Point Of ViewRESULTS FROM GLOBAL EFESO/ICIS SURVEY AND PRACTICAL CASE STUDIESIMPROVING YOUR RESULTS TODAY, SECURING YOUR RESULTS TOMORROWWIN MORE OUT OF LESS FROM YOUR OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE PROGRAMMESPARTNERED WITHwww.icis.com36 | ICIS Chemical Business | 31 August-6 September 2018 FERNANDO CRUZADO & DIETER CARELS EFESO CONSULTINGHow can effective OPEX programmes successfully face the challenges that arise as they become more and more embedded in the organisation?Key ingredients to win more from lessAn ICIS reader survey of 2014, which attracted responses from over a hundred chemical compa-nies, discovered that “engagement of the organisation/strong leadership” and “collaboration/best practice exchange” were critical success factors in enabling operation-al excellence (OPEX) programmes to deliver (and over-deliver) expected results. This year ICIS has partnered with EFESO Consulting, which specialises in sustainable transformations, to repeat the survey and ex-plore further how successful companies are dealing with the challenges OPEX pro-grammes throw up. How do companies exe-cute successful programmes and what sets them apart from non-successful companies? How do they go from driving for more out of less to winning more out of less?We begin by comparing the results of the 2014 and 2018 surveys, to see how some ele-ments have progressed and changed while others have remained the same. After that, we dive deeper into the above-mentioned success factors and present some key take-aways which companies can use to further pave the way in their OPEX journeys to-wards sustainable results. To illustrate some of the new findings, we will use many real-life examples throughout this article based on EFESO’s long-time ex-perience with OPEX programmes in the chemicals and other sectors. FIRST THINGS FIRST: 2018 VS 2014Starting with the relevance and spread of OPEX programmes, we see a comparable situation between the two surveys: more than half of the respondents actively run an OPEX programme. Also, when looking at the priority of such initiatives, we see that OPEX remains an important topic on the agenda, which is shown by the fact that over 75% of the respondents running a pro-gramme consider OPEX to be a top three or top five agenda item.Leadership is crucial to keep the drive for operational improvement goingwww.icis.com 31 August-6 September 2018 | ICIS Chemical Business | 37IN ASSOCIATION WITH ❯❯GettyImagesport attached to it, remain instrumental to truly mobilise and transform the organisation.Finally, looking at the main objectives tar-geted through the OPEX programmes, struc-tural cost reduction remains at the top of the list as a motivating factor. Following that, there has been a change in ranking. While in 2014, second and third in priority were related to innovation/growth and quali-ty improvements, the 2018 situation ranks delivery reliability and safety as top items. This is coherent with practical deployment experience. Safety becomes indeed much more integrated in OPEX programmes and is no longer treated as a separate initiative, as we have seen in the past. One of the reasons for this is that OPEX programmes are increasing-ly becoming a carrier for behavioural change, which is at the core of EHS initiatives. Also, the increase in importance of delivery reliability matches the reality of market condi-tions, where agility to respond to demand and delivery to promise are growing in relevance.THE ROAD TO SUCCESSAs stated, one of the intentions of the recent survey was to deep-dive on very specific areas and understand what factors differenti-common/centrally guided approach), this has significantly changed. The majority of the companies now opt for a set-up where a common methodology is used as the standard way of working and platform for best practice exchange. This fact is consistent with the experience of OPEX deployments in the field: organisations tend to focus more on the deployment of compre-hensive production systems/an engine for continuous improvement rather than punc-tual improvement programmes.One of the questions asked in both surveys was how companies would rate their satis-faction level with the results achieved. The scale for answering ranged from “1, falling significantly behind expectations” to “4, sig-nificantly overachieving expectations”. Comparing responses received, there has been an overall positive development in terms of satisfaction, i.e. OPEX programme are more often achieving expectations. What remains similar across both data sets is that those programmes experiencing a high-er attention in the organisation also showed better results (in 2018 approx. 35% higher rat-ings). This reiterates that the importance of a programme, and thus the attention and sup-What is interesting to see here is that chem-ical companies seem to have been progressing their programmes further since the last sur-vey. While in 2014 over 50% of the compa-nies had been running their OPEX initiatives for 1-3 years, the majority of companies now have longer experience (44% of the pro-grammes falling into the 3-6 years category). These more mature programmes also seem to have a consequence on the pro-gramme set-up. While in the previous sur-vey approximately 25% of the companies categorised their programmes as “autono-mous & site driven” (ie, not following a SATISFACTION LEVEL WITH OPEX PROGRAMMES201420181.01.52.02.53.03.54.0~35% higher satisfactionSOURCE: ICIS/EFESO surveyAverage satisfaction levelprogrammes low priorityAverage satisfaction level programmestop 3 or top 5 priority~30% higher satisfactionIMPORTANCE OF OPEX PROGRAMMES47%Top 3 agenda itemTop 5 agenda itemLess priority2014 surveyxxxxxxxx2018 survey44%37%33%16%22%SOURCE: ICIS/EFESO surveyIn 2014 ICIS carried out a global survey to explore the “state of the art” of Operational Excellence programmes in the Chemical industry. Now, 4 years later, EFESO has been partnering up with ICIS to investigate trends which happened since then & deep-dive on 2 topics identified as being critical in the 2014 edition: a) collaboration across the network 2www.icis.com 31 August-6 September 2018 | ICIS Chemical Business | 37 ❯❯GettyImagesport attached to it, remain instrumental to truly mobilise and transform the organisation.Finally, looking at the main objectives tar-geted through the OPEX programmes, struc-tural cost reduction remains at the top of the list as a motivating factor. Following that, there has been a change in ranking. While in 2014, second and third in priority were related to innovation/growth and quali-ty improvements, the 2018 situation ranks delivery reliability and safety as top items. This is coherent with practical deployment experience. Safety becomes indeed much more integrated in OPEX programmes and is no longer treated as a separate initiative, as we have seen in the past. One of the reasons for this is that OPEX programmes are increasing-ly becoming a carrier for behavioural change, which is at the core of EHS initiatives. Also, the increase in importance of delivery reliability matches the reality of market condi-tions, where agility to respond to demand and delivery to promise are growing in relevance.THE ROAD TO SUCCESSAs stated, one of the intentions of the recent survey was to deep-dive on very specific areas and understand what factors differenti-common/centrally guided approach), this has significantly changed. The majority of the companies now opt for a set-up where a common methodology is used as the standard way of working and platform for best practice exchange. This fact is consistent with the experience of OPEX deployments in the field: organisations tend to focus more on the deployment of compre-hensive production systems/an engine for continuous improvement rather than punc-tual improvement programmes.One of the questions asked in both surveys was how companies would rate their satis-faction level with the results achieved. The scale for answering ranged from “1, falling significantly behind expectations” to “4, sig-nificantly overachieving expectations”. Comparing responses received, there has been an overall positive development in terms of satisfaction, i.e. OPEX programme are more often achieving expectations. What remains similar across both data sets is that those programmes experiencing a high-er attention in the organisation also showed better results (in 2018 approx. 35% higher rat-ings). This reiterates that the importance of a programme, and thus the attention and sup-What is interesting to see here is that chem-ical companies seem to have been progressing their programmes further since the last sur-vey. While in 2014 over 50% of the compa-nies had been running their OPEX initiatives for 1-3 years, the majority of companies now have longer experience (44% of the pro-grammes falling into the 3-6 years category). These more mature programmes also seem to have a consequence on the pro-gramme set-up. While in the previous sur-vey approximately 25% of the companies categorised their programmes as “autono-mous & site driven” (ie, not following a SATISFACTION LEVEL WITH OPEX PROGRAMMES201420181.01.52.02.53.03.54.0~35% higher satisfactionSOURCE: ICIS/EFESO surveyAverage satisfaction levelprogrammes low priorityAverage satisfaction level programmestop 3 or top 5 priority~30% higher satisfactionIMPORTANCE OF OPEX PROGRAMMES47%Top 3 agenda itemTop 5 agenda itemLess priority2014 surveyxxxxxxxx2018 survey44%37%33%16%22%SOURCE: ICIS/EFESO survey as well as b) organizational engagement and leadership development. The following article was published in the August edition of the ICIS magazine and has been authorized for reprint. Please read below how the Chemical industry is doing on Operational Excellence and which practical aspects differentiate successful from non-successful programmes.3www.icis.com38 | ICIS Chemical Business | 31 August-6 September 2018 SPECIAL REPORT READER SURVEY ❯❯ate successful from non-successful pro-grammes. The two dimensions chosen for this deep dive were (a) Collaboration and digital solutions, and (b) Organisational en-gagement and leadership development. The selection of those topics was made based on the challenges/priorities that com-panies in the 2014 survey faced in the devel-opment of their OPEX programmes. For each of the dimensions the respondents were asked to self-evaluate on several criteria, the scale ranging from “1, elements are not represented yet” up to “4, elements are fully implemented”. In the analysis shown below, we compare the scores of programmes rated successful against those which denominated them-selves as not achieving set expectations. The aim of that profiling was to get an indication as to which criteria are well developed in successful programmes and thus could be considered success factors. SOURCE: ICIS/EFESO surveyNon-successful programmesSuccessful programmesCOLLABORATION & DIGITAL SOLUTIONS1234Collaborationas successfactorEffectivedistributionof standardsOpeness toadopt bestpracticeBest practicesharing &seeking cultureEstablishedcollaborationplatformsTechnologyenablingcollaborationEasy toretrieve/accessbest practiceFactors ranked by difference between successful and non-successful programmesinformation around their work orders on hand-held computers have proven to increase maintenance efficiency and effectiveness. Digital solutions can also be of great benefit in the area of performance manage-ment. Examples are digital visual manage-ment through touchscreen boards located in control rooms, which combine the intui-tiveness of a “regular” board with the advantage of not “wiping out” memory and having information immediately available at different levels of the organisation (eg, to escalate issues from shift huddle to site morning meeting). Another aspect linked to this, is the possi-bility to better deal with deviations identi-fied in performance management meetings, for example through the ability to directly link improvement teams to the issues tagged. With the right collaboration platforms, it is even possible to use network-based problem-solving in order to build upon collective in-telligence and past experience, and not only the knowledge at the site. The importance of this network collaboration is also demon-strated by priority No 3 of the criteria, which highlights this as a clear characteristic of suc-cessful programmes.Last, but not least, the openness to adopt best practices as well as how easily accessi-ble they are, is – not surprisingly – important for programme success. From this point of view the willingness to seek or proactively reach out for best practices is helping pro-grammes to succeed – much more than, for example, elements like the ability to distrib-ute standards in the network. Surprisingly, considering collaboration as a success element does not show up as a differentiating criterion. On the other hand, it does mirror that organisations often con-sider this as a “given” – the tricky part is how effective the intent/willingness to col-laborate is translated into reality, for exam-ple by providing the appropriate boundary conditions/collaboration platforms to allow this to happen. DIETER CARELSSenior manager and member of the human dynamics practice, EFESO Consulting“It’s people who make a methodology come to life, use the tools, drive processes, work together to achieve results... and have an impact on performance and results” READY, SET, LEAD! One of the biggest challenges companies face time and time again is how to over-come the so-called souffle effect of any given programme, including OPEX initia-tives. Once the momentum of the initial launch campaign has dissipated, and atten-tion to the programme in subsequent weeks and months starts to fade, how do we keep the energy going and make sure the pro-gramme delivers or keeps delivering the expected results? How do we make sure that an OPEX pro-gramme remains active when improvement teams have already been running for years and low hanging fruits have long been picked? Lack of tangible or visible results in the first months, or lack of sustainable results after a certain peri-od, are frequently stated reasons for why a pro-gramme – sometimes silently – died down. In an attempt to find the cause for this fail-ure, the applied OPEX methodology is often first in line to get the chop (“This isn’t work-ing, we need another methodology”), next to other commonly used reasons such as “The training was insufficient” or “We didn’t have enough resources”, etc. More often, however, the real root cause for programmes to fail or fade out has to be found at the source of where those pro-grammes almost always originate (and where they should be sustained): the leadership. Experience shows that it requires strong lead-ers to drive the programme forward towards a shared vision, day after day, relentlessly and FERNANDO CRUZADOVice president and global lead of the chemical practice, EFESO Consulting“Organisations tend to focus on deployments of comprehensive production systems – including practical digital aids & behavioural change aspects”Following specific requests received from a number of survey respondents, we do not want to just show the data, but combine it with practical examples – both sense-check-ing conclusions as well as making those take-aways concrete and tangible.SHARING IS CARING Looking deeper into the results of this section, four criteria appear to make a dif-ference/help the success of programmes. One of the top items mentioned was the presence of practical (digital) solutions ena-bling collaboration. Comparing this with field experience, it does mirror reality. The important part though is to truly focus on the practical as-pects of digital technology. Very clearly this means not necessarily focusing on the digital solutions, which are way down the road, but on the more concrete and tangible elements, which are naturally “on the doorstep” of chemical companies. These solutions can help process excel-lence, as, for example, automated vibration measurements and specialised models help to predict failure of rotating equipment (the “talking pump”). Also, mobile solutions that provide maintenance workforce with relevant 4www.icis.com 31 August-6 September 2018 | ICIS Chemical Business | 39IN ASSOCIATION WITHORGANISATIONAL ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT1234Biastowardsaction/fastsuccessClear &commonmessageabout theWHY? of theprogrammeSupport indevelopingnewleadershipbehavioursUnderstandblockers forchange &ensureownershipConnectionbetweenOPEXprogramme& visionLeadershipowns/drives/lives theprogrammePositive &negativeconsequencemanagementSustainable& embeddedimprove-mentsConcrete &measurableleadershipbehavioursSOURCE: ICIS/EFESO surveyNon-successful programmesSuccessful programmesFactors ranked by difference between successful and non-successful programmesconsistently – even when the going gets tough or when results are not immediately showing. Therefore, the ability of leadership to con-tinuously engage their people to keep up the OPEX efforts at all stages of the journey, is critical to prevent programmes from drop-ping like a souffle, even though at first sight all ingredients seemed to be there to make it into a tasty (and profitable) treat. As mentioned in the introduction, this was confirmed in the 2014 ICIS survey, where, next to best practice sharing/collabo-ration, leadership and organisation engage-ment were identified as important factors for successful OPEX programmes. The 2018 survey points once more in the same direction: the more successful an OPEX programme has been scored, the more mature companies seem to be on almost all aspects of organisational engagement and leadership surveyed. Interestingly, there is no significant difference between successful and non-suc-cessful OPEX programmes when it comes to “bias towards fast actions/success”. This can easily be explained by the fact that organisations typically share a certain “impa-tience” to see fast results. The real trick, though, is to sustain and expand those results. That’s where we see that “sustainable and embedded improvements” are significantly more present in successful as opposed to non- successful programmes. EMBEDDING INTO DAILY ROUTINEOne of the ways companies manage to do this is by embedding the changes into daily rou-tines and thus having a continuous focus on them (for example including 5S status into the shift hand-over). Another thing we see in successful compa-nies is a larger presence of leadership that drives the programme forward, “lives” the pro-gramme and demonstrates exemplary behav-iours – in essence, being a role model to show “what good looks like”, in line with what we described at the beginning of this section. Leaders successful in their OPEX initia-tives also indicate seeing a much clearer link between the OPEX programme and the larger goals or vision of the company, which helps them to answer the question “Why are we (or am I) doing this?”. Next to that, in successful programmes, leaders are much more guided in their efforts by having concrete and measurable leader-ship behaviours clearly articulated, defined and shared amongst all levels, as opposed to having no clear leadership behaviour strate-gy, causing confusion and sometimes incon-sistencies on lower levels. HIGH IMPACT MOMENTSCompanies successful in this, also define how those behaviours could be experienced and operationalised by people in the daily prac-tice, during what are called “high impact mo-ments”, such as a morning meeting or a shop floor walk (for example how would you show “Treating each other as adults” or “Taking ownership & accountability”?)This is then ideally combined with situa-tional coaching and feedback in order to sup-port leaders in real life to adopt and anchor the new behaviours. Interestingly, on that point, we do not see a big difference between successful and non-successful programmes as to whether the leadership receives the neces-sary support or coaching in their role. This is consistent with the many instances where EFESO has seen elaborate leadership programmes being launched at companies, try-ing to “teach” leaders the intricacies of “lead-ing people through change”, without starting with what is at the core of what makes up lead-ership: identifying and developing a shared view on what the right leadership behaviours are to impact people and results linked to their business, as opposed to only sticking to generic leadership theories. As such, when both elements are combined – clearly defined leadership behaviours and a right level of support and coaching – leaders become much more effective, which, in turn, leads to more successful OPEX programmes. The final significant difference between successful and non-successful programmes is the extent to which there is a mechanism in place to reinforce the right OPEX behav-iours and discourage behaviours that go against the OPEX principles and goals. This aspect is often overlooked but is essential to create a fertile environment in which it becomes the “norm” to show the right OPEX behaviours. Achieving this norm is not an easy endeav-our by any means and requires it to be con-stantly, consistently and visibly reinforced in the form of praise, positive feedback, reward & recognition, etc (and the other way around when it comes to adverse behaviours). All of these findings are consistent with what we see in the daily practice of success-ful and failing OPEX programmes: as soon as companies shift their attention from the methodology to the human dynamics side of the coin – such as engagement, behaviour, interactions, leadership, among others – that’s where the real performance gains lie. At the end of the day, it’s the people who make a methodology come to life, use the tools, drive processes, work together to achieve results, make decisions, influence other people, and have impact on perfor-mance and results. And through effective leadership, with the right skills and behaviours themselves, com-panies can sustain their OPEX efforts and make sure their programmes are implement-ed successfully, driving and engaging their people to keep delivering sustainable results, regardless of what methodology is used. ■Operational excellence programmes remain a relevant topic on the management agenda of chemical companies. More and more they become comprehensive engines for change and continuous improvement. With growing maturity of programmes aspects around practical digital solutions and allowing easy collaboration across the network gain in importance/characterise successful initiatives. Equally so, successful programmes manage to effectively address the human dynamics side of the transformation, for instance, by making desired leadership behaviours concrete and cultivate them to come to live. ■CONCLUSIONFernando Cruzado is vice president and global lead of the chemical practice at EFESO Consulting.Dieter Carels is senior manager and member of the human dynamics practice at EFESO Consulting.For more information, go to www.efeso.com5Marcia de TroyerVice President Brussels and global lead of the Human Dynamics PracticeThis statement is “obvious”, but reality shows that this is “easier said than done”.Some companies spend a lot on leadership pro-grammes, but most don’t deliver the expected business results, why? Event syndrome: High-brow executive leadership programmes are great experiences, but somehow these fail to make it to the daily business and the shop floor. Sterile concept syndrome: Too much time is spent aligning senior management and HR on the appropriate leadership model, but these models remain abstract, not translated into day-to-day practice and behaviour. Fade-out syndrome: Leadership programs lead to a significant improvement in leadership behaviour but the effect disappears, because it does not get ingrained in the company DNA!EFESO helps integrate great leadership practices into daily business.Human Dynamics to boost leadershipUsing High Impact Moments to develop better leadersA large dairy company needed alignment on several improvement initiatives that were running simulta-neously plus a sustainable step up in their supporting leadership system and practices.Instead of using standard leadership training pro-grams, they chose EFESO’s pragmatic approach of co-designing the leadership program, following these key principles: Pragmatic application focus: within all leadership levels, we create an understanding of High Impact Moments (H.I.M.’s) where leaders can make change happen. We co-define practices, designing them for visible behaviors before, during and after H.I.M.’s Build-up focus: we spread interventions over time (avoiding high workloads) and use a gradual build-up of the new ‘skills’ Coaching: we ensure the appropriate coach-coa-chee relationship, working with a mix of internal and external coaches. Senior management rarely accept coaching from internal coaches. But, good leadership behavior at all levels is a key factor of sustainable change. Second, to maximize success Case Studywe give ‘situational’ coaching. Leaders are carefully prepared before the H.I.M, observed and supported during and receive feedback afterwards. Build and anchor focus: we monitor and discuss progressi-on on capability results (leadership skills), as for business results, and integrate this within the existing Performance Control System, using our Behavioural Analysis System. This leadership approach is being rolled out as the single program within Production and Supply Chain. It is the key enabler to ensure improvement of results and progress is measured at plant, business unit and corporate level. “ One of the key differentiators for successful OPEX programs is strong, visible and sustained leadership, keeping the energy high throughout the program and overcoming the soufflé effect! ”6Digital is transforming the industry in almost every way. Yet, when it comes to performance im-provement, most companies rely on the same tools that were introduced decades ago.Operations generate hundreds of improvement op-portunities every day, from technical problems to transformation projects, cultural gaps, process im-provements and most of these improvement oppor-tunities get stored on a myriad of different, uncon-nected systems, or inside the head of employees. With such scattered information, how do you know if you are working on the right topics? How do you become better with each opportunity? And which in-sights can you draw from this gold mine? Solvace is a platform that captures, manages and leverages each improvement opportunity from your daily operations. It enables unrivalled transparency, productivity and insights around your performance improvement efforts.Digitizing Operational ExcellenceDigitizing Visual Performance Management and Continuous ImprovementThe client is a major player in the nuclear industry: a high risk, heavily regulated environment with re-motely-controlled processes.The challenge of the client was to monitor its per-formance in an efficient way, while reducing the bureaucracy around its continuous improvement process and improving its knowledge capitalization efforts. The client implemented Solvace to digitize its per-formance meetings and its manual problem solving process. White boards were replaced by touch screens, al-lowing teams to run their performance meetings without changing their habits. Similarly, root cause analyses exercises moved from paper to digital. Adoption was fast among the users, who were typi-cally able to use Solvace after a couple of meetings. As Solvace gained traction, the benefits became visible:Case Study More transparency: faster reporting and visibility on performance data, from anywhere Better productivity: consolidated action manage-ment, escalation of issues, more flexible root cause analysis Foundations for future insights: seamless capture of all data around performance improvement. Convinced by these results, the client decided to roll out Solvace throughout its organization.Francois CropHead of Products EFESO Digital “ Digital transformation doesn’t have to be a leap of faith. Some solutions available today can straight away improve the results of your opex efforts, and increase your delivery capacity ”7Copyright © 2018 EFESO ConsultingCALL US AT +33 1 53 53 57 00 OR LET US KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHALLENGE VIA INFO.MARKETING@EFESO.COM“Improving results today, securing results for tomorrow” means achieving tangible business results and simultaneously developing the capabilities, leadership and culture to continue progressing faster than competition.EFESO Consulting brings more than 35 years’ experience and thought leadership, supporting many of the leading global brands in both mature and emerging markets. We are a group of over 400 experienced consultants representing 45 nationalities, operating from 26 offices around the world with a strong presence in Europe, USA, South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia.Our people bring together hands-on experience and expertise spanning sectors and functional capabilities and, in an engaging and sustainable way, we partner with our Clients on their progression journey.EXPERTISE TO BE SERVED WORLDWIDEABU DHABI ▪ AMSTERDAM BARCELONA ▪ BERLIN BIRMINGHAM ▪ BRUSSELS BUDAPEST ▪ BUENOS AIRES CAIRO ▪ GALWAY ▪ GOTHENBURG ISTANBUL ▪ LISBON ▪ MEXICO CITY ▪ MILAN ▪ NEW DELHI NEW YORK ▪ PARIS ▪ RIYADH SÃO PAULO ▪ SEOUL ▪ SHANGHAI SINGAPORE ▪ SAINT PETERSBURG STOCKHOLM ▪ TOKYONext >