LiveCycle Fights Theft of Confidential Information for Weir

Weir Minerals delivers end-to-end solutions for all mining, milling, processing, and waste management activities and specialises in a wide range of slurry equipment including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones, wear resistant linings, and de-watering products.

The provision of spare parts to support equipment in the field is a major component of Weir Minerals’ business, and the company must be on its guard against replicators who illegally manufacture and distribute replicated parts for their equipment.

“We are under constant threat from other manufacturers who try to steal our designs,” says Richard Hinsley, Director, Logistics and Supply Chain at Weir Minerals Australia. “Confidentiality agreements only go part of the way; physically securing and then managing the post issue lifecycle of the documents provides greater security and control.”

“We have launched several lawsuits over stolen IP, and we need to be constantly vigilant for the possibility of theft. Whilst we seek to minimise any theft, should that occur, a key to successful prosecution is our ability to demonstrate we have made a concerted effort to protect our IP when it is revealed to suppliers and subcontractors.”

“In the first six months, Adobe LiveCycle ES facilitated the distribution of 1,000 drawings for newly designed components into the supply chain throughout Australia, South Africa, the U.K., Chile, and China. In that time, we have had no indications of theft, meaning we have potentially saved significant costs in lost revenues and legal fees.”

Patricia Daly
Business Process Support and Training
Weir Minerals

• Virtually eliminated design theft in less than six months
• Improved ability to stop unauthorized document access and counterfeit reproduction
• Increased supply chain efficiency
• Eradicated manual document delivery costs

Within the high-touch, people-centric Request for Proposal (RFP) process, there is pressure to control RFP distribution, evaluation, and notification of commercially sensitive information. Weir Minerals risks losing substantial spare parts sales revenue because counterfeit copies of its unique pump components could become available from other market sources.

In some cases, spare parts were being illegally manufactured shortly after designs were finalised, highlighting the need for increased levels of protection of drawings distributed to the supply chain during the quotation and subsequent manufacture of components. After some evaluation, Weir Minerals deduced that the intellectual property (IP) contained in its confidential engineering drawings was being leaked to dishonest competitors. The drawings were most vulnerable to theft and duplication when the hard copies were in the hands of off-site subcontractors.

The new process involves Weir Minerals converting CAD drawings which are overlayed with a wallpaper graphic containing specific information applicable to each contract. The design drawings are converted to PDF and then automatically encrypted and checked in to an Adobe LiveCycle Content Services ES secure repository. At this point, the PDF is sent to the appropriate suppliers who must use allocated passwords to open them.

With every project, there are four people within Weir Minerals who manage the supply chain and four people in the engineering division with access to LiveCycle ES. The Adobe LiveCycle Process Management ES solution automates routing drawings within Weir and eliminates the manual, multi-stepped processing associated with ‘request, approval, and release’ phases. Approximately sixty-one suppliers also have their own user IDs, and this number continues to grow.

Weir Minerals also manages the life cycle of the document through the revocation of rights once the job — or parts of the job — are completed.

Access and usage rights are managed dynamically by the company based on security policies that are put in place using LiveCycle Rights Management ES. Weir Minerals assigns file access to suppliers based on their involvement at each stage of design development. Once their contribution is complete, their access is systematically revoked so they cannot open the document at a later date.

Before LiveCycle ES, Weir Minerals instituted a policy of no electronic distribution of parts design documents due to an uncertainty about Internet security and the ease and speed with which drawings could be copied and forwarded. Instead, drawings were printed and stamped with patents and clauses and posted and couriered throughout the network. “Unfortunately, we discovered copies of these designs everywhere, scanned with the stamps electronically removed,” says Hinsley.

By negating the manual steps that left the process prone to human error, Weir Minerals’ new, automated electronic supply chain means lead times are reduced. Staff and contractors work faster and — unencumbered by manual form completion — printing issues, unnecessary courier costs, and delivery delays are eliminated.

“It took approximately six months from purchase date to deployment of a fully functioning application. In the first six months, Adobe LiveCycle ES facilitated the distribution of 1,000 drawings for newly designed components into the supply chain throughout Australia, South Africa, the U.K., Chile, and China. In that time, we have had no indications of theft, meaning we have potentially saved significant costs in lost revenues and legal fees,” recounts Patricia Daly, Business Process Support and Training, Weir Minerals. “We now have the utmost confidence in the way these drawings are being controlled and managed.”

The success of this implementation has impressed upon Weir Minerals the value of an automated server-based business process. There are plans to roll it out throughout Weir Minerals globally. Says Daly, “We have a wish list of where to go next based on our new experience with LiveCycle ES. We intend to use the audit log to generate reports for every piece of time-sensitive information that is accessed. Our long term goal is to use Adobe LiveCycle ES to manage document distribution at each of our design centres around the world.”