The Santo Amaro Convention Center in São Paulo was the venue for Best Practice Day 2024, an international conference on Operational Excellence promoted by Staufen Consulting on June 18 and 19. The event, which broke attendance records since its last edition in Brazil in 2019, brought together hundreds of executives, managers, and leaders from large national and multinational companies.
Economist Zeina Latif opened the event emphasizing that "productivity gains are the main driver of long-term growth." Latif highlighted the challenges faced by Brazilian companies, such as poor infrastructure and excessive litigation, which divert attention from efficient management.
The conference featured the participation of executives from companies such as Embraer, Suzano, Gerdau, Siemens Energy, BRF, among others. André Machado, CFO of Siemens Energy in Brazil, reported how the operational excellence journey started in 2020 resulted in significant improvements in delivery times and productivity, contributing to the transformation of the company's profitability.
Luis Carlos Marinho, Embraer’s Vice President of Operations, shared the success of Embraer’s Business Excellence Program (P3E), implemented 16 years ago, which has allowed the company to significantly expand into markets other than commercial aviation.
The event also addressed the impact of high labor costs on Brazilian competitiveness. Zeina Latif argued that reducing the payroll tax burden should be the next step to increase the country's competitiveness.
Dário Spinola, general director of Staufen Consulting in Brazil, concluded by emphasizing that investments in Operational Excellence are accessible to companies of all sizes and sectors, offering high returns and making “all the difference” to organizations.
Best Practice Day 2024 also included workshops, discussion forums and guided tours of partner companies, providing participants with a unique learning and networking opportunity in the field of operational excellence.
