Atkinson Camp near Rainy River Mine
Optimizes Daily Operations and Enhances
the Guest Experience with SmartLodge

Anokiigamig Construction LP transforms the management of Atkinson Road Camp by leveraging SmartLodge to streamline check-ins, maximize room utilization, and ensure seamless day-to-day operations.

Anokiigamig Construction LP: A beacon of aboriginal entrepreneurship in modern construction and remote camp management

Anokiigamig Construction LP, a 100% Aboriginal-owned company, is a testament to the synergy of tradition and modernity in the construction industry. With ownership rooted in the community—45% by Rainy River First Nation, 45% by Naicatchewenin First Nation, and 10% by Saulteaux Consulting & Engineering—Anokiigamig embodies a profound commitment to not just the excellence in civil, structural, and general contracting, but also to fostering economic growth and sustainability within First Nations communities. The company has expanded its portfolio to include the specialized construction and management of remote camps, reflecting a strategic integration of general contracting with facility management and highlighting their commitment to comprehensive service delivery.

The Rainy River Mine project—setting new standards in environmental and community stewardship

The Rainy River Mine project, located approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Fort Frances, Ontario, represents a pioneering collaboration between New Gold Inc. and Anokiigamig Construction LP, and is a key development on the traditional lands of Treaty #3 Anishinaabe Communities. Initiated with New Gold's acquisition in October 2013 and reaching commercial production by October 2017, the project encompasses a state-of-the-art processing facility, alongside well-designed storage and handling systems that exemplify the industry's move towards more sustainable and responsible mining practices. This project is not just an economic venture, but also a collaborative effort that integrates the best of mining innovation with a deep commitment to environmental stewardship, community partnership, and respect for the land.

Anokiigamig delivers diverse and tailored solutions for workforce accommodation at Atkinson Road Camp

The Atkinson Road Camp, predominantly staffed by indigenous employees (70-75%), accommodates up to 375 workers and includes 10 dorms with 376 rooms, plus dining, recreation, and administrative facilities. This comprehensive setup fosters a holistic living and working environment, enriched with quality food services, maintenance, and recreational activities to enhance the overall quality of life for the residents. The responsibilities of the camp include:

• Providing efficient accommodation management and reception services, ensuring a smooth experience from check-in to departure.
• Offering a 24-hour retail facility with essentials like beverages, tobacco, snacks, and toiletries, ensuring residents have constant access to necessary items for their comfort and well-being.
• Providing three meals per day through a cafeteria, catering, Grab & Go, and retail options, ensuring that all dietary needs and preferences are catered to with fresh and high-quality food selections.
• Thorough cleaning and housekeeping efforts ensure that the camp remains tidy and welcoming, fostering an environment where residents can feel comfortable and at home.
• The camp's recreation center offers a pool, ping pong, foosball, and workout areas, promoting residents' physical and mental health by providing diverse leisure and activity options.
• Handling general maintenance, small repairs, ventilation, plumbing, and grounds maintenance to ensure all operational aspects of the camp function smoothly and efficiently.

Efficiently managing reservations, housekeeping, and interdepartmental coordination in a high-occupancy camp environment proved difficult at times

Managing the Atkinson Road Camp involves navigating complex logistical challenges due to its consistently high occupancy and variable influx of workers. These factors necessitate a flexible and efficient approach to management of the camp. Key issues the camp faced before implementing a camp management system include:

• The front desk managed reservations and handled reservation change requests manually, which proved time-consuming and inefficient.
• The arrival of large groups simultaneously, coupled with a manual reservation system, significantly extended wait times at check-in, creating a bottleneck due to limited front desk staffing.
• A lack of real-time visibility into room availability across the camp's 10 dorms made it difficult to utilize accommodations optimally, leading to potential underuse of the available accommodation space.
• Manually tracking housekeeping status and coordinating tasks often resulted in delays, with rooms frequently not being ready on time. Without a modern system, the efficiency of cleaning staff was reduced, leading to slower turnover of rooms and delaying the availability of clean rooms for arriving guests.
• The size of the camp made it susceptible to communication breakdowns between the front desk, housekeeping and maintenance teams, hindering the speed at which rooms could be checked, cleaned, and ultimately assigned to incoming workers.

SmartLodge enhances group check-ins, simplifies the management of housekeeping, optimizes room utilization, and improves coordination across departments at Atkinson Road Camp

To navigate the multifaceted operational challenges at Atkinson Road Camp, Anokiigamig deployed SmartLodge to address each of the identified challenges directly. The company achieved various positive outcomes by leveraging the system:

• Eliminated administrative burden for the front desk by introducing an online booking portal, which facilitates both roster and ad hoc room bookings.
• • The system automatically generates room bookings for workers on roster rotations on an ongoing basis for three major contractor groups staffed on the project, with any required changes handled by front desk staff.
  • The platform also supports ad hoc bookings, allowing for individual reservations that do not follow standard roster patterns to be made in the system. This feature enables users to flexibly manage unscheduled or last-minute reservation needs, essential for adapting to the fluctuating project needs.
• Check-in times were reduced to as little as 30 seconds through efficient search and registration features available in the system, enabling front desk staff to promptly process arriving guests. Additionally, the front desk assigns rooms before guests arrive using SmartLodge's user-friendly room blocking tool, further streamlining the check-in process.
• Optimized room utilization through the use of reserved room blocks, which have been created in SmartLodge for larger contractors staffed at the Rainy River project. This feature not only provides real-time visibility into general room inventory across the camp's 10 dorms, but also allows for precise oversight into the booking of these room blocks that are designated for key project personnel.
• Boosted room turnover by synchronizing housekeeping schedules with room status data, all managed in the system. SmartLodge enables cleaning staff to prioritize rooms needing immediate servicing and to quickly update the housekeeping status of rooms immediately after their shifts are complete. This ensures rooms are swiftly readied for new arrivals, enhancing both operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.
• Enhanced communication and coordination across different camp departments by offering real-time insights into operational metrics, such as room occupancy and housekeeping status of rooms.