Attracting Talent

The concept of attracting talent and multinationals to Oman is an important issue. We hear a lot about the new economy as if it only applies to IT or is still some way in the future; that it is something only young techies in smart offices are involved in. If that's what you think then you couldn't be further from the truth. In fact it is here and it is now and it affects us all.

Today's modern economy is fast moving, dynamic, ever-changing and global. To become successful, companies, countries and cities must master the art of innovation, constantly developing and adopting the best products, techniques and practices and attracting the right kind of human capital. Indeed, successful cities will be those that can adapt to the demands of rapid change, those that are flexible, creative and diverse and manage change rather than being drowned by it.

Benchmarking Cities
The World Knowledge Competitiveness Index benchmarks the world's high performing cities in terms of their performance on four crucial variables - knowledge capital, human capital, regional economic outputs and knowledge sustainability and it makes for sober reading. The recent index is dominated by US cities. The top 21 world knowledge competitive cities are all in North America. In fact, the first European city to feature in the ranking is Stockholm at 22nd and there is no Gulf city listed in the top 125.

The world's burgeoning cities are a critical fact of the 21st century - and represent one of the greatest challenges of the future. By the year 2050, cities with populations over three million will more than double from 70 today to over 150. When knowledge is perhaps the most important factor in today's economy, there's a growing interest in the concept of the knowledge city. But it isn't just large cities that have cornered the market in attracting talented people. For example, in the US, a number of smaller cities have some of the highest conce-ntrations of creative people in the nation, notably college towns such as Austin, Texas, East Lansing, Michigan and Madison, Wisconsin. But where does Muscat stand on attracting talent and establishing itself as a knowledge city?

We've a Tech Park
Clean, unpretentious and safer than most cities, Muscat is home to KOM, the Rusayl-based technology park. Tenants on the 68 hectare park are exempt from corporate taxes, have access to Class A office accommodation and superb telco infrastructure. Its tenants live in modern, comfortable and affordable housing, their kids attend great schools and healthcare here is second to none. The park's firms are positioned to tap a growing, youthful Middle East market, and a young, educated, increasingly tech-savvy, multilingual indigenous workforce. All of this should bode well. Among others, Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Huwaie, Gulf Air, Infocomm and NCR are taking advantage of what KOM offers. But if we want to attract creative talent to the sultanate - multinationals and entrepreneurs that drive innovation and create employment - KOM won't achieve this on its own. The point is, Oman doesn't have just one competitor - either the UAE or Saudi Arabia or Qatar. That's not how the global economy works. We are competing against a collection of countries simultaneously, and the cumulative effect of UAE plus Saudi Arabia plus Qatar plus Thailand plus India is something to worry about. So what should we be thinking?

The concept of attracting talent and multinationals to Oman is an important issue. Indeed, in the battle for global talent, we are moving from a company-centric economy to a people-driven one. Simply put, people are turning to their community rather than to their company to define themselves and location is taking precedence over the corporation. For example, when smart individuals and firms visit KOM, they don't just consider the Class A office accommodation, the tax benefits and infrastructure on offer. Increasingly, they check out what's available and happening in Muscat - the recreation and sports facilities, the standard and availability of accommodation, schools, healthcare facilities, flight connections, cinemas, night life, museums, shopping centres, art galleries and restaurants. They're looking for audile and visual cues which signal whether Muscat is a place where they and their employees can live, work and play.

It is also apparent from talking to people that location is as important as salary and career opportunity. Again, recent studies suggest that folk who make a job-based decision to relocate but neglect lifestyle factors such as recreational and cultural amenities move again shortly thereafter.

A High Amenity City
In order to help Oman attract talent and multinationals, what we should be looking to develop is Muscat as a high-amenity place where you can get anything you need instantaneously. If you are pulling an all-nighter, you can get a Thai take away at 2 am. When your dry cleaning piles up, there's a place in CityCentre that will take care of it in 30 minutes. If you need to blow off steam, there's a skatepark to ride or a wadi to bash! In brief, a place that has all these amenities is efficient. You save time when you live there. Many of these amenities are on offer in Muscat - but are we (collectively) getting this message across to international firms and entrepreneurs? Perhaps not.

Obviously, cities differ considerably in their ability to attract and retain human capital and the companies these folk manage, this is why talent hasn't spread evenly across the economic landscape and helps explain the emergence of business and technology clusters. From experience, it's more than apparent that people look for the same things in a city that they look for in a company: energy, amenities and a sense of fun. In Oman, people want to be able to go camping, cycling and picnicking on beaches. Now, when you question potential residents whether they camp, cycle or picnic on beaches, generally the answer is 'no'. But they want such activities to be available, because they like the idea of being able to do them if they want to.

Low Entry Barriers
Economists have long spoken of the importance of industries having low entry barriers, so that new firms can easily enter and keep the industry vital. Similarly, it's important for a city to have low entry barriers for people, that is, to be a place where newcomers are accepted quickly into various social and economic arrangements. All things being equal, if Oman adopts this approach, we are likely to attract greater numbers of talented and creative people - the type of people who power innovation, entrepreneurship and create employment. Cities that thrive in today's world tend to be plug-and-play communities where anyone can fit in quickly. On its own, building a first class technology park won't attract greater talent and more international firms, we need to work harder on offering more lifestyle options and greater cultural diversity.

Talent Magnet
Talented people seek an environment open to differences. Many highly creative people, regardless of ethnic background, grew up feeling like outsiders, different in some way from most of their schoolmates. When they're sizing up a new company, city or country, acceptance of diversity is a neon sign that reads 'non-standard people welcome here.' Put simply, crusaders of the new economy increasingly take their professional identities from where they live, rather than from where they work. In the past you would meet a guy on a plane, ask him what he does, and he would tell you that he writes code at Oracle. Today, it is, "I design educational game software and live in Madison." The most important national and corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent. Smart, sophisticated businesspeople who are technologically literate, globally astute and operationally agile. And even as the demand for talent goes up, the supply will be going down. We have great ideas, we have got money, we just don't have enough talented people to pursue those ideas. We are talent-constrained. So, if we are to compete, we've got to get our heads round this issue and look seriously at how we can retain and attract the right human capital.

Research clearly indicates that talent is attracted to three types of new economy hot spots. First, there's the traditional, high-tech industrial complex such as California's Silicon Valley. Then there's the 'latte town' - high-energy places with easily accessible outdoor amenities, such as Boulder, Colorado. Finally, there are new urban technology centres cro-pping up, such as Pioneer Square in Seattle, Washington. Indeed, Muscat's fate cannot depend, quite obviously, on the performance of one technology park or one free zone or one port. Its prosperity will depend on the productivity of all its economic sectors and in its ability to collectively create a diverse environment - and one that does not compromise local culture - that is attractive to both talented entrepreneurs and multinationals.

What's at KOM?
Tenants on the 68 hectare park are exempt from corporate taxes.
They have access to Class A office accommodation.
They live in modern, comfortable and affordable housing.

What Muscat Should do to Attract Talent?
To attract talent we need to work harder on offering more lifestyle options to compete.
To compete we have to look seriously at how we can retain and attract the right human capital.

Talent Appeal
If Muscat wants to attract and retain creative talent what are the questions we should be asking? Here's a starting point:

1). What will attract young bright creative minds to Muscat?
2). How do we inspire the Omani community (nationals and expatriates) as a whole to take ownership in making Muscat a more creative city?
3). What other cities should we model our efforts on and why?
4). What are some of the key success factors to making Muscat a creative city?
5). Conversely, what are some of the barriers?
6). Identify positive creative initiatives currently underway that we can build on.
7). Is the creative community in Muscat a cohesive one or does it function in silos?
8). Where are the opportunities for increased collaboration/cohesion?
9). What is the role of economic development in building a creative city?
10). What are some current opportunities to do this?
11). What steps can Muscat take to become an internationally recognised medium sized creative city?
12). What can the private sector do to improve the quality of life indicators of Muscat?

JICA Visits PEIE Head Office

Staff from the Japan International Co-operation Agency - pictured left - (www.jica.go.jp)
visited Knowledge Oasis Muscat on Sunday 12 March.
The four man team (Mr. Nakui Koji, Executive Technical Advisor to the Director General Economic Development Department; Mr. Shibuya Akir, Small & Medium Enterprise Team, Economic Development Department; Mr. Mitsuo Sato, Project Economists; and Mr. Yasuo Izumi, Advisor ICNet USA, Senior Consultant, Private & Financial Sector Development, Human Capital Development) discussed the Park's current and future development plans, its role in encouraging ICT uptake in the Sultanate as well as the importance of The Knowledge Mine, the KOM-based business incubator program.

eBrain Talks Website Transformation

Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) will hold its monthly Open House seminar on Tuesday 14 March at 5:15pm. This month’s presentation entitled: Transforming Your Website - will be delivered by Fuad Al Busaidy, Founder and CEO of eBrain, a technology start-up based in KOM’s 30 office space business incubator program – The Knowledge Mine.

According to Ibtisam Al Faruji, Open House Co-ordinator: “No matter how good your website is, it could always be better. To maintain a competitive edge and get the most out of your online presence, it’s vital that your website realises its potential. In a continually-evolving and relatively new medium, new ways to improve your website are constantly emerging. We’re excited to have one of KOM’s most successful start-up firms deliver this session. ”

“If you already have a website but you aren’t entirely happy with its performance, and feel it could be doing more for your business, then this Open House session is for you. The eBrain CEO will take attendees through each step from objectively measuring and assessing your website, identifying ways to improve its appearance and usability to on and offline marketing for your site including search engine optimization,” said Mohamed Al Maskari, Acting Director General, KOM.

Al Faruji added: “Al Busaidy’s seminar is aimed at those people who make the critical business decisions within their organization – it's a must attend seminar if you're serious about improving your firm’s exposure on the Internet and your bottom line.” Blog contents copyright © 2006 PEIE

PEIE Wraps Up Smart Man Oman

Mohammed Al Ghassani, Executive Vice President, Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) and organizer of the Smart Manufacturing Conference, held 23 – 24 January at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel commented: “Given initial attendee feedback, the Conference has to be described as an outstanding success. The seven sessions that made up the two day program plus the Lean Enterprise Workshop held on the 25th at Knowledge Oasis Muscat all went extremely well and we’re delighted with the outcome and the momentum the event has generated.”

In delivering the Conference closing remarks Al Ghassani said: “Oman’s Manufacturing is a success story – we excel in ceramics; precision engineering; furniture; fibre optics; batteries; textiles through to food processing. Indeed, manufacturing is a major contributor to Oman’s national wealth. It accounts for a major slice of our exports and provides thousands of jobs and supports a flourishing service sector. Our best manufacturers and best products are world class and sought after in the most highly competitive markets around the globe.”

However, he admitted that manufacturers also face huge challenges. As discussed at the conference, the future of Oman’s manufacturing depends on raising investment, applying innovation and technology, smarter marketing, design and packaging, best practice and skills to create even better products that the world wants to buy.

To ensure that the momentum created by the Conference is maintained, Al Ghassani announced PEIE’s intention to establish a Manufacturing Discussion Group – a group that would aim to stimulate ideas and discussion in priority areas such as skills development, marketing, design, links between industry and academia, technology, logistics, new markets and the image of manufacturing.

“No one would claim that the way ahead for Oman’s manufacturing is easy. Recent failures highlight some of the difficulties. But they are only a tiny fraction of the overall equation. Manufacturing commitment to high value and skills, together with extensive practical government support and maintenance of the right conditions for business to flourish will enable Oman-based manufacturers to compete in the long-term. And that’s good news for everyone,” concluded PEIE’s Al Ghassani.

Mohammed Al Ghassani Talks Innovation

Eng. Mohammed Al Ghassani is Executive Vice President, PEIE and an initiator of the Smart Manufacturing Conference. In fact, he’s viewed by many as a key player in the government’s initiative to develop a stronger business culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. PEIE Mirror caught up with him to discuss his views on: corporate culture; innovation; business trends; and mentoring. This is what he had to say:

PM: Do you feel PEIE has a distinct corporate culture? If so, how would you describe it?

Our culture is extremely entrepreneurial. PEIE’s run like a growing for-profit business, with an emphasis on creative thinking, innovation, passion and quality.

PM: Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) - which is part of the PEIE portfolio - is a sponsor of the Smart Manufacturing Conference what’s your understanding of innovation in a manufacturing context?

Innovation is for me an adventure. An idea you get excited about and which you pursue passionately. It evolves and develops throughout the minds of people and grows by teamwork. An innovation can be based on a new technology, a new service or changing the whole product system or business. As far as Smart Manufacturing is concerned, given the nature of the two-day program and the quality of presenters, KOM is honoured to be involved in such an important business event.

PM: What major trends will we have to consider within the next 5 years concerning innovation?

Major trends will be shaped by technology convergence and the totally new business opportunities resulting from this. This will in turn increase the need for new methods of exchanging knowledge between partners and the integration of knowledge from very different disciplines.

PM: As PEIE’s Executive Vice President, you’ve been involved in developing KOM, what have been the keys in bringing KOM to the level it is at today?

Hiring excellent people. It's the motivated staff who contribute the ingredients that enable us to keep taking it to that next level year after year.

PM: What do you feel the future holds for small firms over the next few years?

The future is very promising for small firms in Oman. The Government is constantly looking at ways to improve finance options for them – making access to loans easier and simpler for the people who actually run small businesses. Through the Knowledge Mine business incubator program we will continue to promote and assist start-ups and maintain our efforts to increase the participation of those under represented in business, particularly drawing on the wealth of talent in women’s business.

PM: What trends and changes do you see occurring in business today?

Younger people are starting companies that involve services and technology. We’re witnessing this trend very clearly on KOM. Business owners are focusing on conservation of resources, profit and greater customer service. Lenders are looking for proven businesses ready for funding, and money is out there. This is an opportunity time for KOM because more people are starting businesses.

PM: What advice would you give to a young person that wants to one day succeed in business?

Shed the industrial-age idea that you go to school and get a good life-long job with benefits and a pension. Entrepreneurs think differently - how can I create jobs and provide a valuable service/product? Begin to develop your network of contacts. Read. Find a peer group. Go to conferences such as Smart Manufacturing. And when you do find that great idea, focus on making a successful system, otherwise you just own a job.

PM: How important do you consider networking and building contacts to be for an entrepreneur's success?

Primary importance. You’re only as big as your neighbourhood. You must realize that you can't do it all, and building a knowledgeable network greatly increases your chances for success.

PM: If you could pin it down to just one thing, what is the one most important thing you have learned about business?

You have to be able to read and understand the numbers.

PM: Any final advice for young entrepreneurs, businessmen, or businesswomen just getting started?

Find a mentor and a peer group. Give respect if you want it in return. Have an attitude of gratitude, not an attitude of entitlement and give - it will come back to you 10-fold.

Innovation in a Manufacturing Context

In our increasingly competitive world, manufacturers are faced with pressures to achieve many different simultaneous outcomes with their products. With some of these outcomes being seemingly inconsistent at first sight. Manufacturers may at times be pressured to produce products that are:

* cheaper * faster

* more reliable * higher quality

* longer life * more functional

* more visually attractive * recycleable

* smaller * lighter

* more robust * safer for consumers

* more exciting * ecologically friendly

* easily available * upgradeable

to name but a few.

Whilst achieving these outcomes, manufacturers are urged to do so in a way that is;

* ecologically sustainable * politically sensitive

* serving stakeholder interests * being a caring employer

* law abiding * ethical

* safe * risk managed

* enhances national reputation * leads to employment opportunities

* benefits humankind * contributes to national economies

* respectful towards communities (both local and global)

It is perhaps not a surprise that such pressures result in wide ranging challenges for manufacturers. These challenges may be simple or extremely complex. They are seldom easy, yet often rewarding and frequently fun (for some of us).

Today, manufacturing is about so much more than just great products, and caring manufacturers!

As manufacturers toil to surprise and delight consumers with new products that are positively differentiated from their competitors (and their own past products), they inevitably make the task of the consumer a more challenging one. Many consumers may at times risk being overloaded with information about products, to the point that the choices available can become either stressful or uninteresting. Efforts by manufacturers to make the consumers’ task easier have become more and more appreciated by those consumers, and thus a further source of competitive differentiation. These efforts have moved manufacturers more and more towards a service orientation, where their products are at the core of such services. One example of this being, the moves by many car manufacturers to offer finance, insurance, extended warranties and break down cover to car purchasers. All these are aimed at making the consumer experience easier, regarding the cognitive effort necessary in purchasing choices. Rather than just selling a car, manufacturers are increasingly focused on providing a stress-free motoring experience.

If innovation is the answer, what is the question?

It is perhaps not surprising that with so many pressures to perform, business leaders, consultants and academics around the world have a history of looking for simple answers to complex business questions. In recent years human resource management, organisational learning, knowledge management, change management, management of intellectual capital, human capital management, talent management and performance management theories, have been presented as offering simple answers to the business challenges faced by many companies. Many of these theories have resulted in organisational implementations and changes in organisational structure becoming commonplace. However, established links to anticipated increases in business performance are much rarer. Return on investment (ROI) assessments are rare as many organisations move quickly onto the excitement and promise of the next answer.

Those organisations that have successfully answered their business questions have tended to be those that have worked to understand the question on the way to understanding the answer.

If innovation is to realise the many hopes that are attached to it, then we need to build upon the understanding that ‘innovation is good’ to develop an in-depth understanding of the following innovation dimensions in any given context:

* sources

* types

* drivers

* quality

* intelligence (related to context)

* degree

* measurement

* timing

* value

* management

* leadership

* strategy

* communication

* business exploitation

* influences

* blockers

* resourcing

* collaboration and co-operation

* application

It is only when the dimensions of innovation are understood that we can hope to manage the risk of innovation processes and move towards the certainty of successful innovation outcomes.

Niche Manufacturing to Thrive

Come January 23 - 25 2006 at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel, Mark Eaton will present on Lean Enterprise at PEIE’s annual Smart Manufacturing Conference. In this in-depth, no holds barred interview, Eaton, a veteran design engineer, and former Director of the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry’s Manufacturing Advisory Service, shares with us his thoughts on a range of manufacturing issues.

PM: How do you see manufacturing changing over the next 20 years?

Obviously, it is now possible to theorise about the worldwide impact of the growth in the Chinese economy and the stress it will place on global competition. I would also anticipate the continuing rise in the importance of brands in high-end manufacturing, both at the business and national level. I foresee the consolidation of low-end manufacturing into fewer, more specialised manufacturers who will offer flexibility and extremely high levels of productivity.

I also predict that increasing globalisation will have the impact of increasing the number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who chase low costs around the world, but are currently prohibited by the extreme costs involved. Within a little more than 20 years, I anticipate we will need to find new ‘emerging markets’ as the costs in China, India, even Eastern Europe will begin to reach a level where it is uneconomical to outsource to them. Throughout this period, niche businesses will continue to thrive by providing differentiated, flexible services at higher costs.

PM: Which emerging technology do you think has the most potential to change manufacturing?

You can't answer a question like this without first referring to the impact of the wireless communications and the continuing growth in the Internet, on all aspects of manufacturing - from machine measurement through to supply chain planning. A secondary technology that will have an impact will be RFID (radio frequency identification) with its applications in everything from product tracking to national security.

In terms of the new sectors that will impact on manufacturing, these are unequivocally micro/nano technology and bio-processing, all of which will make a major impact on the world. Due to the investment barriers to entry in the market, these will make it difficult for companies to break into in the medium term unless they consider their entry strategy in the very near future.

PM: What about the issue of knowledge transfer from academia to industry?

The amount of research capability in academia far outstrips that is available in industry and there is an urgent need in many economies to make this research more accessible to industry; also to significantly simplify the process of working with academia. I have been deeply impressed by the Fraunhofer Institutes (http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/index.html) that originated in Germany and how they are both accessible to industry and focused on the commercialisation of research.

PM: Should universities become more responsive to the needs of manufacturing?

I would agree that for many manufacturers the processes of accessing and then forming a relationship with universities has been very difficult - often caused by the different needs of the organisations concerned. There have been a number of attempts to simplify the process of getting access to universities and making them more responsive, including introducing layers of intermediaries. But there are still some major problems to overcome before universities are as responsive as they need to be to support industry effectively.

PM: What type of involvement would you like to see manufacturers have with universities?

Universities are fundamentally clusters of knowledge. Virtually no manufacturer could afford to have research capabilities as big as those held within even a single university. I would be delighted to see universities starting to become an integral, but outsourced, part of the R&D functions of organisations. I don’t just mean large manufacturers. This may mean that different funding models need to be used such as deferred payments or universities taking a percentage of future sales without requiring funding upfront.

PM: What are the common principles that guide the best manufacturers?

The most prevalent measures of success in manufacturers around the world appear to be having an appropriate culture that supports the aims of the business: whether that is to be the most innovative, lowest cost, fastest turn-round etc. For many manufacturers, relationships with customers and suppliers are also key and the formation of effective partnerships is going to be a major source of competitive advantage in the coming years. In addition to these internal factors and skills, governmental policy and regional trading conditions need to be monitored and reacted too accordingly and the best organisations are adept at keeping close to the external factors that affect the internal operations of their business.

PM: Anybody can buy the latest, greatest equipment, but manufacturing isn’t a purely mechanical system. It's the "people systems" that determine a plant's productivity. How does a manufacturer build the necessary “people systems”?

For all but the most automated factories, people are the essential variable that will make every product, fix every problem and identify every improvement. Without ‘people engagement’ no business can hope to be a success. But how you engage them is recognised as one of the most difficult issues faced by senior management and changing culture one of the most difficult and time-consuming change processes. There is no general solution to how you build the necessary people systems. It is a function of where the business culture and systems are today and where the business managers want business to move to and then planning the improvement roadmap. Wherever the organisation starts from the solution will include such things as policies, procedures, management style, measurements, communication and reward/recognition systems.

PM: We all think that the faster a plant can make a quality product, the less that product costs to produce. Those savings can be applied to new features. That's how you become more competitive, sell more products, increase profits and ultimately improve job security. Is this how manufacturing works in the real world?

This is a common misconception and the cause of many businesses going out of business. Doing things faster often implies throwing extra effort and resources at it and these carry extra costs. In addition, making things faster that you have not - or cannot - sell means wasting money faster too. Going ‘faster’ often drives people to build bigger batches of products to avoid costly set-up times which would slow things down. This means producing things that cannot be sold immediately which ties up significant cash and space. A better approach is to focus on shortening change-over times so you can run smaller batches and remove non-value adding activities so the business is more responsive. The benefit is that your productivity and flexibility will increase making it easier to cope with what the world will throw at you.

PM: Dell hit in excess of US$45 billion in annual revenue and is growing at nearly 20 per cent yearly. It seems well on its way toward surpassing its goal of US$60 billion within the next few years. To get better faster, it intends to slash US$2 billion in costs. It is indicated that much of the cuts will come from manufacturing operations and the supply chain. Is speed the ultimate competitive weapon?

Responsiveness is an effective weapon for many manufacturers, but not all. It is important for manufacturers to understand the key drivers in their markets – what are the market leaders doing? What do the customers value? The best weapon is to have a clear understanding of the competitive factors that drive the sector each company operates in – looking externally at what is required rather than internally at what is offered!

PM: Do small manufacturers need big-name supporters?

Many small manufacturers have difficulty managing larger suppliers in their supply chain and I believe there will be a continuing move toward purchasing clusters to allow smaller companies to leverage cost savings and improvements in responsiveness from larger suppliers. In wider terms, many smaller companies can be highly successful without big name supporters, especially in niche markets or for markets where the customers are ‘brand insensitive’ - as in they are not worried by brand value. Perhaps, the best big name supporters of smaller companies will be banks and the media and for many these should be the ones to ensure you have a good relationship with.

PM: Whether you're running a manufaxturing outfit with 3 or 3,000 people, you have to hire the best engineers, the best marketers and the best production workers. The products you make, the programs you have, the mission you espouse should make people feel good about working for you. In your view, are corporate values a real motivator?

In the first instance, I would like to challenge the assumption that you always need to hire the best, implying the most expensive. Misquoting Toyota, we get; “we produce excellent results from average people with excellent processes. Our competitors get average results, with excellent people and broken processes.” This statement says that a well organised (and lean) manufacturer will inherently be more effective than an organisation with any number of excellent people but with ineffective processes.

Answering the second part of the question, in a competitive situation where manufacturers are trying to attract talent and there are numerous options for the individual, then the decisions come down to which organisation best meets the personal needs of the individual. Some of these needs will be logistical (closeness to where they want to live, working hours that fit their lifestyle needs etc) and some will be emotional (values of the business, working environment, appropriate opportunities for advancement etc). The most effective manufacturers will aim to achieve the best fit between the needs of the business and the logistical and emotional fit of the individual.

PM: What do you do when the business world as you've always known it simply ceases to be? When new competitors and new technologies explode the industry economics? When everything that worked before won't work - and can't work ever again?

It is difficult for manufacturers to recover from a major fracture in the market and this is where there is a need to have good external scanning processes to try to predict major changes in the market in a timely manner. However, using a metaphor, whilst we have the technology to spot large asteroids that are likely to hit the Earth, there is a chance we will miss one, and one is all it takes! Therefore, in a market where the world has changed, the winners will be those who can evolve fastest, the most innovative manufacturers with the ability to quickly restructure their finances and operations to meet the new challenge.

If we don't have to own it, let's not own it. And if we do have to own it, let's reduce the risk by sharing it. How does this kind of thinking apply to today’s manufacturing sector?

There have been attempts to share resources and workforces (particularly in areas where the skills are difficult to access) and there are manufacturers who have recognised that one company’s waste is another’s raw material but these are in a minority at present. For many companies, forming trading partnerships to share resources will be an effective way of reducing risk, but the key issue is finding the right partner to link with. In the UK, this is being addressed by PSL (Partnership Sourcing Limited - http://www.pslcbi.com) who are a not for profit orgnisation originally established by the UK government and who are now leading the development of the new ISO standard (11000) which will cover how to effectively partner.

PM: If we can't dominate a category, let's get out. Is this smart thinking?

The answer to this is to look at the Boston Consulting Group matrix. If the market is low growth and you hold a low share (what is termed a ‘Dog’), then it may be best to plan an exit strategy, but if the market is growing and the company holds a low share (a ‘Question Mark’), then the organisation has options based on the competitive situation in the market. If the market looks likely to consolidate around one or two major players then it prompts one exit strategy (possibly holding out to be bought out). Lastly, if the market looks like it will support numerous suppliers, it may be prudent to hold your nerve and stay with it. The answer therefore is not simple and will need to be thought through by the business.

Smart Manufacturing Conference & Lean Enterprise Workshop

Make Oman your destination for manufacturing innovation! Would you like to increase your business competitiveness? Would you like to gain an insight into new methods of working, acquire additional knowledge of markets and discover new product developments? We can help you gain the competitive advantage your company needs. Join us at The Public Establishment for Industrial Estates’ (www.peie.om) 2006 Smart Manufacturing Conference, 23 – 24 January 2006 at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel, Muscat, Oman.

To survive in today's marketplace, manufacturers must embrace new ideas and processes. Keeping that competitive edge requires constant growth and improvement. That's where PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing Conference comes in. This annual event is aimed at helping small- and medium-sized Gulf-based manufacturers become progressively more successful in their marketplace. Indeed, this is the networking-with-knowledge-transfer event par excellence of the first quarter of 2006.

Why You Need to Be There
PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing Conference brings together experts from industry to give attendees the most useful and up-to-date information available.

Industry professionals attend this event to:

o Network with those facing similar challenges
o Interact with industry professionals who can provide stories of success and failure
o Learn what options are available or will be available soon for their operations
o Take away knowledge they can use immediately to improve their process and product

You need to be there if you are a manufacturing professional involved in:

o Management
o Engineering
o Design
o Quality
o Maximizing resources
o Production improvement
o Operations
o Product development
o Marketing
o Manufacturing operations improvement

Conference Schedule

Conference Registration: 1:00pm – 7:00pm: 22 January, Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel, Jabrin Ballroom.

Day 1

Welcome Coffee 7:45am – 8:30am

8:30am: Opening Address – HE Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce & Industry & Chairman, PEIE

8:40am – 9:15am Keynote Address
Professor Mike Gregory (pictured above) Head of the Manufacturing and Management Division of the Engineering Department (www.eng.cam.ac.uk) & the Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge University (www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk)

Manufacturers are facing a major challenge from dynamic markets, discerning customers and increased global competition; there is pressure for companies to become more agile, virtual, team-based and innovative. Indeed, to truly succeed, manufacturers need to grow beyond traditional methods and fundamentally change the way they do business. In this respect, Professor Gregory’s keynote address will embrace: developing people, leadership, strategy, globalisation, competitiveness, business efficiency, lean thinking and adding value. In brief, issues that will help lead the Gulf’s manufacturing sector into the future.

Coffee Break: 9:15am – 9:30am

Session #1: 9:30am – 10:30am - Design Driven Strategies: Increase Manufacturing Opportunities
Colum Menzies Lowe, NHS National Patient Safety Agency (www.npsa.nhs.uk) & Sunil Varughese, Brand Indigo LLC (www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=238)

Would you build a house today without an architect's plans? Then why would you consider manufacturing a product without a design driven strategy? Companies that are “in the know” are using design driven strategies to solve problems and get to market with fresh, innovative designs. Designs that touch emotional priorities of consumers yet are manufacturable and have proven benefits and fill a functional need. Designs on time. Designs that succeed.

This session will share insight on design driven manufacturing strategies. It’ll demonstrate how strategy with design as a priority creates platforms that in the end increase manufacturing opportunities. Most manufacturers know very little about how to use design to drive the manufacturing process. This session will change that.

Coffee Break: 10:30am – 10:45am

Session #2: 10:45am – 12:30pm - The Lean Enterprise
Mark Eaton, Director of Consultancy, Advance Projects Ltd (www.iee.org/oncomms/pn/manufacturing/biogs.cfm) & Mohammad Ajlouni, Managing Director, Jordan Specialized Vehicle Manufacturing Company.

Ever since the publication of The Machine that Changed the World in 1990, lean concepts have represented a powerful and influential set of management ideas. Originating from MIT-led research in the global automotive industry, lean principles represent an approach to managing operations that, properly applied, can yield unparalleled results in terms of efficiency and accuracy. The implementation of lean ideas thus promises enormous benefits in terms of productivity, quality and many other measures of operational performance. Lean implementations now stretch across many industry sectors and business processes. Lean initiatives have reduced in-process inventories, implemented cells and balanced takt times. The same Lean concepts of reducing waste and cycle time can be applied to the bureaucracy, manual paperwork and management procedures in the factory. By eliminating wasteful steps from the shop floor process management procedures, manufacturers can reduce the cycle time required to react and respond to unplanned events like machine downtime, part shortages, defects and critical engineering changes.

Lean process management procedures reduce the time required to respond to unplanned events from days to hours, from hours to minutes. The result is an even more agile factory. The reduction in cost of paperwork procedures and the reduction of buffer times will provide the next big leap in cycle time and productivity metrics.

In this session you’ll learn how to remove the various forms of waste from the information flow in complex discrete manufacturing and also learn how industry leaders are moving away from paper based processes on the shop floor.

Lunch: 12:30pm – 1:45pm

Session #3: 1:45pm – 3:15pm Innovation & Manufacturing
Professor Mike Gregory, Head of the Manufacturing and Management Division of the Engineering Department & the Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge University, Dr. Tim Minshall, Institute of Manufacturing, Cambridge University(ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/thwm100) & Adrian McCarthy, Oxford Brookes University.

Everyone knows the fable of Jack’s fast-growing beanstalk. It grew and grew as if by magic. Unfortunately, companies don’t have magic beans that can make profits grow overnight like Jack’s plant. However, innovative manufacturers have discovered a number of strategies that can, over time, provide a lift to a company’s top- and bottom-line performance. Manufacturers across the world are reconsidering their business models and employing tactics to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Session 3 will explore innovative strategies that have helped large and small manufacturers achieve real and substantial growth.

Coffee Break: 3:15pm – 3:30pm

Session #4: 3:30pm - 6:00pm - Marketing for Manufacturers
Graham Porter, Sun Microsytems (www.ameinfo.com/70252.html), Jamal Al Asmi, RealityCG (www.realitycg.com), Pam McCarthy, Oxford Brookes University & Dr. S. Irfan Ahmad, Director, Yahoo! Middle East (www.strategiy.com/interview.asp?id=20050918071650)

This informative and insighful session will present marketing concepts and tips specifically geared toward manufacturers who need to know the fundamentals of New Marketing and Branding as a way of creating a strategic advantage.

In this high energy, high impact session, you’ll learn how to identify the “good money,” how to gain an advantage over your competition that has nothing to do with price, how to get on your buyer’s “short list,” how to use a little known secret of frequency to earn big dividends and how to hold your marketing department accountable for the budget. It’s a session that will help you improve your business situation and grow your revenue. In brief, this is the marketing session manufacturers need to attend!

Day 2

Welcome Coffee: 8:45am – 9:15am

Session #5: 9:15am – 11:00am China, the Gulf & the Realities of Global Competition
Dexter See, Vice-President, International Marketing, Ascendas Pte Ltd, Singapore (www.ascendas.com) & Professor Kulwant Pawar, Nottingham University Business School(www.nottingham.ac.uk/business).

China is careening down the path toward a market economy – with a long way to go, but with no turning back. To every manufacturer, China is both a threat and an opportunity. Over the next decade, nothing will be as important as China in defining corporate success or failure. How might manufacturers decide on what’s next - soft or hard landing or continued explosive growth? We interpret the key issues involving China – trade and legal reforms, WTO implementation, intellectual property, banking and finance, currencies, commodities, energy, FDI, infrastructure, the environment, privatization and the emerging greatest M&A boom in the history of the world. Where should China fit in to your global plans? What are the keys to manufacturing success in China?

Coffee Break: 11:00am – 11:15am

Session #6: 11:15am – 12:45pm - The Future of Manufacturing
S. Gopalan, Reem Batteries (www.reembatteries.com), Dr. Tim Minshall, Institute of Manufacturing, Cambridge University & Raza Ashraf, Total Alignment (www.peie.om/company_news_raza.asp), (www.apexstuff.com/bt/200511/column.asp)

Speed is increasing in every dimension of business and the ability to adapt rapidly to such changes will undoubtedly deliver significant competitive advantage. This session will examine how companies can leverage new technology innovations and transform them into new business opportunities from a variety of perspectives. Represented on this panel is a large Gulf-based manufacturer, a large consultancy company and a Cambridge University professor.

Lunch: 12:45pm – 2:00pm

Session #7: 2:00pm - 3:30pm - New & Emerging Technologies: Smart Machines
Antonio Briguglio, Sun Microsystems & Amrou Al Shareef, Seeb Systems. (www.kom.om/index96d9.html?lang=en& sub=tenant_directory&id=seeb_systems)

Technology is helping create a new class of machines that that can "think" and quickly produce parts to exact specifications, without unscheduled delays. This session will explore this technology and the type of Smart Machines that are being created, how they work and how they can save you time and money.

Concluding Remarks: 3:30pm.

Bonus Session: Lean Enterprise Workshop
9:30am - 1:00pm, 25 January 2006 - Knowledge Oasis Muscat
Mark Eaton, Director of Consultancy, Advance Projects Ltd

In addition to the two-day conference, attend a special, pan-sector, half-day Lean Enterprise Workshop. Many have tried to implement lean production in their businesses - some have succeeded, while many have struggled. Lean can be a key competitive advantage in all types of businesses, especially manufacturers, giving them shorter, more responsive production, more effective ‘office’ processes and higher productivity. This drive for ever better performance is a hard path to follow and sustain. This workshop does not promise magic recipes - instead it offers the chance to hear what it takes from those - big and small - who have lived through successful lean transformations. In particular, the workshop will highlight Lean case studies drawn from manufacturing, the armed forces and the health sector.

This Workshop is not just about listening - it will show you how to use the three key tools to start you on your lean journey. Learn to see the waste in the value streams in your organization, learn how to create continuous flow in your processes and learn how to improve customer service and cut costs by re-configuring your supply chains.

British Airways Supports Smart Manufacturing

Approximately 200 business people and public sector representatives are expected to attend PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing Conference, scheduled for 23 – 24 January 2006 at the Muscat Inter-Continental. According to Eng. Mohammed Al Ghassani, Executive Vice President, PEIE: “The main focus of the event is to benefit and build bigger Oman-based manufacturers through an open, frank debate on the strengths and weaknesses of manufacturers and their business models.”

Held under the patronage of Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Chairman, PEIE, the event has received the backing of British Airways. Commenting on the airline’s support of the two-day event, BA’s Country Manager, Sunita Gomes (pictured) said: “I fully expect PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing Conference to provide business professionals with an understanding of how manufacturing is developing today and most importantly, how it contributes to the development and growth of Oman’s economy. British Airways is proud to be involved in what is obviously an important and timely national event in the Sultanate of Oman.”

According to Al Ghassani, the Conference is intended to achieve some highly important objectives, these include: providing a unique forum for leading-edge, Oman-based manufacturers to meet and discuss their value-propositions, business models, markets, objectives and issues. The event will enable policy makers and service providers to listen in and learn first hand about what’s driving Oman-based manufacturers and therefore learn how best to support them. In addition, the Conference will provide an opportunity to make delegates' voices heard directly by Government and related organisations about the needs of manufacturers. Finally, the two-day programme will promote a bright and positive image of manufacturing in Oman, making it an area in which people want to work and invest.”

Commenting on the future of manufacturing, Graham Porter, Marketing Manager, MENA region, Sun Microsystems and speaker at the event, remarked: “Omani manufacturers must seek new ideas and opportunities and exploit them more fully and at a faster rate, and then reinvest that success in further R&D and marketing. They must also develop the recipes, process and business know-how and keep commercial lines in place or they will ever be passing up value opportunities.”

“PEIE deserves high praise for organising this Conference. In fact, it has the best line-up of speakers I’ve ever seen at a Manufacturing event,” said Smart Manufacturing sponsor Karim Rahemtulla and CEO of highly regarded mobile commerce firm, Infocomm.

Lean Manufacturing Interview

Mohammed Ajlouni is Managing Director of Jordan Specialized Vehicle Manufacturing Company and is without doubt one of the Middle East’s most influential Lean Enterprise experts. He will be presenting alongside the UK’s Mark Eaton at PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing Conference, 23 – 24 January 2006, Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel. PEIE Mirror sat down with Mohammed to talk Lean Enterprise, this is what he had to say:

PM: What got you interested in lean in the first place?

The first time I came across “Kaizen” was in 1992 while on a postgraduate management course. After reading more about it and understanding the concepts, tools and systems of Kaizen, I realized this was the best management philosophy I had ever come across. Later on I read the “Machine that Changed the World” followed by “Lean Thinking”. In 2001 I had the opportunity to accompany Masaaki Imai (www.qualitydigest.com/june97/html/imai.html) Founder and Chairman of the Kaizen Institute, on a series of tours in the Middle East. Since then I have become a believer, a consultant, a practitioner and an educator of lean in the Middle East.

PM: What’s the biggest challenge Gulf-based companies have in applying a lean approach to their supply chain or other operations?

The biggest challenge is to get management to buy in and get excited enough to start the lean journey. Once management is committed to lean transformation, the next challenge is to make it happen. They have to start looking for the right people with the right knowledge and experience to help them implement lean in their organizations.

PM: Why, suddenly, does everyone seem to be interested in lean? What took everybody so long?

Organizations have realized that lean has become an indispensable approach if they want to stay competitive in their markets. Although the Toyota Production System was in place more than 35 years ago, but the rest of the world only learnt about it in the early nineties. It is never too late for any organization to transform into lean.

PM: What are the key components of lean, those core elements without which you really can’t have a lean operation?

The key components of lean is that every step within the process must be valuable (creating value for the customer), capable (having a first-time through capability), available (having a high resource reliability), adequate (ensuring capacity) and flexible (being able to produce a variety of products or services). Implementation should be linked by flow (one-piece-flow where possible), pull (no over-production) and leveling (of mix and volume).

PM: What are the kinds of things companies typically find when they begin looking at their supply chain in an effort to become lean?

Long lead times, high inventory (raw material, WIP and finished goods), unreliable suppliers, a discontinued flow of material through the supply chain, demand fluctuations along the chain and other problems arising from material shortages.

PM: What’s the downside of squeezing suppliers?

Supplier selection and rationalization are two elements of paramount importance in lean supply. The idea is to select a few good and trusted suppliers who can supply a wide range of parts. Consolidation of suppliers might cause some problems for the suppliers and this may lead to losing some. The lean company has to assure suppliers they will benefit from the new relationship.

PM: How should you work with your suppliers in a truly lean environment?

In a truly lean environment, suppliers are partners. They will be expected to supply the required material, the right quality, the right quantity, at the right time, every time. To be able to do this, suppliers have to learn how to take the waste out of their processes. Indeed, many companies have to teach their suppliers how to become lean too.

PM: Let’s say you’re a logistics or a purchasing manager who really believes in the things you’re talking about. What can you do to promote lean thinking in the organization?

Usually two hidden costs are associated with supply problems. The first is the cost of fast and expedited shipments (specially air fright) when the supplier fails to deliver on time. The other problem is quality and the costs incurred in warranty claims. Moreover, one needs to compare the costs of frequent and reliable orders on the one hand, and keeping inventory on the other.

PM: What’s the key to sustaining a lean program once you get it off the ground?

Committed management with strategic vision is the most important key to sustaining lean, but there are other elements as well. Among these is the establishment of a dedicated and knowledgeable lean promotion team, getting expert training and support, involving employees at all levels and having strong line management, setting performance targets and motivating employees to achieve their goals, and maintaining a general sense of urgency for progress.

PM: Instead of thinking of lean as a program, how should people think of it?

A program has a begining and an end. Lean is not a “flavour of the month” project, but an ongoing process. It should be thought of as a way of life rather than merely an improvement program.

PM: Where does technology fit in a successful lean approach?

Lean works for both high- and low-tech organizations. If technology is available it can be used to support lean in a number of ways. But apply the technology after the waste has been cut out. For example, there is no point of automating a process that includes waste. “Don’t automate. Obliterate!”

PM: Any final words on why top management in Gulf-based companies need to start getting serious about lean?

As global competition increases, it is time for Middle East businesses to think seriously about implementing lean. Toyota - who is heading towards being the world’s number one automotive manufacture - has based its success on its operational excellence. In fact, it has turned this operational excellence into a strategic weapon. Very soon, only world-class organizations will compete globally. It is imperative that Middle East-based CEOs start getting serious about transforming their organizations into world-class outfits through lean, otherwise, they simply won’t qualify to compete.

Sun Sponsors Smart Manufacturing

It was announced today that Sun Microsystems will sponsor PEIE’s Smart Manufacturing, a two-day international conference scheduled to be held 23 – 24 January 2006 at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel.

Hisham Al Zubaidi, PEIE’s Marketing Director said Antonio Briguglio, Sun’s ERP Solutions Sales Manager for South East Europe and the Middle East, and Graham Porter (pictured), Sun’s Marketing Manager for the Middle East and North Africa will present at the two-day event. According to Al Zubaidi, Briguglio will discuss the trends and challenges facing the Gulf’s manufacturing sector and the way technology can be used to help – it is reported that Briguglio’s presentation will focus primarily around ERP, Supply Chain Management and Customer Relationship Management. He will also discuss how such applications can be integrated into existing business processes to improve business decision making and as a result improve a firm’s efficiency and profitability. “Briguglio’s presentation will use a number of case studies based on client experiences in the Middle East,” this is something we’re very excited about said Al Zubaidi.

Graham Porter will join Pam McCarthy, Essex University; Jamal Al Asmi, Reality CG; and Dr. Ahmad Irfan, Yahoo! on the Marketing for Manufacturers panel. Porter stated that: “The danger for most manufacturers is that they get caught up in a commodity market which is price centric, this is dangerous as cost becomes the key issue for the business and you can guarantee that Asia and the sub-continent have much lower costs than any GCC economy.” According to Sun’s Marketing Manager: “By using marketing and building a brand, the product can be positioned so that it stands out or is differentiated, thereby making a premium price possible. In the world of exports, image is everything and the Internet has allowed many small manufacturers create a perception of a much bigger enterprise to their end customers.”

Cambridge Comment on Smart Manufacturing

We sat down with Dr. Tim Minshall, Lecturer in Technology Management at Cambridge University and presenter at PEIE's forthcoming Smart Manufacturing Conference (23 - 25 January 2006, Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel). We spoke to him about various manufacturing issues - this is what he had to say:

PM: How long have you been involved in manufacturing?

I have worked in various manufacturing related activities for 10 years. Since 1998, my work has been focused on support for the creation and growth of new technology-based firms and their partnerships with established firms.

PM: How do you see manufacturing changing over the next 20 years?

A. Changes in the business models of manufacturing firms with increasing value add being generated through the provision of services and support activities to enhance the products themselves.

B. Increased emphasis on higher value manufacturing.

PM: Which emerging technology do you think has the most potential to change manufacturing?

RFID has the potential to bring great changes to supply chain management.

PM: What are your thoughts on the issue of knowledge transfer from academia to industry?

Universities can play a key role in increasing the productivity and competitiveness of a national economy. There is a wide range of ways in which universities can transfer knowledge to industry. These include: the provision of skilled graduates; making available the results of publicly funded research; consultancy and ‘soft’ knowledge transfer activities (such as student projects); provision of ‘packaged’ knowledge (through licensing of intellectual property); and the formation of spin-out businesses.

PM: There’s a lot in the press lately about how universities need to become more responsive to the needs of business ... what are your thoughts/experiences on this?

In the UK, great strides have been taken in this area. What is interesting is that different universities are developing different approaches to working with industry appropriate for their particular regional economic needs. Companies and universities are finding that there are many different ways in which they can work together.

PM: What type of involvement would you like to see business have with universities? What opportunities do you see?

There are so many ways in which universities and companies can work together. What is needed is a clear understanding of the ways in which each can help the other and this relies upon good communication and the building of long term value-adding partnerships. One of the areas I find particularly interesting is the ways in which smaller companies can benefit from working with universities.

PM: You’ve visited hundreds of plants around the world. While the industries, products, and equipment vary, what are the common principles that guide the best manufacturers?

I would say it is evidence throughout of the business that there is a clear focus on delivering what the customer really wants

PM: Dell hit in excess of US$45 billion in annual revenue and is growing at nearly 20% yearly, and seems well on its way toward surpassing its goal of US$60 billion within the next few years. And it's not letting up. Still relentlessly striving to get better faster, Dell intends to slash US$2 billion in costs. CFO Jim Schneider has indicated that much of the cuts will come from manufacturing operations and the supply chain. In your opinion, is speed the ultimate competitive weapon?

Speed alone isn't the key. It is the ability to respond efficently and effectively to changing customer demands.

PM: Do small manufacturers need big-name supporters?

Not necessarily. Small companies operating in specfic, niche markets can be extremely successful and profitable. These niches can be quite substantial. In and around Cambridge, there are companies that remain small but which are serving highly profitable and global markets. In some cases, the use of partnerships with large, established firms can be extremely helpful to smaller firms. However, making such partnerships work to the benefit of both parties is very hard. This is an area we are working on at present with a range of industrial partners.

PM: Whether you're running a company with 3 people or 3,000 people, you have to hire the best engineers, the best marketers and the best production workers. The products you make, the programs you have, the mission you espouse should make people feel good about working for you. In your view, are corporate values a real motivator?

Absolutely!

PM: We’re living in difficult times. Indeed, what do you do when the business world as you've always known it simply ceases to be? When new competitors and new technologies explode the industry economics? When everything that worked before won't work - and can't work ever again?

The issue of coping with ‘disruptive innovations’ is not new. If you look back over the centuries you can see time and time again how the established order in industry has been overturned. The difference now is that things are happening at a much faster pace and companies have to be constanlty looking for the distruptions on the horizon.

PM: If we don't have to own it, let's not own it. And if we do have to own it, let's reduce the risk by sharing it. How does this kind of thinking apply to today’s manufacturing sector?
The ‘make versus buy’ decision is at the core of any manufacturing business. Advances in communication and transport, and national cost differentials have certainly made global outsourcing commonplace. What is particularly interesting is to consider which elements of the manufacturing business do not get outsourced, and how certain functions often benefit from being kept in close proximity to one another (such as R&D and production).

Further information on Dr. Tim Minshall can be viewed at: http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/thwm100/

New Speakers for Smart Manufacturing

PEIE, the producers of the Smart Manufacturing Conference, scheduled to be held at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel on January 23 – 24 2006, announced today the addition of three new speakers to the conference line-up. Adrian and Pam McCarthy are UK-based business, leadership and executive development specialists and will join sessions on innovation and marketing.

Currently, the McCarthys are working with one of the UK’s leading research universities, focused on developing new best practice in entrepreneurial leadership. Essex University is the first university in the UK to have a School of Entrepreneurship and Business and according to Pam McCarthy “is set to redefine world-class standards in this area.” Sunil Varughese, Brand Strategy Director at Brand Indigo LLC has been added to the Design Driven Strategies: Increase Manufacturing Opportunities session scheduled for the first day of the conference.

The Smart Manufacturing Conference is to be an annual event organized by PEIE. “This new and innovative program has been designed specifically to bring manufacturers, entrepreneurs, marketers, finance and IT professionals together to examine issues aimed at helping small and medium-sized Gulf-based manufacturers become progressively more successful in their marketplace,” remarked Hisham Al Zubaidi, PEIE’s Marketing Director. In particular, the two-day programme will focus on marketing, innovation, product design, lean enterprise, the realities of global competition and the importance of technology to the manufacturing sector. According to the organizers, the event has attracted speakers from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The conference will be held under the patronage of HE Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman, PEIE, and the keynote address will be delivered by Professor Mike Gregory CBE, Executive Director, Cambridge-MIT Institute. Professor Gregory is also Head of Manufacturing and Management Division in Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering and Fellow of Churchill College. “He has served on a range of institutional and government committees including currently theUK’s Department of Trade and Industry’s Manufacturing Forum. Professor Gregory is also Chairman of the British Manufacturing Professors Forum. We’re delighted to have someone of Professor Gregory’s stature present at Smart Manufacturing,” remarked PEIE’s Ibtisam Al Faruji.

Commenting on the introduction of additional speakers, Al Faruji said: “After reviewing the excellent feedback we’ve received on the conference, we decided to make some changes to our sessions and expand the programme.” She added: “The new topics, which offer additional coverage on innovation and marketing in manufacturing, have been developed with the help of the presenters themselves, and we feel that attendees will benefit from their experience.”

In addition to the two-day conference, PEIE will host a bonus Lean Enterprise Workshop at Knowledge Oasis Muscat on 25 January, this will be delivered by Mark Eaton, former Director of the UK’s Manufacturing Advisory Service.

Smart Manufacturing is sponsored by Reem Batteries, Sun Technologies, Oman Economic Review, Knowledge Oasis Muscat, OEPNPA, Infocomm Group and Photo Centre. Further information on Smart Manufacturing can be obtained from Ibtisam Al Faruji on: Ibtisam@kom.om

Smart Manufacturing: More on China

Last week we ran a series of China and manufacturing questions by Professor Kulwant Pawar of Nottingham University Business School – this week, we’ve got Dexter See’s - Singapore-based Ascendas PTE Ltd (www.ascendas.com) and a presenter at PEIE’s (www.peie.om) Smart Manufacturing Conference - perspective on Made in China.

PM: In reading about industrial development in China, one often encounters the terms – Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZs), High-tech Industrial Development Zones (HIDZs), Free Trade Zones (FTZs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs). To the new China-hand, this “alphabet soup” may seem daunting and confusing. Can you explain what each of these terms signify and how they differ and can affect a company’s selection of a location?

This is a natural progression of any economy moving forward from agriculture-based to industrialization to knowledge-based economy. I see it in good light that China is increasingly participating in a larger international community, and at the same time, the international community can tap on to the resources China has to offer. These zones offer tax incentives and other benefits that foreign direct investments (FDI) can take advantage of. From a business space perspective which Ascendas plays a role in, these zones are better planned and managed, with better infrastructure and services and they enjoy a higher profile compared to other industrial estates. For example, Ascendas plays a part in the development of Suzhou Industrial Park located west of Shanghai. SIP is an ETDZ where FDI enjoys, for example, income tax exemption for two years and 50% for the next three years. At the same time, the park is well-planned with excellent infrastructure, efficient logistics and customs hubs, and, for human-resource talent growth and retention, it has adopted the Singapore-styled Provident Fund. Investors would find such location ideal for business and knowledge-based workers. The ETDZ and HIDZ are the same but reporting to and supervised by two different ministries. ETDZ reports to MOFCOM while HIDZ to Ministry of Science and Technology. FTZ and EPZ are bonded areas. EPZ is a new version of FTZ but for manufacturing only (without trading).

PM: Today over two-thirds of foreign manufacturing in China is for the domestic market. The second wave of FDI is characterized by a two-fold shift: from low knowledge base industries to medium and highly knowledge-intensive industries and geographically from the coastal and southern areas of the country inward. This seems to indicate a less coastal bound stage of development and a more domestic as opposed to export oriented economy than most other observers have reported. Are these trends clear at this time and how certain is this change in economic development?

China has a huge domestic market one can cater to. A large number of FDI establish itself initially for exports but soon finds the domestic market lucrative as well. At the same time, we see a boom in returning Chinese, a strong pool of well-trained Chinese executives, and a high return of investment in education from the locals. All these combined, coupled with the Government push to expand to the inner cities, give rise to what you have mentioned. Inner cities like Xi’an, Chengdu, Chongqing are developing rapidly not just in manufacturing but in Information Technology as well as IT-enabled Services. Ascendas sees these emerging trends, and as a good service provider, follow our clients there to assist in their developments. A case in point is Infineon who has established in Xi’an’s Ascendas Innovation Hub.

PM: The non-state sector, which consists of private companies, self-employed businesses, shareholding corporations, joint ventures with foreign investment and community-owned rural industries, a great part of which are actually private undertakings, now contributes 74% of industrial output, 62.2% of GDP and more than 100% of the increase in employment. These and other statistics seem to indicate an economy that has already transitioned much more to a private business model than most people outside of China realize. Is this change as deep as the above statistics suggest and in terms of state control of business how different is China today than many European countries in terms of state control and state intervention in the economy?

The State is still playing a dominant role in economic development. However, we see the major SOEs restructure into more profit oriented companies and more core-business focused. Many are listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock exchanges or even overseas in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. The telecommunications and banking sectors seems to be taking the lead. Many of the smaller SOEs are also privatised. Many private companies are emerging, especially in the real estate sector and many other industries. Out of the 74% non government owned industrial output, many, we suspect are contributed by foreign-invested companies given the strong FDIs in the last ten years. (suggest you check with Toh Sim on the response to this one)

PM: If you were to give five reasons for a company to consider establishing a factory or a business office in China, what would those reasons be?

I would say the five would be huge market opportunities, availability of raw materials, abundant talents (and affordable), good infrastructure, and low costs of business. But I must caution that it is tough business in China given the strong competition in every area.

PM: How important is an understanding of the regions and provinces of China to a company’s plans in China and how best would you recommend for a company to acquire and build such knowledge into its planning?

Just like anywhere else, local knowledge is an absolute must. This knowledge can be in terms of market dynamics, technological trends, and guanxi (relationship). I would say, first, gather info from resources you can get your hands on, be it publications, seminars, or exhibitions. It would also help for one to talk to experienced investors either from similar industry or those who are operating in locations you want to establish in. Next, build relationships and a circle of influence while working the ground. When it is time to establish a presence there, offices and ready-built facilities are available for lease so that risks are kept low. I believe investing in human resources is important in acquiring and building such knowledge – so be sure to put this into the plan as well. Working with distributors (from city to city) is a good way Multinational Companies can make entry into the market and gather intelligence. Joining trade organizations and chambers of commerce is an excellent networking platform too.

PM: For years, China has been the cheap assembly shop for the world’s shoes, clothes and microwave ovens. Now, it’s laying the groundwork to become a global power in more sophisticated, technology-intensive industries that demand considerable capital. Billions of dollars are flowing into autos, steel, chemical and high tech electronics plants. How will this affect manufacturing in Europe and North America?

China has the advantage of learning from the others and so shortens the learning curve. As one saying goes, it skipped the VCR era straight into CD and DVD. At the same time, its companies have attained a level where they now go on a buying spree. Some say that this is going to be China’s era. The European and North American manufacturers are also expanding into China. They are taking advantage of the opportunities to gain better competitiveness worldwide.

PM: Chinese manufacturing will drag down the profitability of global industries – do you agree with this statement?

One could sell at a lower price but at a lower cost, profitability can still be maintained or even increased. Lower costs, of course, can be achieved with advancement in technology, for example.

KOM on Corporate Communications

In today’s highly competitive world there's a lot of pressure on marketing and communications executives to find more innovative, better crafted and executed ways of communicating with not only their internal audiences, who are the building blocks of their own organization but also their customers who drive profitability and purpose. Knowledge Oasis Muscat’s (KOM) December Open House - scheduled for Tuesday, 6 December at 5:30pm - will explore and show how certain communication activities can help maintain or improve an organization’s overall competitive edge.

According to Ibtisam Al Faruji (pictured), KOM’s Open House Co-ordinator: “December’s session is intended for heads of communications departments, senior managers and marketing professionals taking responsibility for planning, managing and delivering integrated marketing, communications and PR strategies.”

With over 15 years professional experience in corporate image management, Atulya Sharma, Communications Manager, United Media Services SAOC, and the seminar’s presenter said: “Successful communications is increasingly central to the management of an organization’s reputation in all its forms. Commercial performance, corporate values and good governance are all critical to the more holistic perception of an organization now demanded by the market – this includes investors, customers, the media and employees.” Having consulted international organizations on formulating and implementing best practice corporate communications strategies, “Sharma combines practical commercial experience along with an interactive style. We fully expect the seminar to be relevant and applicable to the challenges faced by Oman’s senior corporate communicators,” remarked Al Faruji.

Including the latest communications, marketing and PR theory and developments, Sharma’s Open House seminar will draw on existing best practice, use real-life, corporate communication case studies and generate thought provoking ideas and solutions that can be immediately applied by attendees in their own situations. Asked about the value of KOM’s 6 December seminar, Hisham Al Zubaidi, Marketing Director for the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates said: “If I had to list the key reasons why I’ll be attending Sharma’s session they’d be: to help me develop my strategic framework for corporate communications and PR planning and strategy implementation; to help me realize the value of my brand and corporate image through integrated communication channels; to understand the implications of global and local communications planning and management; and to learn best practice tools, tips and techniques to apply in my organization.”

PEIE Thinking

PEIE's blog is intended to give you an insight into Oman's manufacturing and ICTS sectors. In this regard, we sat down with Sultan Al Habsi, PEIE's Executive President and discussed innovation, smart manufacturing, competition, SMEs, Knowledge Oasis Muscat and Open Source. Indeed, the interview ought to give you a flavour of PEIE's way of thinking.

PM: What does innovation mean to you?
Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas. We want to get ideas out of the research centres, into the offices and factories and onto the balance-sheet to help Omani businesses compete in the global market. To be frank – our future success will be won through the exploitation of new ideas, particularly in the area of information and communication technology.

For the Omani economy as a whole, innovation is the key to higher productivity and greater prosperity for all. The government has already laid the foundations of an innovation-driven economy by creating a stable macroeconomic environment, promoting fair and free trade and improving education and skills. But there’s more to be done. To hold our own in modern manufacturing and ICT – areas that PEIE is actively involved in – we’ll need to innovate strongly by creating new high-tech firms and light-manufacturing industries as well as helping current PEIE-based firms upgrade.

At the same time, we need to raise the level of innovation in our service industries. In this regard, PEIE is in the vanguard of helping Oman become a regional knowledge hub – a country with a reputation for turning knowledge into new and exciting products and services; a country that invests in business R&D and education and skills, and exports value-added goods and services. As you’re aware, Knowledge Oasis Muscat (www.kom.om) is very much part of this process. Indeed, this is why PEIE is organizing the Smart Manufacturing Conference – 23 – 25 January 2006 (www.peie.blogspot.com) on an annual basis, we feel there’s a real need to bring business people, policy makers and academics together to discuss innovation and entrepreneurship and their importance to manufacturing and ICT.

PM: We hear a lot about the Weightless Economy – what’s PEIE’s take on it?
In our view, the weightless economy is shorthand for the changes taking place in markets across the globe. Just think back a little, only 20 years ago, phone conversations travelled by copper wires which carried less than one page of information per second. Today, a strand of optical fibre as thin as a human hair can transmit in a single second the equivalent of over 90,000 volumes of an encyclopaedia. This change is driven by two factors which reinforce each other – rapid development of technology, and the opening up of markets across the globe.

PM: How does an established company actually go about it if it wants to innovate?
There’s no right way of going about this. But there are a variety of tactics a company can use to improve the probability of producing new ideas. One is to fundamentally question the existing mental models of the organisation. Let’s face it, every organisation operates under certain mental models and paradigms. For example, these are our customers, this is how we market, this is how we sell, this is how we hire, this is how we do business. What I’m suggesting is that an organisation will never discover anything new unless it first questions what it already has and says. Ask yourself - why are we doing it like this, is there another way? As long as an organisation is happy and satisfied with what it has, it isn’t going to search for something new – and will never discover anything new as a result.

PM: With your experience of managing KOM, where do you see innovation happening in the future, particularly in IT?
Probably in places we least expect it. I'm intrigued by what’s going on in countries like China that are promoting Linux and other open source solutions in its government and to its citizens. Their government favours Chinese-developed open source software, such as the Chinese Academy of Science's Red Flag Linux. Like many countries around the world, China wants to build its ICT infrastructure and economy with domestic spending and expertise. India, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Venezula and Peru are doing similar things, if not at the government level, then at the grassroots and corporate level. With all these people building software to solve real-world problems using open source tools and technologies, I expect there will be a deluge of new innovation in that space in the next ten years or so.

PM: What do you feel are the main challenges facing Gulf-based small businesses today? One of the main challenges facing the region’s SMEs centres around the death of distance. With improving technology and the Internet, SMEs can operate on a global basis. For this to succeed, they need to be as professional, as efficient and as cost-effective as possible. The other challenge facing them is the immense competition from larger companies.

PM: What’s the state of entrepreneurialism in the Gulf?
Entrepreneurialism is thriving in the region, but there is a high churn rate of entrepreneurs who come and go. For instance, hundreds of budding entrepreneurs will give it a go this year in terms of setting up their own enterprise but many of these will close within their first three years. This is one of the many start-up issues we’re grappling with in the Knowledge Mine, the business incubator program at KOM.

PM: What type of person makes a good entrepreneur?
Being a bit of a loner tends to help, as sometimes the whole world is against you. You could go into work one morning and find a bank breathing down your neck, a supplier wanting to know what’s happening, orders stacking up and staff not turning up. So, a good entrepreneur needs a thick skin.

PM: A lot of people think entrepreneurs are born, not made. What's your view on this?
This is an interesting question. I'd say both. Some people are born as such – they have the right temperament and are entrepreneurial from an early age and others pick it up as they go along. For people like Steve Jobs of Apple and Sir Richard Branson of Virgin, I’d think it’s more the former than the latter. I admire people like Jobs and Branson for creating new things in the face of severe doubt and opposition, and in doing so, for making the lives of people that much better. Same for HP in its early days. I admire Bill Joy for coming up with Java and Sun for maintaining a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

PM: If you could change one thing overnight to make it easier to start up an enterprise, what would it be?
Changing attitudes to enterprise and innovation is the key to this – fear of failure is one major factor that prevents many people — young and old — from putting their business ideas into practice and business survival rates improve dramatically when fledgling businesses seek advice and support. So, my wish is for a cultural change to take place in the region to stimulate more business start-ups, with people taking advice at each stage leading to more successful, growing businesses, following on from that.

Chinese Manufacturing

As a presenter at PEIE's forthcoming Smart Manufacturing Conference (23 - 25 January 2006, Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel) PEIE Mirror sat down with Nottingham Business School's Professor Kulwant Pawar (pictured) to talk manufacturing and China.

China is the fourth largest country in terms of size and the largest in terms of population. Driven by domestic demand and supported by World Trade Organization accession, China's economy should continue to grow robustly over the next 2 years. The total value of goods and services has been growing at a double digit rate for over 20 years. Although growth figures are now in the single digits (about 7.3 %), this is a large market that cannot be ignored. The World Bank estimates by the year 2025 China's economy will account for 25% of the total world economy.

PM: In reading about industrial development in China, one often encounters the terms – Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZs), High-tech Industrial Development Zones (HIDZs), Free Trade Zones (FTZs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs). To the new China-hand, this “alphabet soup” may seem daunting and confusing. Can you explain what each of these terms signify and how they differ and can affect a company’s selection of a location?

Economic and Technological Development Zone (ETDZ) has a more general function, whilst High-tech Industrial Development Zone (HIDZ) focuses on high-tech industry. But in reality, the distinction between the two is not clear and often they are differentiated only by name. To date, there are 54 national-level ETDZ, among which, eastern coastal regions 34, Middle West regions 21. The ETDZs have been quite successful in attracting foreign investment and have made significant contribution to export.

On the other hand Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and Export Processing Zone (EPZ) are kinds of special zones, whose main function is for international trading, exhibition and export-oriented manufacturing. Therefore, goods imported to these zones enjoy zero custom duties.

PM: Today over two-thirds of foreign manufacturing in China is for the domestic market. The second wave of FDI is characterized by a two-fold shift: from low knowledge base industries to medium and highly knowledge-intensive industries and geographically from the coastal and southern areas of the country inward. This seems to indicate a less coastal bound stage of development and a more domestic as opposed to export oriented economy than most other observers have reported. Are these trends clear at this time and how certain is this change in economic development?

The publicly available statistics are patchy and present a fragmented and fuzzy picture. It is always important to develop a holistic and complete picture as more and more statistics emerge, otherwise there is danger of presenting an incomplete and contradictory viewpoint.

Much of the current production in China has been organised by foreign companies themselves, and they dominate the industry and overseas companies accounted for 87% of China’s 2004 exports. The next 5-10 years will be critical as many foreign companies will cut their expatriate staff to reduce costs and many companies will also lose their special tax status over this period. Currently, state-owned Chinese companies have access to 300,000 engineers who graduate from universities every year, however, foreign companies tend to attract the best talent. Many state owned Chinese companies are initially likely to rely on a fast-growing domestic market before venturing into high technology export markets.

PM: The non-state sector, which consists of private companies, self-employed businesses, shareholding corporations, joint ventures with foreign investment and community-owned rural industries, a great part of which are actually private undertakings, now contributes 74% of industrial output, 62.2% of GDP and more than 100% of the increase in employment. These and other statistics seem to indicate an economy that has already transitioned much more to a private business model than most people outside of China realize. Is this change as deep as the above statistics suggest and in terms of state control of business how different is China today than many European countries in terms of state control and state intervention in the economy?

The emergence of the non-state sector is a phenomenon that has been mentioned by a number of analysts and observers. For instance, recently the Party Congress in Beijing has allowed members of the private sector to come into the Standing Committee. This is a positive step forward, and does indicate a trend towards a more open, diverse economy. While it is too early to say, it is possible to imagine a situation in which the Chinese economy is as diverse as and possibly more flexible than some of those in Europe today. On the other hand, China is already a much more open market than Japan or South Korea were when they started to become global industrial powers. China’s barriers to entry are still falling as it attempts to comply with its promises in 2001 to the WTO. In contrast, the pace at which China is opening sectors gives local companies very limited time to develop their R&D competences and hence innovative products which can compete with western companies.

PM: If you were to give five reasons for a company to consider establishing a factory or a business office in China, what would those reasons be?

1. Low labour costs but committed workforce.
2. Chinese culture is similar to Japanese and Korean and shares similar work ethics.
3. Huge potential for local markets as well as opportunities for export to neighbouring Asian countries and indeed to the West.
4. Relatively well developed infrastructure when compared to its competitors such as India, Indonesia etc.
5. Increasingly educated workforce. For example, in 2004, Chinese universities produced more than 200,000 graduates in computing and information systems and the government estimates that between 1978 - 2003, 700,000 Chinese studied abroad.

PM: How important is an understanding of the regions and provinces of China to a company’s plans in China and how best would you recommend for a company to acquire and build such knowledge into its planning?

Location is always one of the most important decisions which a company has to make as it has significant impact on the returns on investment. It needs to be considered that the development in China are highly divided, some regions are more prosperous when compared to others. In Shanghai more than 50% of the students have finished higher education. However, the level of progression of a region, including economic development, infrastructure, convenience of transportation, can often translate into investment costs and returns. Additionally, the level of development in one region often has high correlations to the culture, educational attainment, attitude and the policies of the local government.

PM: For years, China has been the cheap assembly shop for the world’s shoes, clothes and microwave ovens. Now, it’s laying the groundwork to become a global power in more sophisticated, technology-intensive industries that demand considerable capital. Billions of dollars are flowing into autos, steel, chemical and high tech electronics plants. How will this affect manufacturing in Europe and North America?

The advances in Chinese manufacturing present two challenges for producers in developed countries. First, more companies and industries will face new competition from low cost Chinese manufacturers. Second, as China becomes more self-sufficient, it may limit the opportunities for these same companies and industries to sell product into the Chinese market. In contrast, China’s success has two shortcomings:

1). Despite great effort to climb up the value ladder, the vast bulk of Chinese electronics manufacturing is focused on relatively low-value parts production or assembly.
2). The biggest beneficiaries so far have been overseas ventures.

Furthermore, it has been argued that if a multi-national company can come and take advantage of lowers costs, what can a Chinese company do that is different or better? It is felt that a large proportion of the Chinese educated labour force lacks creativity due to heavy reliance on rote learning and memorisation and students are not encouraged to ask questions. The system is heavily examination oriented even at the top universities.

I feel that the Chinese have not figured out how to capitalise on their culture in terms of economic wealth generation, once this happens then the West should be concerned. Similarly, Chinese industry still lacks technical know-how and competence to compete with the best in the world.

PM: Chinese manufacturing will drag down the profitability of global industries – do you agree with this statement?

As China moves into more sophisticated industrial sectors, Western companies are likely to face new challenges. They will have to move into even higher-tech, higher-value added materials and products - or buy them from China!