Fox Projects, formerly known as SSP & Associates, has launched its new corporate identity with a renewed, adaptable and forward-thinking approach to project management.
CEO Mike Fox-Martin says the mining, engineering, consulting and project management company’s new identity is not merely a name change but rather a restatement of its operating philosophy and the way it interacts with clients.
Largely as a result of the global financial crisis, markets have changed, projects have been put on hold and local and global mining houses are increasingly relying less on contractors andcement process dry technology rotary kiln more on in-house skills for mining services.
Fox-Martin says that, rather than oppose this trend, the company chose to adapt to it and assist clients in reaching these aims by creating mutually beneficial partnerships. As opposed to the typical engineering, procurement and construction managemecrusher design calculation xlsnt approach, the company does not make a distinction between the functions of the client and itself.
Instead, Fox Projects compiles project teams that include staff from client mining houses, with skills transfer in methodology, approaches and thinking as a spin-off. This allows the company to gain insight into some of the cequation processing iron orelient’s needs, aims and operational challenges, providing it with an opportunity to respond more effectively to them.
In the short to medium term, the company is looking to diversify its commodities offering (its current focus is on platinum and coal) and its client base. Fox-Martin aims to grow the company to a sustainable size through diversity in project life cycles to guard against the risk of instability in mining projects. The company is based in South Africa and, while it has conducted business internationally, its current focus is on local projects.
Other aims are to assist clients in becoming more efficient, productive and profitable, and the company strives to be quick-witted, flexible and innovative. As such, renowned scenario planner Clem Sunter’s worldview, embodied in the ‘foxes and hedgehogs’ analogy from his book The Mind of a Fox, resonated with the company. It also inspired its new name and aims.
Sunter, the guest speaker at the launch, explains that hedgehogs symbolise conventional companies with a vision and mission statement, aligning everyone to the vision and marching collectively toward it – which is fine as long as their perceived vision is attained in the future.
Foxes, however, represent companies that are constantly looking at new ideas, investigating how the environment and the market are changing and evaluating the opportunities and threats.
The company is developing a technology platform that will enable it to operate more effectively, using cutting-edge systems. It plans on offering the platform to its clients, which would aid them in running some pro- jects in-house, with Fox Projects offering the technology, backup and engineering for the projects.