Annex 1
SMU – WDA CXO Productivity, Service & Innovation Symposium Series
1. Innovating Service – People, Process and Technology
Date: 24 July 2013, Wed
Time: 8.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: SMU
Synopsis:
As companies operate in the “new normal” – the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex,
Ambiguous) world – business as usual will no longer work. As business costs and customer
expectations escalate, how should companies deal with this new business reality? The
session facilitator aims to use a series of small group activities to help participants uncover
the macro and micro economic factors that are impacting their businesses and services
rendered. Research findings on innovation and customer experience will be shared, along
with the traits of innovative cultures and the implications to Singapore’s businesses. The
facilitator will also walk participants through the innovation process and share useful
innovation tools (such as Force Connections and One A Day Ignite Menu etc) , to help
participants design innovative services, that does not compromise quality or service levels.
Industry Guest Speaker: Mr Foo Sek Min
An industry leader from one of the award winners of the 2012 Service Excellence
Organisations – Mr Foo Sek Min, Executive Vice President, Corporate, Changi Airport Group
– had been invited to share with the participants on how, the right balance between service
innovation and service quality can be struck.
Facilitator: Andrew Calvert
Andrew Calvert is a results driven L&D professional with extensive international experience
in Asia, Western Europe and the United States.
As Achieve Global’s Regional Director & Solution Architect based in Singapore, Andrew is
responsible for multiple pan – Asia leadership, employee engagement, sales and customer
experience management implementations from vision to inception, communication, role
definition, training delivery, customization of content, assessment measurement, follow up
and feedback mechanisms. The external projects that he had been involved in included
development and roll out of major performance management programme at global banking
client; delivery of learning measurement system to end users (internal and external) and
sales force development at multi-national petro-chemical company.
Andrew Calvert is a Singapore Permanent Resident. His expertise is in defining and
implementing changes based on internal/external customer needs, organizational
assessment, creation of new processes/service requirements, development of materials and
training deployment.
2. Boosting Productivity with Flexible Workforce: Cross-Training, Work-Sharing, and
Self-Organisation
Date: 18 September 2013, Wed
Time: 8.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: SMU
Synopsis:
As our economy becomes increasingly service oriented, our workforce faces a tremendous
pressure on boosting its productivity. In comparison with manufacturing, which may leverage
automation, it is significantly more challenging to raise productivity in the service industry
where most of the operations are executed manually. In this session, we will introduce an
effective work-sharing protocol commonly used in distribution and production. Under this
protocol, each worker is cross-trained and follows some simple rules to execute their tasks.
With proper sequencing of the workers, the system can self-organize such that an effective
allocation of work among workers will emerge spontaneously. Under this allocation, each
worker repeatedly executes a fixed portion of work, which facilitates learning. More
importantly, all workers are fully utilized and the system’s productivity attains a maximum
level. All these attractive characteristics are obtained without management intervention,
engineering control, or technology investment. To see the effectiveness of the work-sharing
protocol, we will run a simulation with audience participation in the session. We will compare
different approaches and discuss their pros and cons. Finally, we will discuss the potential of
these ideas that can be applied in the service and other industries.
Industry Guest Speaker: Mr Liak Teng Lit
A well-known industry leader – Mr Liak Teng Lit, Group Chief Executive Officer, Alexandra
Health System – had been invited to share how Productivity (cost/operational efficiency) and
quality patient care (customer experience/patient satisfaction) can be achieved at the same
time.
Facilitator: Lim Yun Fong (PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology)
Lim Yun Fong is an Associate Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business,
Singapore Management University (SMU), where he teaches courses in Operations
Management at undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Yun Fong’s research
centers on workforce management in manufacturing, distribution, and services. He is
especially interested in boosting productivity of work teams through cross-training, worksharing, self-organization, and effective remuneration. He has served as Cluster Chair of
Workforce Management for the INFORMS Annual Meetings. His other research interests
include warehousing and fulfillment in supply chains. His work has appeared as a keynote
paper in INCOM 2009 at Moscow, Russia and in major OM journals including Operations
Research and Management Science.
Yun Fong is named NOL Fellow for 2012-2014. His research has also been funded by
ASTAR and is related to companies such as KTP Hospital, Port of Singapore Authority
(PSA), and YCH Group. His consulting work has been featured by Lianhe Zaobao. He won
the 2010 SMU Teaching Excellence Innovative Teacher Award. Yun Fong obtained both his
PhD and MSc degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of
Technology. Prior to this, he worked as a Senior Engineer at Kent Ridge Digital Labs, where
he developed optimization software for major logistics companies and the Singapore Changi
Airport.
3. Implementing Productivity, Service and Innovation – The Common Pitfalls
and Success Secrets
Date: 20 November 2013, Wed
Time: 8.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: SMU
Synopsis:
There is a surprising consistency across these three areas – Productivity, Service and
Innovation – in the mistakes people make when it comes to implementing them. Whether
you are looking at improving productivity, offering customers an enhanced experienced or
creating new approaches or products you need to implement your ideas and concepts. In the
implementation, leaders typically make six common mistakes that lead to the high failure
rate. It is not the Productivity, Service and Innovation initiative that makes the difference but
its implementation. Across all three areas there are eight areas for excellence that you need
to be conscious of to succeed. This engaging and impactful presentation explains how to
achieve excellence in execution and is packed with examples and stories.
Industry Guest Speaker: Mrs Helen Khoo
An industry leader from one of the award winners of the 2012 Business Excellence
Organisations – Mrs Helen Khoo, Executive Director, Wing Tai Retail – has been invited to
share with the participants on how to get the execution right.
Facilitator: Robin Speculand
Robin Speculand is a global pioneer and specialist in strategy implementation and is driven
in assisting leaders to successfully execute their strategy. He is the founder and Chief
Executive of Bridges Business Consultancy Int and the creator of the Implementation Hub
portal, the first of its kind in the implementation field. Robin has written the bestselling book, “
Bricks to Bridges – Make Your Strategy Come Alive”, which sets the benchmark for new
thinking in his field. His follow up book, “Beyond Strategy – The Leader’s Role in Successful
Implementation”, John Wiley & Sons, specifically identifies the actions leaders must take to
reverse their staggering failure to deliver on their strategy promises.
As an international bestselling author, his pioneering work has been featured in strategy
journals, international print and electronic media including the BBC UK & Global, CNBC,
Financial Times and The Sunday Telegraph, The Scotsman and Singapore’s The Straits
Times. He has become a known expert and sought after speaker at key strategy and
international business forums. Since Bridges first assisted Singapore Airlines, its first client,
in 2000, it has helped governments, multinational corporations and local organizations
across five continents excel in execution. Robin refined his strategy implementation
techniques in client organizations and at Citigroup in his role as Regional Vice President,
Corporate Bank, Asia Pacific.