Accenture woos oil, gas sector with platform to check waste
By Sulaimon Salau
COMMITTED to boosting productivity through an improved structure and methodology of business operations, a global management consulting firm, Accenture, has introduced a new operational programme tagged: "Lean Six Sigma" into the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Lean Six Sigma aims at reducing non-value added activities, otherwise known as waste in organisational set-up and improving operational processes, reducing costs and engendering growth.
Engaging journalists in a chat at the company's headquarters in Lagos recently, experts and partners of Accenture said many high-profile companies globally had fused Lean Six Sigma into their operations for complete overhaul, and had helped them to save billions of dollars within a short period.
They described the new programme as simplifying business processes, reducing measures of variability, utilising time, discouraging waste and encouraging speed in carrying out business operations.
A Senior Executive of Accenture, Mr. Ken Buxton said, "Companies are facing rapidly changing customer expectations, escalating costs and emerging new markets, which are all impacting process efficiency. Most often, the process designed to deliver service operate far less efficiently than those used to produce goods. In working with thousands of service-oriented organisations across more than 20 different industries, Accenture has seen tremendous value when a Lean Six Sigma programme is aligned to the appropriate industry model."
According to him, the programme is rooted from Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. While Six Sigma uses data to drive a disciplined approach, proven to eliminate defects directly linked to bottom line results, Lean Manufacturing utilises simple tools and techniques to eliminate non-value added steps and accelerate cycle time.
A Senior Director, Energy, Accenture, Mr. Yemi Adetunji, noted that the most successful organisations have combined both philosophies into Lean Six Sigma, which have led to complete revitalisation of the organisations.
He assured that the programme, when embedded into the oil and gas industry would poise the firms for more efficiency, as reduces input because it requires less cost on labour, material, capital equipment and power/energy and ultimately increase productivity.
He said the programme, Lean Six Sigma, gives a very high level of expertise and efficiency, noting that there is a process in place that is aimed at focusing on improvement in structures and methodology.
Adetunji summarised the programme as a process of increased discipline, application of rigor and improved mindset. When launching a Lean Six Sigma project, he said organisations must address problems based on facts (not emotions), which are aligned to business objectives, adding that prioritisation of projects should factor both alignment and the magnitude of the opportunity.
