The Santo Amaro Convention Center in Sao Paulo hosted Best Practice Day 2024, an international conference on Operational Excellence promoted by Staufen Consulting on June 18 and 19. The event, which has beaten the audience record since its last edition in Brazil in 2019, brought together hundreds of executives, managers and leaders of large national and multinational companies.
Economist Zeina Latif opened the event emphasizing that “ productivity gains are the major driver of long-term growth”. Latif highlighted the challenges faced by Brazilian companies, such as poor infrastructure and excessive judicialization, which divert the focus from efficient management.
The conference was attended by executives from companies such as Embraer, Suzano, Gerdau, Siemens Energy, BRF, among others. Andre 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, vice president of operations at Embraer, shared the success of Embraer's Business Excellence Program (P3E), implemented 16 years ago, which allowed the company to expand significantly in markets other than commercial aviation.
The event also addressed the impact of high labor costs on Brazilian competitiveness. Zeina Latif argued that reducing the tax burden on payroll should be the next step to increase the country's competitiveness.
Dario 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 “the whole difference” for organizations.
Best Practice Day 2024 also included workshops, discussion forums and guided tours of partner companies, providing participants with a unique opportunity for learning and networking in the field of operational excellence.
