Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) hosted its latest Lean continuous improvement session with a visit by the Minister of Manpower (MOM) Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri and his leadership team to the company’s headquarters.
Around 30 delegates attended a full day engagement to raise awareness and understanding on how to drive continuous improvement, streamline processes and reduce waste in their own workplaces.
The attendees were briefed on PDO’s Lean transformation and how continuous improvement and the Lean programme have been an enabler in implementing challenging strategies.
During their visit, the MOM team learnt about Lean principles, methodologies tools and how PDO has applied this across its operation. They also received an insight into the required cultural transformations to sustain the improvement changes and to oversee best practices on business efficiency and increasing productivity.
“I would like to thank Petroleum Development Oman for hosting the Ministry’s officials and employees. We are here today to learn about PDO’s Lean experience and implementation phases. Lean is an excellent programme and can be useful for our services.
The Ministry will definitely benefit from such experience. We aim to replicate this know-how across our services but patience is necessary. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.
So, congratulations for your successful achievements and we wish you all the best,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri.
PDO has championed the Lean philosophy since 2009 as a way of driving greater efficiency. To date there have been over 250 improvement projects successfully completed and an estimated $1.2bn generated in terms of additional value, cost reductions and avoidance through its deployment across its business.
PDO People and Change Director Ibtisam Al Riyami, who is leading the Lean and continuous improvement change programme said: “We were delighted to host the Ministry of Manpower visit and to explain why in a world of limited resources and a challenging business environment, adopting the Lean methodology as part of daily activities is key to achieving efficient and effective operations for any organisation.
“In PDO we now have over 400 certified Lean practitioners who are leading by example and empowering colleagues to participate in our business improvement journey. Their improvement projects are making a real difference to how we do things, are sustainable and can be replicated elsewhere in our organisation and beyond. We also have the majority of our top and middle leadership trained in the continuous improvement and Lean ways of working for them to enable engagement, collaboration, respect and improved performance,” Ms Al Riyami added.
Continuous improvement is an important part of PDO’s commitment to support the sustainable development of the sultanate and as part of this aim; the company has already hosted visits by around 300 senior managers representing 30 public and private sector organisations.
