PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume III, Issue 17

20 August 2003

Dear Subscriber:

As we complete plans for our 5th annual event in the Philadelphia area, sometimes I reflect on the project that was the inaugural conference and the support we received from industry leaders even before there was a PlantSuccess. The unique focus on the owner-operator and his successful use of engineering IT began with PlantSuccess ’99 and featured: Jim Sohaney – Air Products and Chemicals, Dick Pettigrew – Rohm and Haas, Steve Woodruff – Chevron, Bill Daly – Unilever, Dave Hoerster – Bayer, David Kreh – Elf Atochem, Tim Murphy – Duke Energy and Dave Davidson – Solutia. They did a great job and set a standard that has been challenged by 90 other speakers at PlantSuccess conferences in Philadelphia and Houston.

This inaugural group was led by one of our earliest supporters, keynoter Jim Porter, DuPont’s Chief Engineer and VP of engineering and operations. Porter did a great job “setting the conference table” and has been followed as keynote in Philadelphia by other industry leaders: Tom Archibald – Rohm and Haas, Kirk Wilson – Bayer and Hermann Ortega – Air Products and Chemicals. We are very pleased to have Jim return as keynoter for the 5th anniversary conference.

Over its 200 years of continuous, successful operation, DuPont has been credited with a focus on numerous activities that determine the company’s ability to impact people, strategy and execution to improve asset utilization and product manufacturing.

Chad Holliday, DuPont’s Chairman and CEO, enunciated a three-part strategy:

At PlantSuccess 2000, Don Linsenmann led an interesting and entertaining discussion on his role as Corporate Six Sigma Champion and the commitments and progress being made across all facets of DuPont.

As keynote for PlantSuccess Northeast 2003, Jim Porter will deliver the address: “Six Sigma and Best Manufacturing Practices – Delivering Powerhouse Performance.” Do not miss this opportunity to learn how DuPont Engineering has contributed to the billions of dollars in benefit achieved from the company’s very successful implementation of Six Sigma methodology join us 15 – 16 October at the PHL Airport Marriott.

Sponsors for PlantSuccess Northeast 2003 include The Global IT Knowledge Forum, a joint project of the Xerox Corporation and the Institute for International Infostructure. The Global IT Knowledge Forum features more than 4 million registered IT professionals, a comprehensive newsletter and a unique, extensive and easy-to-use website that supports English, French, Spanish and Portuguese fluently. This project was organized and is managed by Martha Gorman, one of the most capable and creative IT professionals I know.

Visit www.PlantSuccess.com for more information, to review agendas from previous conferences and to download any of the very popular presentations.

Best regards,

Carl. Howk, Chairman

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Current Links   

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The Incredible Shrinking Legacy Workforce

According to the author of this Optimize Magazine article, “That [title] may sound surprising in the midst of the most long-lived and difficult technology recession since the industry's inception, but it's true.  This is an interesting thesis for those dependent upon IT and successful application … and that’s all of us. READ MORE.

Customer Risk Analytics: The Flip Side of CRM

From the Aberdeen Group:Opportunity and risk are the yin and yang of corporate success. A corporation that pursues too many perilous opportunities will eventually gamble its success away, whereas a highly risk-averse firm limits its future growth potential. It is only in carefully managing the trade-off between the two that an enterprise can find lasting advantages.”

And, “In this era of retrenchment and rationalization of technology investment, enterprises can no longer treat risk technologies as the stepchildren of their IT strategies. Only those that start looking at their customer risk strategically and use it to inform CRM approaches by making sales, marketing, and support risk-aware in their function will be able to weather a prolonged recession and emerge into a world of new opportunities with a balanced worldview.  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 17 Newsletter articles:

  1. http://www1.dupont.com/NASApp/dupontglobal/corp/index.jsp?page=/content/US/en_US/overview/glance/sus_growth.html
  2. http://www.bettermanagement.com/library/library.aspx?libraryid=5849%20&pagenumber=2
  3. http://www.it-globalforum.org/
  4. http://www.infostructure.info/
  5. www.PlantSuccess.com
  6. http://www.optimizemag.com/issue/022/culture.htm
  7. http://www.aberdeen.com/2001/research/07030024.asp
  8. www.PlantSuccess.com