simulation Run Length

The most common solution strategy for stochastic supply-chain man-agement problems that are analytically intractable is simulation. But, how can we be sure that the optimal solution obtained by simulation is in fact the true optimal solution? In this paper we try to shed light on this question. We report the results of an extensive simulation study of a base-stock controlled production-inventory system. We tried different values of base-stock levels (R) to determine, via simulation, which was the value that minimized the total inventory holding and backordering costs per period. For 25 different cases (and 100 replications each), we compared the optimal solution obtained from simulation (Rs*) with the true optimal base-stock level (Ra*) obtained from an analytical result, with the goal of obtaining a lowerbound of 95% matches. Results show that when the traffic in-tensity increases, the run length necessary to achieve a minimum of 95% matches increases too, and when the backorder cost increases, the number of matches de-creases for each specific run length. In most of the cases simulated, 100,000 de-mands were enough to achieve reasonably reliable results.Postprint (published version

Increasing online shop revenues with web scraping: a case study for the wine sector

Purpose – Wine has been produced for thousands of years and nowadays we have seen a spread in the wine culture. E-commerce sales of wine have increased considerably and online customer’s satisfaction is influenced by quality and price. This paper presents a case study of the company “QuieroVinos, S.L.”, an online wine shop founded in 2015 that sells Spanish wines in two main marketplaces. Design/methodology/approach – With the final target of increasing the company profits it has been designed and developed an application to track the prices of competitors for a set of products. This information will be used to set the product prices in order to offer the products both competitively and profitably in each Marketplace. This application must check, by tacking into account information such as the product cost or the minimum product margin, if it is possible to decrease the price in order to reach the top cheapest position and as a consequence, increase the sales. Findings – The application improved in a notorious way the company’s results in terms of sales and shipping costs. It must be said that without the use of the presented application, performing the price comparison process within each one of the marketplaces would have taken a long time. Moreover, as prices change very frequently, the obtained information has a very limited time value, and the competitors prices should be analyzed daily in order to take accurate decisions regarding the company’s price policy. Originality/value – Although the application has been designed for the wine sector and the two named marketplace, it could be exported to other sectors. For that, it should be implemented new modules to collect information regarding the competitor’s price of the products selling on each corresponding marketplaceThis work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under contract TIN2017- 84553-C2-2-R. Also, the authors are members of the research group 2017-SGR363, funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya