According to Dean Juan Carlos Espinoza, it is essential “to understand that Engineering projects not only generate wealth but a series of impacts that can affect the well-being of the population either positively or negatively.”

The Faculty of Engineering of Universidad de Santiago celebrated its 100th anniversary with a ceremony at the Salón de Honor Hall. The anniversary coincides with a moment when the faculty has set itself the primary goal of becoming one of the 50 best faculties in this field at an international level. 

The Faculty has the mission of contributing to the development of the country through the comprehensive training of Engineers in different specialties, including research in the areas of scientific and technological innovation. For this purpose, today the Faculty includes nine Departments: Electricity, Geography, Industries, Informatics, Mechanics, Metallurgy, Mining, Civil Works and Chemistry.

Currently, the Faculty has 12,360 undergraduate students, 150 full time teachers, 20 daytime programs and 19 evening programs, plus 17 Master’s programs, 5 doctoral programs and 20 postgraduate courses. “We have to adapt ourselves to the challenges that the country and Engineering development pose,” Dean Espinoza said.

One of the initiatives of the Faculty that is focused on the industrial development needs of the country is the project Nueva Ingeniería 2030, led by Dr Jorge Bravo Chacón. This initiative was launched in August, 2014, in order to train world-class engineers who are also able to change the productivity matrix in Chile.

“The Faculty of Engineering has contributed to the industrial development of the country through innovation,” Dean Espinoza said. “That means to create new products or generate improvements in a proactive process, with an important impact on peoples’ quality of life.

For this reason, he values when the national industry proposes real problems to be solved by students and academics. “We have to understand that engineering projects not only generate wealth but a series of impacts affect the population,” he added.

In this regard, Dr Jorge Bravo says that the engineers graduated from Universidad de Santiago are recognized for their ability to efficiently solve the problems that they face, no matter what their field of work is.

Engineering in the service of society

At the Faculty, everyone is convinced that it is important to train engineers to be able to efficiently interact with other specialties, as this profession is related to every human activity. Therefore, the Faculty is discussing the possibility of creating new Engineering programs in Mechatronics, Telematics or Biomedicine.

During his speech, Dean Espinoza highlighted the important role of academics, students, administrative staff and former students of this Faculty in the development of the unit.

He acknowledged the applied research work of the faculty, which is reflected in the 158 publications between 2015 and 2016. Likewise, he stressed the work done by the Faculty in outreach and engagement and the creation of a Vice Dean Office for this purpose. “This year, we have signed seven collaboration agreements with universities in Chile and abroad and thirteen agreements with state entities and private companies,” he said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• During the ceremony to celebrate 47^th anniversary of the Faculty, the Dean Gumercindo Vilca said that the new building will be completed next year. The facilities will cover 2,500 m2 and will contain state-of-the-art equipment. 

During the ceremony to commemorate the 47^th anniversary of the Technological Faculty, the Dean Gumercindo Vilca referred to the construction of the new laboratory building and to the first International Conference on Technological Training for Knowledge Economy (Ciftec) organized by the Faculty for September this year

“The new facilities will cover 2,500 m² and they will contain state-of-the-art equipment to strengthen the experimental and practical training of our future professionals. The building will be available to the university community by the end of 2017,” he said.

He specified that the building will have five floors and two underground car parks for 24 vehicles. The first floor will have an auditorium and a conference room; the second floor, five computer laboratories, and the third floor, eight laboratories for the Technology Baccalaureate Program 

The fourth floor will be home to eight specialty laboratories and the fifth floor will be used by the graduate programs.

Besides, Dean Vilca highlighted the importance of organizing the first International Conference on Technological Training for Knowledge Economy that will be held at the University in three months. “We will have two busy days, with the participation of renowned national and international experts,” he said. During this activity, “in addition to sharing the results of different experiences and studies and their impact on knowledge economy, the purpose of the conference is to develop proposals and capacity building strategies for technology induction.”

Social Commitment

In his speech, Dean Vilca stressed the social commitment of the Technological Faculty by saying that 62% of the new students come from subsidized private secondary schools.

“This year, 33 students in vulnerable situations have entered the Faculty. Without the support of our programs, that would not have been possible.

Furthermore, Dean Vilca announced that 14 undergraduate programs of the faculty are under re-accreditation process. “We maintain our strong commitment by taking up the challenge of having better accreditation results in comparison to the previous process, exceeding our average of 5.2 years in 2014,” he said. 

Finally, Dean Vilca said that the faculty will soon offer a new graduate program: The Doctoral Program in Innovation and Technology Management. 

After Dean Vilca’s speech, Raúl Ciudad de la Cruz, President of the Council for Social and Business Development of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, gave the master classed “Digital Transformation in Companies and Human Capital,” in which he explained his support to digital technologies in the business framework.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• At a seminar organized by the Faculty of Engineering, representatives of the state mining company talked about the implications of the new underground mining project for Chuquicamata, that will bring new challenges and will require operators and professionals to develop new competences.
• Juan Carlos Espinoza, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said that just as the mining company is undergoing a transformation process, the Faculty is checking and updating the profile of the new engineers who will be trained at Universidad de Santiago according to world-class parameters and who will have to manage both soft and technical skills.
• “Universities should include abilities like positive leadership and development skills in their training programs from the very beginning and not at the last year, because in real world, problems are not only technical,” Marcelo Vásquez, the director of the Codelco-Chuquicamata’s People Service and Logistics unit, pointed out.

In the context of the seminar “Large-scale mining at Codelco-Chuquicamata and its relation with Universidad de Santiago de Chile” (La Gran Minería de Codelco-Chuquicamata y su relación con la Universidad de Santiago de Chile), two conferences were given at the University’s Salón de Honor by representatives of the state mining company. Their presentations referred to the challenges being faced by that company and by the mining industry in general that could require future engineers to develop new competences.

Edison Pizarro, the Director of Innovation and Technology at the Underground Mining Development Division of Codelco-Chuquicamata, gave the presentation “Chuquicamata underground mining project, a mine of the 21^st Century”, where he explained how the current open pit would be mined in an unprecedented way for the north of Chile, as of 2019.

Edison Pizarro explained that in the past few years, the primary open pit for copper mining at Antofagasta Region (that will be 100 years-old next year and that, due its dimensions, might be the largest open pit of the world) has had a decrease in the quality of the ore mined from a grade once higher than 1% to only 0.7% nowadays, and it seems that it will continue decreasing.

Also, the costs of moving the mining operations inside the pit, the resulting energy consumption and pollution of the area have shown that, if the mine does not change its production process, it will become unsustainable.

A 40-year solution

Therefore the company, using the knowledge that it has developed in other underground divisions, decided to change to this type of production, what will give Chuquicamata 40 years more, with an ore production that will average 0.71% copper and molybdenum and that will reach an extraction rate of 140 thousand tonnes per day.

The representative of the state mining company gave the details of how the mine will operate at this new stage, stressing the need for experts in the fields of telecommunications, electricity, informatics, robotics, and of course, mining operations.

However, this megaproject brings mega challenges, not only for the way of developing the process, but for the technology that will be necessary to implement and manage and the human resources that will be required.

The challenges posed by the project are related to sustainability, which is planned to be reached through the following actions: reducing the amount of particulate matter (PM10) by 97%; opening a Training Center, in partnership with social entities, to train workers and develop the work profiles required by the new underground pit work; highlighting the importance of maintenance systems, as all the production of new Chuquicamata will come out through a conveyor belt that covers several kilometers and cannot be stopped; and, particularly, managing the culture of change at the company, to promote the adaptation to changes, something that has been very resisted up to now due to the mining workers’ and unions’ way of thinking.

An adaptation challenge

Marcelo Velázquez, Director of the Codelco Chuquicamata’s People Service and Logistics unit, in his presentation “Maintenance Engineering in Mining Industry… A technical challenge?” referred to how equipment maintenance management and its processes are set aside due to the productive pressure. This aspect lies beneath the organizational culture and disregards the useful life of equipments and systems at not considering a long-term approach.

The expert explained that, in Chile, maintenance represents up to 40% of the mining industry costs. And despite this is an area where cutbacks are expected, there is not a strategic vision to incorporate a maintenance culture; there are only reactive actions that are usually fairly planned.

Marcelo Velázquez urged future engineers to watch the world trends in maintenance, based on the reliability of systems that intelligently organize the processes considering maintenance times to prevent emergencies and their associated costs.

“The new engineer’s role requires the expertise given by the University, particularly, in technical knowledge. And also, the new engineer has to understand that challenges are faced by people. In some cases, there is a lack of leadership to face adaptation challenges.”

For this reason, he added that “Universities should include abilities like positive leadership and development skills in their training programs from the very beginning and not at the last year, because in real world, problems are not only technical. They may be easily solved; but problems have to be solved by people, and that is difficult.”

Juan Carlos Espinoza, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, compared the transition process of Chuquicamata with the one that the Faculty is currently undergoing with the purpose of updating the profile of the new engineers for the 21^st Century.

Regarding this, he referred to the need of strengthening the relation with employers to have a permanent contact, receive feedback, and collect new information from the job market, like the aspects mentioned at the seminar. Also he said that similar activities will be organized more frequently to strengthen this work line.

Many students of the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Mining Engineering, together with authorities and academics of those units and other units of the Faculty of Engineering, attended the activity.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The study in collaboration with Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana of Colombia and the Colegio de la Frontera Norte of Mexico intends to identify in the corresponding countries the barriers that companies face at incorporating innovation as part of their organizational culture.
• In a letter recently addressed to President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Organization of American States (OAS) highlighted the work of the research team of Universidad de Santiago that participated in the Chilean chapter, for the valuable contribution of the results obtained to identify good practices and opportunities for collaboration.

An interesting work to identify the variables that make difficult the incorporation of innovation to organizations was developed last year by Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana de Colombia (UPB), together with a research team of the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago and the Economic Studies Department of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte of Mexico.

The Chief of the Section of Competitiveness, Innovation and Technology, César Pargas, on behalf of the OAS’ Department of Economic and Social Development, which had reviewed the results of the study, sent a letter to the President of Universidad de Santiago, highlighting the Chilean chapter’s work developed at the Technological Faculty by academics Julio González, Antonio Gutiérrez and Alex Ramos Alarcón and graduate students Natalia Romero and Luis García.

The letter said that the results obtained after the study “Barriers to Innovation- Integral Coefficient of Innovation U” (Barreras para la Innovación-Coeficiente integral de innovación U”) were considered “very satisfactory” and “an important contribution”. The fact that it was conducted in three countries “adds value to it” and it can be used and compared by innovation-oriented work teams “to identify good practices and opportunities for collaboration.”

Identifying barriers

The study “Barriers to Innovation- Integral Coefficient of Innovation U” includes a method developed by the Colombian research team of UPB that identifies 18 factors that make difficult the incorporation of innovation to companies. The variables are related to the lack of trained staff, lack of motivation, and strategies to motivate the staff, among others.”

The UPB’s hypothesis was applied to more than 500 companies and then, thanks to the permanent contact between the Colombian academics John Wilder and Bibiana Arango and the team of Universidad de Santiago, the method was transferred to be tested in Chile.

Going beyond the method designed

“We conducted a study in 17 Chilean companies applying this method. But we went beyond. Besides adding three more variables, we proposed developing this tool with strategies and actions to finish with each of the 21 barriers and facilitate the incorporation of innovation in organizations. We made this contribution and we have continued moving forward with the study,” Julio González, Director of the Department of General Technologies of the Technological Faculty.

“We generated strategies to reduce the impact of the variables, because the study in Colombia only determined how high the barrier was. We proposed observable, controllable, measurable and relevant strategies and actions,” Antonio Gutiérrez, academic at the Department of Industrial Technologies, said. He added that the coefficient U (a concept from the thermodynamics field) is different in each case, depending on the reality of each company.

Julio González said that this stage developed in Chile is focused on the organizational aspect. The tool is intended for decision-makers at companies and it is “a very good self-diagnosis instrument for work teams.”

“Innovating is a human act; however, its implementation in organizations involves different stages and processes. This management tool intends to improve the innovation adoption process as part of a permanent culture,” Antonio Gutiérrez added.

More information about the progress in this organizational management tool will be published by the Faculty in an e-book that will show the experiences in Mexico, Colombia and Chile and the details will be presented in the Third International Conference on Technological Management and Organization (Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Organización y Gestión Tecnológica, in Spanish), scheduled for November.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

The initiative driven by the Center for Engineering and Society Integration of the Faculty of Engineering seeks to transfer innovation processes and establish entrepreneurial competences in 10 small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the Metropolitan Region. According to the dean of the Faculty, Juan Carlos Espinoza, this project is a great opportunity to build links with small companies.

With a thorough field work that will allow to collect data about the innovation potential of 18 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Center for Engineering and Society Integration (CIIS, in Spanish) of the Faculty of Engineering of Universidad de Santiago started the Santiago 10i project, an initiative that has the goal of transferring innovation processes and establish entrepreneurial competences in manufacturing SMEs of the Metropolitan Region.

The project consists of a plan awarded by the Metropolitan Region Government to the Faculty of Engineering through the Innovation for Competitiveness Fund (FIC, in Spanish) that will be implemented over a year by the multidisciplinary CIIS’ team composed of engineers, designers and anthropologists.

The field work done during this first stage consists of conducting a survey in 18 pre-selected companies, through an instrument that seeks to have an in-depth analysis of 8 dimensions of the entrepreneurship and, in this way, to determine the innovation potential of each company. The results of the data collection will allow selecting the 10 companies that will, in the end, take part in the process to generate innovative, scalable products with a good performance in the market.

According to Juan Carlos Espinoza, dean of the Faculty of Engineering of Universidad de Santiago, the project is a great opportunity to build links between this academic unit and companies, because, in his opinion, “a University like ours should not only think of training professionals, but also of extending its academic work to be at the service of society. One way of doing it is supporting SMEs, which concentrate most of the jobs in our country.”

“This initiative led by the CIIS is part of the several efforts that the Faculty is making to add value to engineers through creativity, innovation and undertaking; therefore, as an academic unit, we feel committed to these efforts that strengthen our relation with the productive sector and benefit society altogether,” the dean added.

Meaningful innovation

The Santiago 10i project aims at transferring “Design Driven” innovation and establishing innovative entrepreneurial competences in 10 manufacturing companies in the Metropolitan Region, based on the Value- Added Network approach.

The work will be developed in five phases: companies’ selection and diagnosis, immersion in the Design-Driven Innovation process, generation of value propositions, development of innovative prototypes, and implementation of a new business model.

The project also included, at the beginning, the participation of the Italian academic Erik Ciravegna, Ph.D. in Industrial Design and Multimedia Communication of the Politecnico di Milano, who gave the presentation “Meaningful Innovation” by means of the Design Driven Innovation model.

In his presentation, he explained what the model was and how value can be added to business from design. According to the expert, the design allows to think in a different way to find solutions that are not the ones given by regular models that are already in the market.

“Design allows focusing in the users’ real requirements that are not only functional needs, but also symbolic, cultural and ritual ones, among others. Design is, indeed, a bridge between companies and users,” Ciravegna said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Renato Chávez and biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena were honored at the 5^th Congress of European Microbiologists, in Leipzig (Germany) for their research on bioactive compounds from Antarctic marine sponges, which present a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

The study’s innovation and impact and the results shown were the reasons for giving the Best Poster Presentation Award to the study conducted by a team of researchers from Universidad de Santiago and Universidad de Chile in one of the most important events worldwide in the field of Microbiology: the Federation of European Microbiological Societies Congress, FEMS 2013.

The research team is composed of Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Universidad de Santiago, and the biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena, also from Universidad de Santiago, together with other specialists from Universidad de Chile. They conducted the study for three years.

The study is based on the analysis of new bioactive compounds, present in filamentous fungi of Antarctic marine sponges. These compounds show a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

Discovering these new species and their properties, supported by the required laboratory research, could lead to potential applications in Biotechnology, especially in the field of Pharmacology.

Regarding the study’s development, biochemist Javiera Norambuena says that, in order to find these bioactive compounds, it was necessary to search poorly explored places, as in those places there are more possibilities of finding non-cultured organisms. “That is the reason why we isolated fungi from Antarctic marine sponges, which usually have chemical compounds containing secondary metabolites; that is to say, they are not required for the organism’s survival, but they give it advantages over other members of the population”, she adds.

Regarding the study’s results, biochemist Luis Figueroa notes, “a high percentage of the isolated fungi could not be identified, which suggested the existence of new genera in the microbial community from Antarctic marine sponges; therefore, we can conclude that the fungi community in the Antarctic marine sponges studied is completely different from the one in common marine sponges.”

“We are on the right track”

Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher and professor of Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, says, “The honor awarded confirms that our work with fungi from Antarctic sponges is of international interest.”

“The award confirms that regarding the study of Antarctic marine eukaryotes (fungi and yeasts), we are on the right track, what encourages us to continue in this line. We are aware that we are dealing with new species that have not been described yet, so describing them is among our next goals. Also, we know that these species produce chemicals with very interesting properties that could be used in the Biotechnology field. As for the students participating, this award is most certainly an incentive for them as young researchers,” Dr. Chávez adds.

The full research team that took part in the poster presentation is made up by undergraduate and graduate students from Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile: Marlene Henríquez, Ivanna Araya, Andrea Beiza and Karen Vergara, while the work presented at the Congress is supported by Fondecyt Project 11090192, conducted by Dr. Inmaculada Vaca, from Universidad de Chile.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Laboratorio Laben Chile from the University’s Technological Faculty was acknowledged for its ongoing support to the sustainability of the sector. The 2013 FullPlast Plastics Fair, organized by Asociación Gremial de Industriales del Plástico and Fisa, took place on July 24th, 25th and 26th at Espacio Riesco and brought together the most important national and international companies in the plastics industry.

Laben-Chile Laboratory of the Department of Science and Food Technology, Technological Faculty, University of Santiago de Chile -which is also part of the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, CEDENNA- was awarded the RES Chile in the category "DIFUSIÓNd2w SUSTENTABLE 2013" for its ongoing effort to promote and support the sustainability of the sector in all its forms.

The targets of the Packaging Laboratory’s activities are manufacturers and packaging converters, and their users (food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical companies). The Laboratory also provides opportunities to increase product quality and productivity, develop competitive advantages and modernizing and diversifying the management, production and marketing.

The Laboratory was awarded at the International 2013 FullPlast Plastics Fair, organized by Asipla - Asociación Gremial de Industriales del Plástico - and FISA, on July 24th, 25th and 26th of July at Espacio Riesco. This event attracted 6000 visitors this year.

Among the exhibitors that participated in Fullplast, there are processors of semi finished and finished plastic products; suppliers of machinery, equipment, services and technology; raw materials and supplies; automation and quality control; molds and tools; environment and recycling; and other institutions, associations, banks, services and technical journals. Internationally, there were pavilions from China, Italy and Brazil which showed the latest advances in the field.

The program of the day consisted of a series of interesting activities for the sector, such as trade talks, business conference and the International Seminar, which included, as one of its main topics the new EPR law - Extended Producer Responsibility.

According to Dean Juan Carlos Espinoza, it is essential “to understand that Engineering projects not only generate wealth but a series of impacts that can affect the well-being of the population either positively or negatively.”

The Faculty of Engineering of Universidad de Santiago celebrated its 100th anniversary with a ceremony at the Salón de Honor Hall. The anniversary coincides with a moment when the faculty has set itself the primary goal of becoming one of the 50 best faculties in this field at an international level. 

The Faculty has the mission of contributing to the development of the country through the comprehensive training of Engineers in different specialties, including research in the areas of scientific and technological innovation. For this purpose, today the Faculty includes nine Departments: Electricity, Geography, Industries, Informatics, Mechanics, Metallurgy, Mining, Civil Works and Chemistry.

Currently, the Faculty has 12,360 undergraduate students, 150 full time teachers, 20 daytime programs and 19 evening programs, plus 17 Master’s programs, 5 doctoral programs and 20 postgraduate courses. “We have to adapt ourselves to the challenges that the country and Engineering development pose,” Dean Espinoza said.

One of the initiatives of the Faculty that is focused on the industrial development needs of the country is the project Nueva Ingeniería 2030, led by Dr Jorge Bravo Chacón. This initiative was launched in August, 2014, in order to train world-class engineers who are also able to change the productivity matrix in Chile.

“The Faculty of Engineering has contributed to the industrial development of the country through innovation,” Dean Espinoza said. “That means to create new products or generate improvements in a proactive process, with an important impact on peoples’ quality of life.

For this reason, he values when the national industry proposes real problems to be solved by students and academics. “We have to understand that engineering projects not only generate wealth but a series of impacts affect the population,” he added.

In this regard, Dr Jorge Bravo says that the engineers graduated from Universidad de Santiago are recognized for their ability to efficiently solve the problems that they face, no matter what their field of work is.

Engineering in the service of society

At the Faculty, everyone is convinced that it is important to train engineers to be able to efficiently interact with other specialties, as this profession is related to every human activity. Therefore, the Faculty is discussing the possibility of creating new Engineering programs in Mechatronics, Telematics or Biomedicine.

During his speech, Dean Espinoza highlighted the important role of academics, students, administrative staff and former students of this Faculty in the development of the unit.

He acknowledged the applied research work of the faculty, which is reflected in the 158 publications between 2015 and 2016. Likewise, he stressed the work done by the Faculty in outreach and engagement and the creation of a Vice Dean Office for this purpose. “This year, we have signed seven collaboration agreements with universities in Chile and abroad and thirteen agreements with state entities and private companies,” he said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• During the ceremony to celebrate 47^th anniversary of the Faculty, the Dean Gumercindo Vilca said that the new building will be completed next year. The facilities will cover 2,500 m2 and will contain state-of-the-art equipment. 

During the ceremony to commemorate the 47^th anniversary of the Technological Faculty, the Dean Gumercindo Vilca referred to the construction of the new laboratory building and to the first International Conference on Technological Training for Knowledge Economy (Ciftec) organized by the Faculty for September this year

“The new facilities will cover 2,500 m² and they will contain state-of-the-art equipment to strengthen the experimental and practical training of our future professionals. The building will be available to the university community by the end of 2017,” he said.

He specified that the building will have five floors and two underground car parks for 24 vehicles. The first floor will have an auditorium and a conference room; the second floor, five computer laboratories, and the third floor, eight laboratories for the Technology Baccalaureate Program 

The fourth floor will be home to eight specialty laboratories and the fifth floor will be used by the graduate programs.

Besides, Dean Vilca highlighted the importance of organizing the first International Conference on Technological Training for Knowledge Economy that will be held at the University in three months. “We will have two busy days, with the participation of renowned national and international experts,” he said. During this activity, “in addition to sharing the results of different experiences and studies and their impact on knowledge economy, the purpose of the conference is to develop proposals and capacity building strategies for technology induction.”

Social Commitment

In his speech, Dean Vilca stressed the social commitment of the Technological Faculty by saying that 62% of the new students come from subsidized private secondary schools.

“This year, 33 students in vulnerable situations have entered the Faculty. Without the support of our programs, that would not have been possible.

Furthermore, Dean Vilca announced that 14 undergraduate programs of the faculty are under re-accreditation process. “We maintain our strong commitment by taking up the challenge of having better accreditation results in comparison to the previous process, exceeding our average of 5.2 years in 2014,” he said. 

Finally, Dean Vilca said that the faculty will soon offer a new graduate program: The Doctoral Program in Innovation and Technology Management. 

After Dean Vilca’s speech, Raúl Ciudad de la Cruz, President of the Council for Social and Business Development of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, gave the master classed “Digital Transformation in Companies and Human Capital,” in which he explained his support to digital technologies in the business framework.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• At a seminar organized by the Faculty of Engineering, representatives of the state mining company talked about the implications of the new underground mining project for Chuquicamata, that will bring new challenges and will require operators and professionals to develop new competences.
• Juan Carlos Espinoza, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said that just as the mining company is undergoing a transformation process, the Faculty is checking and updating the profile of the new engineers who will be trained at Universidad de Santiago according to world-class parameters and who will have to manage both soft and technical skills.
• “Universities should include abilities like positive leadership and development skills in their training programs from the very beginning and not at the last year, because in real world, problems are not only technical,” Marcelo Vásquez, the director of the Codelco-Chuquicamata’s People Service and Logistics unit, pointed out.

In the context of the seminar “Large-scale mining at Codelco-Chuquicamata and its relation with Universidad de Santiago de Chile” (La Gran Minería de Codelco-Chuquicamata y su relación con la Universidad de Santiago de Chile), two conferences were given at the University’s Salón de Honor by representatives of the state mining company. Their presentations referred to the challenges being faced by that company and by the mining industry in general that could require future engineers to develop new competences.

Edison Pizarro, the Director of Innovation and Technology at the Underground Mining Development Division of Codelco-Chuquicamata, gave the presentation “Chuquicamata underground mining project, a mine of the 21^st Century”, where he explained how the current open pit would be mined in an unprecedented way for the north of Chile, as of 2019.

Edison Pizarro explained that in the past few years, the primary open pit for copper mining at Antofagasta Region (that will be 100 years-old next year and that, due its dimensions, might be the largest open pit of the world) has had a decrease in the quality of the ore mined from a grade once higher than 1% to only 0.7% nowadays, and it seems that it will continue decreasing.

Also, the costs of moving the mining operations inside the pit, the resulting energy consumption and pollution of the area have shown that, if the mine does not change its production process, it will become unsustainable.

A 40-year solution

Therefore the company, using the knowledge that it has developed in other underground divisions, decided to change to this type of production, what will give Chuquicamata 40 years more, with an ore production that will average 0.71% copper and molybdenum and that will reach an extraction rate of 140 thousand tonnes per day.

The representative of the state mining company gave the details of how the mine will operate at this new stage, stressing the need for experts in the fields of telecommunications, electricity, informatics, robotics, and of course, mining operations.

However, this megaproject brings mega challenges, not only for the way of developing the process, but for the technology that will be necessary to implement and manage and the human resources that will be required.

The challenges posed by the project are related to sustainability, which is planned to be reached through the following actions: reducing the amount of particulate matter (PM10) by 97%; opening a Training Center, in partnership with social entities, to train workers and develop the work profiles required by the new underground pit work; highlighting the importance of maintenance systems, as all the production of new Chuquicamata will come out through a conveyor belt that covers several kilometers and cannot be stopped; and, particularly, managing the culture of change at the company, to promote the adaptation to changes, something that has been very resisted up to now due to the mining workers’ and unions’ way of thinking.

An adaptation challenge

Marcelo Velázquez, Director of the Codelco Chuquicamata’s People Service and Logistics unit, in his presentation “Maintenance Engineering in Mining Industry… A technical challenge?” referred to how equipment maintenance management and its processes are set aside due to the productive pressure. This aspect lies beneath the organizational culture and disregards the useful life of equipments and systems at not considering a long-term approach.

The expert explained that, in Chile, maintenance represents up to 40% of the mining industry costs. And despite this is an area where cutbacks are expected, there is not a strategic vision to incorporate a maintenance culture; there are only reactive actions that are usually fairly planned.

Marcelo Velázquez urged future engineers to watch the world trends in maintenance, based on the reliability of systems that intelligently organize the processes considering maintenance times to prevent emergencies and their associated costs.

“The new engineer’s role requires the expertise given by the University, particularly, in technical knowledge. And also, the new engineer has to understand that challenges are faced by people. In some cases, there is a lack of leadership to face adaptation challenges.”

For this reason, he added that “Universities should include abilities like positive leadership and development skills in their training programs from the very beginning and not at the last year, because in real world, problems are not only technical. They may be easily solved; but problems have to be solved by people, and that is difficult.”

Juan Carlos Espinoza, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, compared the transition process of Chuquicamata with the one that the Faculty is currently undergoing with the purpose of updating the profile of the new engineers for the 21^st Century.

Regarding this, he referred to the need of strengthening the relation with employers to have a permanent contact, receive feedback, and collect new information from the job market, like the aspects mentioned at the seminar. Also he said that similar activities will be organized more frequently to strengthen this work line.

Many students of the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Mining Engineering, together with authorities and academics of those units and other units of the Faculty of Engineering, attended the activity.

Translated by Marcela Contreras