Materials handling problems cost mining operations millions of dollars every year through downtime, bottlenecks, excessive wear, maintenance and lost productivity. Dennis Pomfret has spent his career helping operations understand why.
Through DPE and Chute Technology, Dennis works with mining companies across Australia to identify root causes, improve material flow and unlock better performance across entire operations.
“I’m curious. I like to know how things work. I like to construct. I like to play with imagination and develop ideas and concepts,” said Dennis.
“I find engineering magical because you can use mathematical and engineering principles to create new products, new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking.
“I think that’s the curiosity factor that drives engineers. We can’t leave anything as it is. We have to break it and make it again. People will say, ‘Why didn’t you do it like last time?’
“The answer is because it could be better.”
That curiosity has shaped Dennis’ career. After leaving school, he completed a fitting and turning apprenticeship while studying mechanical engineering part-time. He still credits those early years on the tools with shaping the engineer he became.
“The guys I worked with as a fitter and turner used to tell me, ‘When you grow up and get smart, remember us’. That’s always stayed with me.
“When I’m designing something, I think about the person who has to fix it and the operator who has to use it. It gives you a connection right through from engineering to the shop floor.
“I find it most satisfying when I can talk to an operator and they understand the product and like using it. At the end of the day, they’re the people who have to live with what you’ve designed. If they can’t maintain it, operate it or understand it, then you’ve probably missed something.”
That practical mindset became the foundation of a career spanning steelmaking, mining, consulting and materials handling. Along the way, Dennis watched engineering evolve from drawing boards and hand calculations to sophisticated modelling and simulation tools capable of predicting exactly how materials will behave before a system is built.
“When I first started, we drew everything on drawing boards. Then computer-aided drafting came along and suddenly we could model more complex shapes and designs.
“That evolved into stress analysis and simulation tools where we can actually see how material will flow through a system before anything is manufactured.
“The difference today is we can predict outcomes with a very high degree of confidence. That reduces risk, reduces downtime and delivers much better outcomes for customers. If we do our job properly, the customer almost forgets about us because everything just works.”
Chute Technology works across the entire materials handling process, from mine to loadout, helping operations improve reliability, remove bottlenecks and increase throughput.
Its work spans coal, iron ore, gold, nickel and other mineral operations, as well as rail and port infrastructure, with projects ranging from individual equipment upgrades through to whole-of-process audits and plant improvements.
Dennis said the business is often solving much bigger challenges than the name Chute Technology suggests.
“Our job is to understand the entire process, how the material behaves and what is really driving the outcome.
“A transfer chute might be where the issue becomes visible, but often it’s only a symptom of something happening elsewhere in the system. People often look at a blockage, spillage issue or maintenance problem and assume that’s the problem. Sometimes it is, but often it’s a symptom of something happening elsewhere.
“A lot of sites spend years putting band-aids on problems. They live with downtime, maintenance issues, spillage or poor performance because they assume that’s just the way things are.
“We approach engineering a bit like a doctor approaches medicine. You go to a doctor because you’ve got a symptom, but a good doctor looks for the cause. We approach engineering the same way. We want to understand what’s really causing the issue and eliminate it.”
Dennis recalled working with a gold operation that had invested heavily in a new facility but was struggling with materials handling problems that were affecting production and performance.
“They were in a very difficult position because the material wasn’t flowing properly and the transfer systems weren’t performing the way they should. We were able to identify the issues, develop a solution and turn the situation around. The site went on to achieve record production after that.
“Those are the projects you remember because you can see the difference you’ve made. You’re not just fixing a piece of equipment. You’re helping a business perform better. You’re helping people do their jobs more effectively and helping operations achieve what they’re capable of achieving.”
The expertise behind Chute Technology was built through Dennis Pomfret Engineering (DPE), the engineering consultancy Dennis established more than twenty years ago.
Through DPE, Dennis provides specialist services including design, project management, commissioning, Discrete Element Method (DEM) modelling and Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Those capabilities continue to complement Chute Technology’s materials handling expertise today.
While Chute Technology has grown into a respected materials handling business, its origins are a little unusual. The business came about from a desire to help others during a mining downturn. At the time, Dennis was supposed to retire.
For the first time.
“A lot of my friends had workshops, engineering offices and businesses that were under pressure. They asked me to help develop new products and new opportunities in the materials handling space.
“That eventually became Chute Technology.
“It wasn’t really planned that way. It just started out as a way of helping people and creating work. Then it developed into its own business and started employing people.”
Dennis’ focus on helping people hasn’t changed.
“I also enjoy mentoring our people and working with younger engineers and watching them develop. University gives you technical skills, but judgement, problem solving, communication and dealing with customers are things you learn through experience.
“That’s very rewarding because ultimately the business isn’t about me. It’s about creating capability in other people. We’re not here forever and we have a responsibility to share what we’ve learned and help the next generation come through.”
Despite joking that he’s close to his third attempt at retirement, Dennis still arrives at work eager to learn something new.
“Engineering has never stood still and neither have we. As new technologies became available we adopted them because they allowed us to understand problems more deeply and provide better solutions.
“Now we’re faced with AI and that’s going to be another challenge. How do we integrate AI into the business? How do we integrate it with our customers? How do we use it productively? Those are exciting questions.
“There’s always something new to learn and we can always improve the way we operate. The key is being open to suggestions and being willing to look at things differently.
“That’s what keeps me interested.”
