HIGHLIGHTS FROM 3RD ANNUAL GLOBAL OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE & PROCESS TRANSFORMATION SUMMIT

Keynotion’s renowned Global Operational Excellence & Process Transformation Summit took place for the 3^rd time on the 1^st-2^nd November 2018. This time, the event was hosted by Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, and brought together delegates and speakers from 12 different countries and a broad variety of industries, from Oil & Gas to Insurance and Pharmaceutical. Produced by Veronika Tomeckova, the Summit received appraisal from guests and speakers for excellent organisation.

DAY 1

The first day of the event opened with a keynote presentation on the ‘FUTURE OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT’ by Mark Whitehead, Director of Business Improvement and Strategy at Macquarie Group. He emphasized how looking back and learning from the past is essential in order to understand the future. Next, Anak Bt Karim– Senior Manager Integrated Operations at PETRONAS presented a case study titled ‘SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS: LINKING DIGITAL STRATEGIES TO ROBUST BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE‘. Mr. Karim provided examples of how to successfully build organization strategy around Data. He also gave practical tips on starting the process of shaping and connecting the business architecture.

Gaukhar Janassova (International SOS), Alex Tan (MetLife) and Amit Sharma (DB Schenker) joined in a panel discussion ‘GETTING COMMITMENT FROM SENIOR LEADERS AND IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS UPFRONT‘. The panel was moderated by Klaasvan Asten, Director Business Excellence Asia Pacific at LEGO Group. Participants discussed how engagements with other business units and addressing their issues is detrimental when communicating with stakeholders.

After lunch Lays Laraya, Director of Quality at Emerald Palace Kempinski led a breakout session dedicated to ‘THE ROLE OF CUSTOMERS IN MAINTAINING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE’. In the presentation dedicated to mapping customer journey to increase customer satisfaction he highlighted the importance of empathy and design thinking when it comes to customer experience.

The breakout sessions were followed by a case study ‘UNDERSTAND WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN: A PARADIGM SHIFT FROM COST STRIPPING TO CUSTOMER-CENTRIC GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES’, by Chris Wong PhD., Head of Lean at Cathay Pacific Airways. In the highly engaging presentation, Mr. Wong explained how to identify customer and market needs and translate them into new business models, and how to achieve OPEX through a customer-centred approach.

The day concluded with chairman’s closing remarks, followed by a cocktail reception, where guests had an opportunity to meet each other, network, exchange ideas and impressions from the day’s presentations.

DAY 2

The second day kicked off with a keynote presentation by Summit chairman Josh Hamalian, dedicated to ‘LEAN AND GREEN OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE’. He presented reasons why more businesses should consider going green, and predicted that sustainability will be one of the key future drives for OPEX.

In the following keynote speech  ‘CREATING A HIGH-PERFORMING, LEAN & VALUE-ADDED ORGANISATION’ Alex Tan, CoE Director at MetLife explained how to distribute talent and assets within the organisation to achieve more with less.

An interactive panel discussion ‘SHARING FAILED PROJECTS, AND WHY THEY DIDN’T TURN OUT SUCCESSFUL’ was brought together by Sanjay Sharma (panel moderator, Worldwide Support Leader Microsoft), Michelle Wu (Chief Information officer GE Power Services) and Samuel Obin (Change Management & Transformation Lead Mondelez International). The panelists shared actual experiences of unsuccessful projects from their previous and current companies, and engaged the audience in the discussion. Guests of the summit had the chance to analyse each case, identify the problems and come up with possible solutions.

After lunch Michelle Wu presented a case study on the topical subject: ‘HOW WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IMPACT THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS?’ She expressed enthusiasm about the future cooperation of humans and machines in transforming organisation, and presented use cases of AI for Continuous Improvement and real-time decisions.

The Summit concluded with a workshop ‘ALIGNING WORKFORCE STRATEGIES WITH BUSINESS OBJECTIVES’ led by Bondan Susilo (Environment, Health, Safety & Social Responsibility Manager at PT. Astra International). He addressed the distinct need for training of leading stakeholders to develop and transform their leadership behavior needed in the increasingly complex operations and processes.

Keynotion regularly hosts events dedicated to OPEX and process transformation. Follow our website to keep updated on the upcoming summits and conferences.

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