PlantSuccess Newsletter
Volume III, Issue 15
6 August 2003
Dear
Subscriber:
Plans for
PlantSuccess Northeast 2003, the 5th anniversary event in Philadelphia,
a unique conference focused on owner-operators in the process industry and
their successful implementation of engineering IT are making great progress. We
are very grateful for the support we receive from many industry leaders in
spite of very hectic schedules and the difficult economic times that continue
to plague the chemicals industry.
As we deal
with travel bans and substantial cuts in discretionary expenses, we are reminded
often that our businesses are cyclical and told frequently that we should take
advantage of these times to improve the use of current technologies, our
processes, our management skills and “best practices.”
This year’s
theme for PlantSuccess is “Best Practices Driving Plant Performance.” We have great company with this focus,
including the Construction
Industry Institute (CII), a well-organized, well-funded professional
organization that held its annual conference in Orlando last week. CII has 98
members, almost equally spilt between owner-operators and contractors, and
promotes a series of well-established best practices intended “to improve the
business effectiveness of the capital facilities lifecycle …”
The annual
meeting, attended by more than 500, featured presentations on the work (even in
these tough times) of hundreds of volunteers in important areas including value
management, engineering productivity, risk assessment, benchmarking and
collaboration.
The event
also featured remarks by its noted director, Ken Eickmann, who has done a great
job with CII and an entertaining, knowledgeable and insightful speaker for
PlantSuccess. Ken retired several years ago from the US Air Force after a very
successful career and with the very senior rank of Lt Gen; he’s retiring again
but not likely to “retire” any time soon. Ken has a unique ability to recruit a
broad range of outstanding speakers; this year’s roster included Lt Gen
Michael Moseley, responsible for the Air Force component in the war for
Iraqi freedom and other activities
He gave us
a view of current events that do not make the evening news and a perspective on
the management of this remarkable undertaking. There is no similarity between
my experience with the US Navy in Vietnam and the South China Sea and the
events in Iraq, which explains the different outcome.
US military
forces have developed and implemented collaboration to a degree we’ll never see
in private or public businesses. It has not always been this way in the
military and many detractors to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said it was high
risk and impossible. They did it, in a relatively short period of time and
there is no reason we can’t learn from their experience.
Perhaps the
best way is to hire the soldiers, sailors and airman when they return home.
These brave Americans are goal oriented, they understand risk and accept
responsibility. They return with a mature perspective on life and their role in
an organization that is often only available to those who have been in war. The
difference between this generation and mine is that they won and we were not
permitted to.
We will
provide a complimentary registration for PlantSuccess Northeast 2003 to fifty
(50) military personnel who have served in Iraq and are now committed to a
career bringing about collaboration and improving the implementation of
engineering IT in the process industry.
Sponsors
for PlantSuccess Northeast 2003 include Ivara
Corporation, a strong company in the business of improving asset
reliability with comprehensive software and services for equipment maintenance.
Speakers from Ivara customers Dofasco and Molson Canada have been well received
at PlantSuccess conferences; their message was clear:
… a measurable increase in reliability that provides a
higher return on asset investment, increased output and increased
profitability, reduced costs, significantly less downtime and improved safety
and environmental performance.
Visit www.PlantSuccess.com to review or
download these presentations; visit Ivara personnel in the Solutions
Marketplace at PlantSuccess Northeast 2003, 15-16 October at the PHL Airport
Marriott, to learn about Ivara EXP Integration to SAP and their
partnering with BE&K and others. Visit www.PlantSuccess.com for more
information and join us.
Best
regards,
Carl. Howk,
Chairman
*****************
Current
Links
*****************
Keeping
Your Balance with Customers
In this
current Harvard Business Review article, Robert Kaplan and David
Norton discuss how to overcome the challenges of properly segmenting
customers and developing strategies for what the authors believe is the real
source of competitive advantage today: Customer Management.
According
to the authors, an effective market strategy incorporating CM includes four
processes - selection, acquisition, retention and growth - "all of which,
when strategically integrated, maximize the value of the customer, and
therefore of value creation in general."
READ
MORE.
Creativity, Inc.:
Building An Inventive Organization
In the
current issue, Optimize Magazine published an interview with Jeff
Mauzy, co-author of this book, a frequent speaker and very successful
businessman. This is an interesting approach to gain information quickly about
a potential significant competitive advantage.
A couple of claims: “Creativity is the ability to get ideas
and to be flexible and open to your environment. Innovation, on the other hand,
is the application of creativity.” READ MORE.
The
PlantSuccess Newsletter generates a substantial number of visits to our
website, we welcome the interest and the access to previous issues of the
Newsletter which are available there. If you'd like to share this newsletter
with a colleague, just forward a copy. Subscribe or cancel by sending a request
to Carl.Howk@PlantSuccess.com
Full links to Volume III, Issue 15 Newsletter articles: