Application of the "lean thinking" concept to the analysis of coal mining region's sustainable development objective

Abstract

The article is devoted to the application of resource saving technologies as an important tool to achieve sustainable development at coal mining regions of the Russian Federation. The negative impact of coal-mining enterprises on the water and air basins of the regions, on withdrawal of fertile land continues to be unacceptably high. As a result the objective to preserve natural environment in these regions has gained high priority. Its solution requires development and implementation of fundamentally new, cost-effective and environment friendly underground and open pit coal mining technologies. It is shown that an effective solution of the problem, a radical contraction of resource consumption requires radical rethinking of the whole coal mining management and production system. The basic principles of "Lean thinking" methodology have been applied to structure the issue and to develop guidelines for coal-mining systems reengineering.