A relatively new kind of shopping experience is continuing to capture the interest and dollars of consumers: the pop-up retail showroom.
Most of us are aware of several recent closures of brick and mortar stores. Yet, at the same time, new retail outlets are sprouting up and prospering. It’s incongruous, yet it’s happening. This quote from a recent MIT Sloan Management Review article summarizes today’s retail landscape: "Offline is dead and dying, yet it is also alive and thriving."
The pop-up showroom offers potential buyers a firsthand opportunity to touch, feel and experience a product. They get to ask questions and even try it out. This trend is revolutionizing retail, both on the "buy" side and the "sell" side, and it aligns with what is resonating well in NORCAT’s Underground Centre in Sudbury, Canada.
Come on Down, Down, Down to our "Store"
Similar to the transformations experienced in other industries such as manufacturing, the consumerization of mining technology is well underway. At NORCAT’s Underground Centre, we’re applying the same principles sweeping the retail sector by providing a "pop-up store" for customers to see, touch, and try products before they buy. At our facility, mining tech firms engage prospective mining customers in an operating mine environment that informs and promotes the decision to buy. Does it work? Yes, it does. Here’s our story.
Headquartered in Sudbury, Canada, NORCAT is the only non-profit regional innovation centre in the world with an operating mine. The NORCAT Underground Centre enables start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and international companies to develop, test and demonstrate innovative and emerging technologies in a real-life environment. Our goal is to be the global "one-stop shop" for the future of mining technology and innovation, and that is becoming a reality.
Given the vibrancy and diversity of products on display, the Centre has become the destination for mining executives and decision makers to see the technologies poised to transform the industry. In creating and launching this venue, we have helped build and support Canada’s global reputation as a market leader in the mining industry. Through our active laboratory, we help foster relationships between mining technology firms (the "builders" of innovation) and mining companies (the "buyers" of innovation). As such, we have created a vibrant, always-evolving ecosystem like no other in the world.
The Mining Technology Challenge
Over the years, many mining companies have continued to divest their in-house research and development capacity. This precipitated a burgeoning vibrant mining technology sector to help the industry solve the challenges that still exist. Can tech firms simply bring their wares to a potential mining customer, set-up a demo in an operating drift, and show them how the product works? No, it’s not quite that simple. Testing technology on site in a large-scale operating mine could be both costly and potentially disruptive. Mining companies seek the products and services of mining tech firms. Mining tech firms seek mining clients. They need each other, but the path to market and solving the problems often needs an injection of creativity.
That’s where NORCAT comes in. Our Underground Centre fills the gap and provides what both sides need. For builders of innovation, our operating mine allows them to develop, test and showcase cutting-edge products and services. Buyers of innovation send delegates to see the future of mining up close and assess how it fits into their business. Management and technical teams meet and collaborate in actual working conditions. It’s a win-win-win approach.
How our Underground Centre Serves the Builders and Buyers of Innovation
Here’s an illustrative example: New Mining Tech Inc. has a breakthrough product for the mining industry. They have validated the market opportunity and developed a beta product. Now, they need potential buyers to understand this innovation is not only viable, but also a must-have. With a long sales cycle, de-centralized decision making and a desire by the mining companies to see the product in an operating mine, New Mining Tech Inc. needs to get their first reference customer and validate the product’s value proposition.
Selling technology solutions into the mining industry is not done through a brochure or a corporate presentation. That is simply not enough for a customer to invest in a technology of scope and scale. To assess it properly, the buyer needs a real-life demonstration. Will it work? Exactly how do you use it? How does it fit into the overall mining operation and add value to our business? In essence: How can the potential adopter see this innovation in action to de-risk their purchase?
Diversity by Demonstration and Doing
In 2018, the Underground Centre supported about 50 projects from 40 mining tech firms. On the buy side, NORCAT hosted, on average, one global mining company each week, with each of them asking: What’s next?
Given this level of activity, we are proud of the role we are playing in supporting the transformation underway in the global mining industry. Here are just a few examples:
Tele-remote/autonomous mining: At our facility, the proprietary TeleOp system from Hard-Line automates a scoop tram, turning it into a tele-remote/autonomous underground vehicle. This technology not only enhances the productivity and safety of mining, but also it is transforming the definition of what it means to have a career in the global mining industry.
Enhanced exploration technology: Boart Longyear, one of the world’s leading developers and suppliers of drill rigs to the global mining industry, operates a technology and innovation centre at NORCAT to develop and test drilling technology for both surface and underground mining. Not only are they developing and showcasing emerging technologies, but they are also providing hands-on experiential training for new customers to work with their products.
Battery Electric Equipment and Vehicles: MacLean Engineering, an industry leader in heavy equipment development and manufacturing for underground mining, has utilized the NORCAT Underground Centre to develop and test the next generation of the MacLean electric bolter. This member of their battery-powered fleet offers mining companies improved underground air quality, cost containment and other efficiencies.
The New Mining Mindset
The NORCAT Underground Centre has become the global destination to see emerging technologies that are poised to transform the mining industry. It is also inspiring the industry to re-think mining in the following ways:
It encourages, expedites, and facilities opportunities for the mining industry to see, touch, and ultimately adopt new and emerging technologies that add value to their operations.
Given the rapid development and deployment of new technologies, it emboldens mining companies to redefine the skills and competencies required in future workers.
It inspires and provides a new perspective on the new world of work in the mining industry and shows the next generation that a career in mining looks very different than it did ten years ago.
Celebrating the adoption and utilization of emerging technology allows different facets of the industry to work together in a way that benefits all parties, while encouraging emerging talent with a wide range of traditional and non-traditional skills to join the industry. The best part? We’re just getting started.