Truck and shovel mining remains the dominant earthmoving method in open pit mining, typically accounting for 60 per cent of site costs. Despite extensive performance reporting, many mines still struggle to convert operational data into sustained productivity improvement. In pursuit of productivity improvements, the industry had deployed 1068 autonomous trucks globally as of 2022 and as of July 2025 this increased to 3832 units (GlobalData, 2022, 2025). Comparison of performance indicators of productivity and operational efficiency before and after autonomous haulage system implementation broadly show labour cost savings and improvements in utilisation of truck fleets in line with expectations, but unfulfilled potential for productivity improvement measured in tonnes per hour (in like-for-like pit conditions). Insights from manufacturing and processing industries emphasise the importance of carefully selected process-oriented KPIs to drive operational productivity, which begs the question: is there a comprehensive set of KPIs for a generic truck-shovel system which can be used by mine management to drive productivity performance using conventional management practice? A key tenet of this research is that inappropriate and/or incomplete KPIs are often used by mines in part due to an inadequate theoretical understanding of the complex productivity drivers of truck shovel systems, in particular the difficulty of defining KPIs which fairly reflect the system-wide interactions and variability of truck-shovel operations. The very feature of truck-shovel systems that makes it the preferred mining system in open pit mines – its flexibility – is also what makes it difficult to predict and measure. The study will explore the opportunity to develop a mathematically rigorous KPI set which can be integrated into an overall productivity and efficiency metric for the truck-shovel system. This would enable mine management to drive significant productivity improvements in open pit mines simply by aligning KPIs with critical success factors and organisational roles. This will enhance operational decision-making and structured business improvement, thereby addressing the unfulfilled potential of truck-shovel systems in open pit mining.