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