Thursday
Room 5
10:20 - 11:20
(UTC+11)
Talk (60 min)
Designing technology for dirty gloves
I was taught that mining and sustainability couldn’t coexist—that mining was a dirty word. As a Digital Product Manager for a steel mining supplier, I’ve seen firsthand the drive to transform this legacy industry, undertake digital transformation and the push for sustainable solutions and Net zero.
How do you improve safety and asset maintenance, with a person in a Pit, when we are designing digital products from the office?
The first step in building truly effective digital products is focusing on the people who rely on them daily. I've been to the literal coal face, it's dusty, hot, sweaty, flies buzzing, with big dirty gloves on. Not to mention offline and over exposed!
Innovation fails when we ignore the end users. Applying Human Centric Design principles reduces costly failures, boosts adoption, and drives tangible impact. Add in AI, machine learning, automation and predictive analytics, and now we are shaping the next frontier and making a Digital Twin.
Human-Centered Design (HCD) is key—iterating and testing in real mining environments ensures our technology meets real-world needs. By integrating user feedback and iterating the design, we create safer, smarter, and widely adopted industrial solutions.
Over the years, our team has developed IoT devices, sensors, apps, websites, AI Visionware, and digital platforms to monitor Bradken’s steel products across mining operations for 100+ mining companies in 20+ countries.
Leanora Horne
Senior digital product and transformation specialist with eight years’ experience spanning SaaS, consulting, not-for-profit, and complex solutions in the mining industry. I combine a strong grounding in Entrepreneurship, product design and content strategy with hands-on delivery of digital and hardware solutions since 2020. At Bradken, I’ve led cross-functional teams developing IoT-enabled products, software integrations, and connected data systems that drive operational efficiency and environmental impact. My focus is on building digital ecosystems — from smart devices and data lakes to machine learning and simulation — that connect people, assets, and insight for better decisions.