PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 18

7 August 2002

 

 

 

Dear Subscriber:

 

Too many front-page reports on activities besmirching the quality of leadership in corporate America make it abundantly clear that the success of business and of our society depends upon the integrity of individuals and organizations.

 

In 30+ years in business, I’ve known my share of cheaters and fakers -- they don’t last long because too few people will work with them and give them the support needed to achieve or maintain a position of responsibility.

 

Participants in PlantSuccess as speakers, sponsors, moderators and attendees are like the vast majority of the people I have known -- they work hard and contribute extensive personal resources to further their industry and their profession. Making the decisions and taking the actions that maintain the credibility of their integrity is important to everything they do. Perhaps because of this, they are successful managing the difficult relationships between people, work processes and technology; they are leaders.

 

If success motivates you and you like to be with leaders, join us for PlantSuccess 2002, 9-10 October at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott.

 

Join keynoter Hermann Ortega, Air Products’ VP of engineering and manufacturing, and an outstanding roster of innovative managers from industry leaders discussing the best practices in their organizations that are driving improved plant performance.

 

Read about another sponsor AVEVA/Cadcentre and two workshops that add important opportunities to the PlantSuccess community — one on Project Management, the other an Executive Tuneup.

 

Visit http://www.plantsuccess.com to review the progress with PlantSuccess 2002 and previous program agendas and the many outstanding presentations from experienced and successful industry leaders.

 

Early Registration — save $100. 

Owners and contractor personnel — $695.

Non-sponsor technology providers — $895. 

Click HERE for online registration.

 

Regards, Carl Howk.

Chairman

 

 

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Featured Sponsors

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AVEVA Group plc, and its divisions Cadcentre, AVEVA Consulting and AVEVA Managed Services, is continuing an unbroken string as a sponsor of the annual PlantSuccess conference. We are particularly pleased that AVEVA also will be hosting Wednesday evening’s cocktail reception.

 

AVEVA Group plc is a leading developer and provider of process plant engineering IT solutions and services. The company has a strong and familiar foundation in the Cadcentre, which was founded in Cambridge, UK, in 1967, privatized in 1983, and went through a management buyout in 1994. AVEVA has traded on the London Stock Exchange since 1996 (AVV.L). The company claims its technology has been integral to the engineering process of industrial plants with a total value greater than US$500 billion for more than 700 clients worldwide.

 

AVEVA Group plc operates with a global staff and provides software and services to many of the world’s leaders in the process manufacturing industry. AVEVA Managed Services is a relatively new capability in outsourcing and contributed to a significant, multi-year award from DuPont for software, IT services and outsourcing services. READ MORE.

 

Join AVEVA Group and other industry leaders as sponsors of PlantSuccess 2002. Register Now.

 

 

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Collaborative Events

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Project Management Workshop

 

On Tuesday, 8 October, Greg Howell, co-founder and managing director of The Center for Innovation in Project and Production Management (CFI) is collaborating with PlantSuccess and conducting a workshop in his area of specialty – Project Management; the topic – The Theory of Project Management: Is It Obsolete?

 

Howell’s Thesis: Typical project management practices do not assure success. They fail to deliver elements important to the customer – projects take too long, cost too much and kill too many. Lean practices work better because they rest on different mental models. The new lean theories explain where current practices are deficient and provide the basis for significant improvement.

 

This workshop will explore the new lean theories and show how they can be applied. Through a combination of case studies, lecture, simulation and discussion, participants will learn the Five Keys to Project Success and actions to take immediately to achieve better project management.

 

Agenda, Tuesday, 8 October 2002

 

8:30 – 9:00am       Registration — Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel

9:00 – 2:30pm       Workshop, Beverage Break, Buffet Lunch

 

• Introductions, Goals and Objectives
• Projects as Temporary Production Systems; Redefining the Problem
• Foundations of a Solution
  • Dice Game
  • Airplane Game
• Sketching a Planning System that Works
  • “Promises, Promises!”
• Five Keys to the New Practices

Registration fee is $195. Register Now. Discounts for multiple attendees from the same company are available, for information, please call PlantSuccess at 770-565-3282.

 

 

 

Tuneup For Executives Workshop

 

Jim Alampi, managing director of Solutions at Work, LLC, is bringing his company’s highly acclaimed workshop, Tuneup For Executives, to the Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel, 8 October 2002.

 

Alampi is former president of Van Waters & Rogers, Inc. and CEO of e-Chemicals. Alampi is a retained senior advisor to Deloitte Consulting’s Process Industry Group on business strategy and issues and speaks frequently to CEO’s, executive teams and trade associations.

 

Solutions at Work provides CEO’s and leadership teams with simple, practical tools to help translate vision into execution and results. More than 200 companies have participated in a Tuneup, and have benefited from the four keys to executive team alignment:

• Prioritization
• Accountability
• Critical numbers
• Meeting Rhythms

This workshop is for senior managers with process industry leaders who also are likely participants in PlantSuccess. Attendees will have executive management responsibility with owner/operators, engineering contractors and technology providers.

 

Attendees will be challenged in the following ways:

• Do you have the right players on the bus, the wrong players off the bus, and the right players in the right seats (from Jim Collins’ bestseller Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't)?
• Do you have a leadership team or a group of executives? And, what is the health of the team (from Pat Lencioni’s bestseller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable)?
• How aligned is your leadership team and can it implement your vision?

Satisfaction is guaranteed; participants will leave knowing how to:

• Use the one-page strategic “Planning Pyramid” process and document.
• Discover your organization’s Core Values.
• Set the Top 5 and Top 1 of 5 priorities.
• Define the 3 Smart Numbers and Critical Number for at least the next quarter.
• Conduct effective daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual meetings.

Agenda, Tuesday, 8 October 2002

 

3:00 – 3:30pm        Registration – Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel

3:30 – 7:00            Workshop with Beverage Break

7:00 – 8:30            Cocktail Reception and Dinner

 

Registration fee is $195. Register Now. Discounts for multiple attendees from the same company are available, for information, please call PlantSuccess at 770-565-3282.

 

 

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Current Links   

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·         Aligning IT Strategy and Investment to Deliver Enterprise Value:
Seeing the Forest and the Trees

 

Research by the Aberdeen Group shows “…convergence of budget pressures and economic trends has placed executives in the unenviable position of having to achieve new levels of process innovation and technology enablement while keeping a tight rein on technology spending.

 

“Aberdeen has concluded that this combination of factors demands a different approach to IT strategy development and investment from that of the late 1990s through early 2001, when, in spite of massive investments, many companies reported not achieving expected benefits from enterprise solutions initiatives.” READ MORE.

 

 

·         What is The Heart of Change?

 

“Change is more effective when people are shown a truth that influences their feelings, than if they are given analysis to shift their thinking. When you handle this reality well, you win.”

 

Discussions at PlantSuccess most often revolve around managing change. This is an interesting book by John Kotter, an expert on leadership at the Harvard Business School, and Dan Cohen, a principal with Delloitte Consulting.

 

Learn about The 8 Steps: