OSPE President and Chair Michael Monette Adds Value at CSVA Conference

The Canadian Society of Value Analysis (CSVA) held their annual conference with a very special theme “Creating Value" on October 27-28 in Markham. Ontario, featuring OSPE President and Chair Michael Monette, MBA, EDP, P.Eng., as one of the prestigious keynote speakers.

“You have thousands of processes, how do you make them better?” spoke Mr. Monette, introduced by CSVA President Steven Taylor, P.Eng./PE, M.Eng., CVS, as an “IT guru”, during his outline of Xerox Canada’s aggressive turnaround plan over the past six years. As Director of Xerox Global Services (Canada), he explained Xerox Canada’s application of a blend of two methodologies to their operations overhaul - “Lean”, developed by Toyota in the 1980’s, which focuses on eliminating all types of waste, including overproduction, waiting time and surplus inventory; and “Six Sigma”, pioneered by Motorola in the same decade, encompassing a set of tools that use statistical analysis to identify and eliminate defects.

The amalgamation of the two schools of value analysis resulted in the creation of Lean Six Sigma, a blended methodology credited to General Electric. Xerox Canada applied the five process steps of Lean Six Sigma, notably Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, beginning in the late 1990’s and as a corporate-wide strategy in 2002 as key planks in its recovery.

The results were staggering. Says Dave Rowlands, VP of Quality for Xerox, “Internally, we’ve generated more than $150 million in economic profit during 2004. These are reductions in our operational costs and driving our revenue.”

When asked how Xerox keeps its prices competitive during a recent Forbes.com interview, CFO Lawrence Zimmerman responded: “Lean Six Sigma projects have already contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings, cost avoidance and revenue to the company.”

Mr. Monette encouraged that applying a value analysis system such as Lean Six Sigma be tied to executive sponsorship and a focus on long term improvement. “It’s more than just the metrics”, he concluded.

The CSVA conference, alternating annually between Ontario and Quebec, is an initiative of The Canadian Society for Value Analysis, founded in 1993 to promote the value analysis methodology.

Rakesh Shreewastav, P.Eng., AVS, Senior Project Engineer for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, and Lt. Governor-in-Council Appointee for Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), emphasized ”these conferences provide great opportunity to network with people in Canada, the US, and outside North America and also a tremendous learning opportunity for all participants.” A CSVA Conference Committee Member since 2004, Mr. Shreewastav stressed the importance of value analysis processes to a wide range of industries, stating such approaches are “very important in improving value to the projects, processes and products through the application of the value methodologies."

For more information about The Canadian Society for Value Analysis, please visit http://www.scav-csva.org/