Roy Hill entertains and engages staff in the outback

Roy Hill, a world-class mining operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region representing the next generation of integrated iron ore mining, rail and port projects, employs approximately 2,700 staff across its mine permanent village (MPV) site alone.

When Roy Hill was looking to provide a premium entertainment and communications solution for on-site staff, they looked to Swift, a partner to the mining and resources sector with expertise in providing premium network, entertainment and communications solutions to remote sites.

While the provision of premium entertainment was a key requirement, Roy Hill also required a communication platform that could act as an extension to their intranet to share essential information with on-site teams that could be managed from HQ or by teams on site. They were also keen to implement the new solution with minimal upgrades to their current infrastructure.

The challenge was being able to deliver an innovative, best-in-class premium entertainment and engagement solution at Roy Hill’s MPV village, with approximately 2,700 rooms, while maintaining a reliable service within a low bandwidth environment.

It was important that Roy Hill could hold its position among the best on-site living experiences, supported by premium entertainment options and highly engaged teams achieved through transparent communication.

Swift’s solution for Roy Hill was to develop a new product, Swift Access, featuring Swift’s Secure Casting, supported by Swift’s propriety low bandwidth solution.

Roy Hill’s decision to upgrade to Swift Access with Swift’s Secure Casting was reached through a collaborative process where Swift’s account management team proposed solutions based on their knowledge of Roy Hill’s site and requirements. Where infrastructure upgrades were required on the MPV site, Swift’s in-house operations team was contracted to design and install the new infrastructure.

Following the installation, Swift’s account management approach also led to the assignment of a team dedicated to guiding Roy Hill teams on leveraging Swift’s engagement platform to create an integrated communications plan, with the potential for updates to be managed from HQ or at the site level.

Swift’s end-to-end solution also included 24/7 customer support and a dedicated regional service team to solve issues that couldn’t be fixed remotely.

The results

Implementing Swift Access with Swift’s Secure Casting across an extensive mine site of this scale and location was not without its challenges. However, Swift’s in-house R&D and operations team responded by developing two new approaches to delivering casting technology at this scale without increasing the data requirements.

The Swift Access system has ensured that Roy Hill’s viewers can enjoy quality content whenever they want it. On average, the system has provided staff with more than 17,000 hours of casting per month, combined with over 15,000 hours of movies watched via the local onsite cache.

Select upgrades to infrastructure were advised and implemented across their flagship asset, including continuing expansions. Working closely with the Roy Hill team, these works are proactively managed by identifying and planning implementation timelines to maximise efficiencies and savings.

Roy Hill is now leveraging Swift Access’s engagement platform as an extension to its company’s intranet, with updates being managed via HQ and on-site teams, improving the availability of information and education across various topics.

Monthly viewing of Roy Hill notices via the on-site TVs reached 60 per cent within a few weeks of launch.

With Swift’s continued account management support, which includes monitoring actual usage data to drive insights, average daily engagement with notices and corporate communication via Swift Access has increased by over 500 per cent since the start of 2023.

This is not the first time Swift and Roy Hill have worked together, having collaborated since 2012, including on the launch of three generations of products across seven Roy Hill villages, from exploration to construction and operations.

Swift continues to support Roy Hill throughout the customer lifecycle to ensure the miner maximises the value of Swift’s proprietary technology and platform.