2014-Sep: Operational Excellence by Design eNewsletter

Operational Excellence
by Design

Issue: 9

SEPTEMBER 2014

“Operational Excellence is a state of readiness that is attained as the efforts throughout the organization reach a state of alignment for achieving its strategies; and where the corporate culture is committed to the continuous and deliberate improvement of company performance AND the circumstances of those who work there – to pursue ‘Operational Excellence by Design‘, and not by coincidence.” -Joseph F Paris Jr; Chairman, XONITEK® Group of Companies

“The Operational Excellence Manifesto“

Biography Linked-In Blog Executive-Team

CHAIRMAN’S PERSPECTIVES

Lessons from Mt. Stupid

By Joseph Paris; Chairman, XONITEK Group of Companies

I recently had the opportunity to meet the Director of Operational Excellence in Europe for a publicly-traded company. He was a bright and passionate individual for sure, and we promised to have a follow-on conversation in a month’s time.

When it came time for the follow-up call, the much learn’d and passionate individual told me that he had been released. Being rather shocked, I asked what had happened. He told me the company had killed the entire Operational Excellence program to “cut costs”. Hmmm… and so it goes.

Believe it or not, I see this more often than you might imagine; Operational Excellence programs being cut or killed to save costs, Continuous Improvement programs ceasing to be “continuous”, Lean and Six-Sigma programs being starved of oxygen – the incredible (read: impossible) demands of corporate leadership on the improvement teams to accomplish grand goals with little or no support, and the more incredible acceptance of the demands under such conditions by the improvement team leadership.

But why is that? Is it inevitable or can it be avoided?

Click here for full article…

FEATURED EVENTS

Operational Excellence Energy Europe

September 23-25, 2014

London, UK

Operational improvements that are low risk and high impact: Isn’t that what every business wants? So attend the 4th Annual Operational Excellence Energy Europe Summit and learn to drive value, optimise your operational processes and build a world class organisation. XONITEK’s Joseph Paris will be serving as a featured speaker.

Operational Excellence Middle East

September 28-30, 2014

Manama, Bahrain

Held under the patronage of the National Oil and Gas Authority, will bring together leading IOCs, NOCs, EPCs Petrochemical companies, Technology Providers and Management Consultants to share insight and deliver solutions ensuring the GCCs status as a leader in operational excellence. XONITEK’s Joseph Paris will be speaking.

European TPM® and Similar Systems in Practice Conference

October 7-9, 2014

Budapest, Hungary

Our goal is to help those professionals who are making a continuous effort to improve their company’s productivity. The conference will provide a forum for all to share achievements, & discuss difficult issues. By learning from each other’s experience the best practices will soon spread through countries or even continents. XONITEK’s Joseph Paris will be presenting.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Process Improvement For Small to Midsize Companies: Don’t Wait, Act Now!

By Edwin Boon

Time and again, I have seen many processes across a variety of industries with an error rate in the range of 20-30%. Most of the time, this error rate is unnoticed, ignored, or considered part of doing business. Imagine the numbers of upset customers these types of error rates generate. With social media, an unhappy customer will tell thousands of other people how bad you are within seconds! One customer can cause serious damage to your brand and exponentially increase the need for better process excellence.

You need to take Customer Satisfaction seriously. Do you know your repeat and referral business? Is it low? What if it can grow to 30-40% of total revenue? That is what brand promoter and loyal customers do. They tell everyone to buy from you!

Click here for full article…

Operational Freedom: Trust and Independence in an Education System

By Jukka O. Mattila

In Finland, the external school inspectorate ceased in 1988. Presently, wide operational freedom prevails in the school system, but does this freedom come at the expense of inadequate national performance data?

Click here for full article…

TRUST ME – I’M AN ENGINEER

The Lighter-Side…

(click on picture to enlarge)

Contact the Editor

You are getting this eNewsletter because; you subscribed, are a member of one of the internet communities managed by XONITEK, or met someone from XONITEK. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments related to this publication – or if you might be interested in submitting an article for consideration in the eNewsletter.

Sincerely,

Trinity DeMars – Editor & Director of Operations

DeMarsTK@xonitek.com

OpEx Society & Industry Events

Click for September Events

OpEx Discussion

Focus on which first; Process or People?

XONITEK
In the News

Increase Quality, Increase Velocity

LMJ Board Member and XONITEK’s Chairman, Joseph Paris, explores the financial industry’s attempts at lean and shows where the real savings have been made.

Thought Food