PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 21

4 September 2002

Dear Subscriber:

The first anniversary of the New York and Washington terrorist attacks is approaching and will be remembered in a variety of ways by all of us. Tomorrow is the anniversary of another affront by terrorists – the attack on the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. I was living in Washington, DC at the time and remember it well.

I remember thinking that something like this couldn’t happen with the Olympics – it did. A couple of years earlier, Manhattan was experiencing more than just bomb threats, packaged explosives did extensive damage to the headquarters of several major corporations in the world’s greatest symbol of capitalism.

A couple of years later, two major oil embargoes, gasoline rationing and long lines made business-as-usual all but impossible. Airplane hijackings outside US airspace seemed to be common. This decade of heightened terrorist activity came to a close with Iranian militants storming the US embassy in Tehran and capturing 70 hostages that it held for 444 days and cost President Carter whatever hope he had for a second term.

Perhaps we have been too complacent for too many years. The Israelis should not have been the only ones to learn a lesson from the attack in Munich, 30 years ago. For the past year, we have dealt extensively with terrorism, again. This must not dominate our future.

PlantSuccess is working hard to be a part of the solution. Our 4^th annual conference will bring success and another outstanding roster of speakers to the Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel, 9-10 October. In addition, we will host two, very creative workshops during the preceding Tuesday.

The very appropriate theme is: Best Practices Driving Plant Performance. Keynoter, Hermann Ortega, VP of Engineering and Manufacturing for the Chemicals Group of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., will share his experience and international success in Productivity: A Model for Success.

PlantSuccess is fortunate to attract top-level speakers from leaders in a variety of industries – chemical, petrochemical, refining, pharmaceutical, life sciences, utility, steel, pulp and paper and others. Rather than speaking just to technology, these presenters discuss issues important in all industries -- business drivers, impact on work processes and integration requirements from the perspective of the owner/operator. PlantSuccess 2002 will continue this trend of outstanding content with Jeff Niesen, Senior Project Executive with The Boldt Company, sharing his experience with a new approach for managing a project and a company.

An abstract:

Four years ago, The Boldt Company, a 110 year-old, family-owned, general contractor and construction manager, was looking for a way to improve field productivity. Scheduling and cost control systems were state-of-the-art and employees were well trained in how to use them. When we asked our site supervisors what they needed to become more productive we heard the same request over and over: “We need the right information, the right materials and the right equipment at the right time.” What they told us they did not need was more schedules and reports from the “office”. Our state-of-the-art systems were failing the folks actually doing the work. As we searched for a solution, the Lean principles as applied to a project environment by the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) caught our attention.

Today, Lean principles, in particular the Last Planner, are becoming standard operating procedure for all Boldt projects. With dozens of projects under our belt, we know that collaboration at the production level, focusing on flow and reliability and promoting accountability and learning, is the key to overall project success. Using Lean techniques we are improving project schedules and reducing project cost. At the same time we are providing a higher level of customer satisfaction than our competitors and our employees are less stressed-out.

Success at the project level has motivated the company to apply Lean principles to support operations. Cross-functional teams are breaking down traditional departmental barriers and value stream mapping back-office information flow. The process has revealed significant waste in the traditional practices of job set up, accounting, job costing, purchasing, payroll and more. Redesigned processes and systems are being implemented that eliminate the waste while adding high value to our internal and external customers.

The Lean ideal – a custom product, delivered instantly, without waste – continues to be our ultimate goal and the principle that guides all of our improvement programs. We believe we are in the midst of a revolution; successful project delivery in the future will look very different than it does today.

Join Ortega, Niesen and other outstanding speakers, all experienced with the successful implementation of engineering IT and business drivers.

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.

Click HERE for online registration. For room reservations, call the PHL Airport Marriott at 1-215-492-9000 or 1-800- 800-228-9290 and specify PlantSuccess for the special daily conference rate of $159.00 plus taxes. This is a limited offer; call soon.

Regards, Carl Howk.

Chairman

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Featured Sponsors

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AVEVA/Cadcentre

Bentley Systems Inc,

FIATECH

OSI Software Inc.

Process Industry Practices (PIP)

The Center for Innovation in Project and Production Management (CFI)

Trinity Technologies Corp.

Verticore Technologies Inc.

Visit our leading sponsors online and join them in the Solutions Marketplace at PlantSuccess 2002. Register Now.

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Collaborative Events

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On Tuesday, 8 October, workshops by Greg Howell and Jim Alampi – both sought after as consultants and speakers -- will be conducted in conjunction with PlantSuccess 2002. This is a great opportunity; don’t miss it. Visit www.PlantSuccess.com for details and to register.

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?

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

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.

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.

Attendees will have executive management responsibility with owner/operators, engineering contractors and technology providers.

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.

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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Agenda

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	PlantSuccess 2002
	Best Practices Driving Plant Performance
	October 9 - 10, 2002
	Philadelphia Airport Marriott

Tue; 10/8/01
6:00 – 9:00pm	PlantSuccess Registration - Grand Ballroom Foyer
6:00 – 11:00pm	Sponsor Set-up -- Solutions Marketplace

Wed; 10/9/01
7:30 – 9:00am	PlantSuccess Registration - Grand Ballroom Foyer
7:30 – 9:00	Continental Breakfast – Solutions Marketplace
9:00 – 10:00	Welcome, Carl Howk, Chairman
	Keynote Address -- Productivity: A Model for Success
	Hermann Ortega, VP of Engineering & Manufacturing, Air Products and Chemicals Inc
	Moderator: Joe Morray, President, Trinity Technologies Corp.
10:00 – 10:30	Beverage Break – Solutions Marketplace
10:00 – 10:30	Press Conference: Hermann Ortega
10:30 – 11:15	Tackling Title V: A Solution for Compliance Assurance
	Clinton Whitehead, Project Services & Systems Manager, Rohm and Haas Company
	Moderator: Alan Brown, Principal, Insight Communications, Inc.
11:15 – 12:00	Continuous Improvement with Lean: A Success Story
	Jeff Niesen, Senior Project Executive, The Boldt Company
	Moderator: Ric Jackson, Director, FIATECH
12:00 – 1:00	Buffet Lunch -- Solutions Marketplace
1:00 – 1:45	A New Kind of Model: Dynamically Linking Work Process with Plant DNA
	Mick Heim, Staff Project Specialist, Shell Global Solutions US
	Moderator: Kristine Chin, editor in chief, Chemical Engineering Progress
1:45 – 2:30	From "Manumatic" to 21st Century Manufacturing
	Mike Templeton, Director of Manufacturing & GM, Millennium Specialty Chemicals
	Moderator: Bill Moore, VP of Strategic Consulting, ARC Advisory Group
2:30 – 3:15	To be announced
3:15 – 3:45	Beverage Break – Solutions Marketplace
3:45 – 5:00	Panel Discussion -- From the Plant: Best Practices Driving Performance
	To be announced
5:00 – 7:00	PlantSuccess Sponsors Contribute to the Solution -- Solutions Marketplace
5:00 – 6:00	Speaker's Tour of the Solutions Marketplace
5:00 – 6:00	Press/Analyst's Tour of the Solutions Marketplace
5:00 – 7:00	Cocktail Reception -- Solutions Marketplace

Thu; 10/10/01	Registration - Grand Ballroom Foyer
7:30 – 9:00am	Continental Breakfast - Solutions Marketplace
9:00 – 10:30	Panel Discussion -- Integrating SAP with the Plant Floor
	John Voeller, CTO and Chief Knowledge Officer, Black & Veatch Engineers
	Carmen DeVito, Manufacturing Process Owner, DuPont
	Bill Wight, Principal Architect of Shop Floor Automation Project, Eastman Chemical Co.
	Moderator: Carl Howk, Chairman, PlantSuccess, LLC
10:30 – 11:00	Beverage Break – Solutions Marketplace
11:00 – 12:30	Panel Discussion -- Web-Based Technology: What's the Skinny on Thin Client?
	Panelists from Sponsors of PlantSuccess 2002
	Moderator: Joe Morray, President, Trinity Technologies Corp.
12:30 – 2:00	Buffet Lunch and Wrap-up -- Solutions Marketplace

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Current Links

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Enterprise Architecture: Far Too Important to Be Left to the IT Team

The title of a current Gartner Group Research Report by Alexander Drobik, who states, “To avoid hobbling the business, a company must define its business model and enterprise architecture at the same time.” READ MORE.

Rethinking the Role of the Entrepreneurial Leader

From a current Accenture report: The Entrepreneurial Makeup

“ … The requirements of entrepreneurship itself are fairly straightforward. Creativity is at the heart of entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs can identify opportunities, large or small, that no one else has noticed. Good entrepreneurs also have the ability to apply that creativity to effectively marshal resources needed to achieve their goals.

“Entrepreneurs have drive—the force of will and the passion to achieve success. They focus on creating value by doing things better, faster and at lower cost. And they take risks—breaking rules, cutting across accepted boundaries and going against the status quo.“ READ MORE.

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Full links to Volume II, Issue 21 Newsletter articles: