"That accelerated pace of delivery is now more crucial than ever. Accelerated operational improvement offers CEOs a way to fight back and not only survive this recession, but better position their companies for the economic upturn." Doug Wano, U.S President, Proudfoot Consulting

Singapore, March 24 / b3c newswire / – To cope with the most disparaging economic climate in decades, business owners are pushed to explore the different varieties of standard-issue business strategies to steer their companies through the recession. The usual strategy of following the "order of practice of the industry" would be to review headcount, freeze and reduce budgets and other radical cost-cutting measures. The consequence of overreacting to this, is that it may handicap a company’s future potential when demand recovers again. What companies should do is to leverage on this downturn to re-invent themselves and consider how best to position themselves for global recovery when it happens. In such quest of business survival, decision makers tend to overlook the one management tool that has proven its effectiveness: process improvement.

Process improvement is an activity that intensively focuses on the operations and systems of a business (production, supply chain, sales, cost control and capital expenditures) to identify opportunities to remove elements that do not add business value, or ones that create unnecessary cost. The advantages of such reengineering efforts are immediately apparent: waste reduced, productivity increased, quality and performance enhanced.

The concept of utilizing operational improvement to increase business productivity is well established in methodologies such as Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, Toyota Production Systems and many more of such variants. Lean manufacturing, the concept fore founded by Ford Motor Systems and refined later by Toyota Motor, managed to increase its manufacturing productivity by 51.7% and reported cost savings of up to $5 million. Six Sigma, originally developed by Motorola recorded savings of over $15 billion in the last decade of implementation.

So why is such a proven business improvement methodology being overlooked now? How does one company start these operational improvement projects? What is the key ingredient for a successful implementation?

Recognizing this, The Six Sigma Connection in Singapore has launched The Business Optimisation and Excellence Summit 2009. The 3-day conference held over the period of 25 – 27 May 2009 in Novotel Clarke Quay, Singapore aims to explore strategies to effectively achieve business optimisation in the eras of austerity through the various process improvement methodologies. BOES 2009 will bring together process improvement leaders from Pfizer, MSD, Shell, Petronas, GE, DHL Global Freight, Sanofi-Aventis, British Petroleum, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and more to share experiences, discover best practices and discuss ways to implement these methodologies in the eras of austerity.

Mr. William Lee from the Planning and Operations Management Group in the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology said, “It is clear that process optimization is the best way forward for businesses now as it is clear that it can improve the competitiveness and performance of a company. It is not a fad but a long term commitment to quality excellence and continuous improvement.”

With the marching theme, “Achieving Business Process Excellence to Remain Long Term Competency and Sustainability”, BOES 2009 will focus enhancing business leaders with the knowledge and power to revolutionize their corporation to survive, if not prosper in the current market. For more information on other critical discussions to be covered in the conference:

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Thomas Bernavil
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