*This is an abstract only. No full paper is available for this abstract.* Relentless focus on productivity is paramount to Rio Tinto maximising sustainable shareholder value. The company has invested tens of billions of dollars in the Pilbara region over the past 49 years to build a seamless supply chain extending from resource development through to our customers. This long-term strategy has delivered industry-leading margins, supported by automation, innovation and, most importantly, a highly engaged workforce._x000D_
Rio Tinto's Integrated Production Model (IPM) is the beneficiary system of maximising productivity in its relentless pursuit of increased reliability and lower variability in the value chain. The IPM is currently comprised of 15 Pilbara mines that are connected (through a series of regional hubs) to the biggest privately-owned freight rail system in the world. This feeds four Pilbara ports loading bulk carriers with over 300 Mt/a of iron ore that is shipped to customers in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The IPM is coordinated and largely controlled from the Operations Centre, which is located adjacent to Perth Airport. The Operations Centre came about as a result of Rio Tinto's vision for automation in its iron ore business to sustain it as the world's best._x000D_
Rio Tinto leads improvement through an ever deepening understanding of the IPM component parts and how they operate to create value in the system. It also engages its employees in a highly collaborative culture to promote productivity through a select number of high-value initiatives sponsored by senior executives as well as a broad base of hundreds of bottom-up improvement initiatives._x000D_
The presentation will provide insights into why Rio Tinto's Pilbara operations are the world's best iron ore business and will continue to generate significant value through the market cycle. It will show a world-class, fully integrated system underpinned by strong customer relationships based on a premium product suite, technical marketing expertise and reliable delivery of high-quality products across varied market conditions. It will also show how Rio Tinto is optimising value through debottlenecking and increasing productivity and how industry-leading technology and innovation will ensure that it remains the lowest-cost producer in the Pilbara region._x000D_
CITATION: Gollschewski, M, 2015. Rio Tinto Iron Ore - being the best, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 13-14 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).