After his keynote, Ortega took his place in a panel that was made up of former PlantSuccess keynoters, including Tom Archibald, vice president and director of engineering and operations for Rohm and Haas Company, now a division of Dow Chemical Company; Jim Porter, the recently retired Chief Engineer and vice president for engineering and operations from DuPont; Tom Strang, vice president of manufacturing excellence for Hercules Inc., and Doug Foran, president of Red Branch Technologies.
These times are nothing if not turbulent. The panel was very straightforward about what they thought.
"Those that arent the lowest cost producers in their markets," Hermann Ortega said, "aren't going to make it."
"We have to show leadership," Tom Archibald said. "The wrong answer is, 'I think we're okay.'"
Archibald also noted that in turbulent times, it is very important to continuously re-recruit your best people.
Tom Strang said, "We have to tell the story-- we have to be able to show people what we've done and why it is important that we keep on doing it. We may not be at the bottom. It is going to be very tough. We may have to forego things, but we need to make sure that this doesn't make us any less than we are."
Strang went on, "This isn't the time to start becoming excellent."
Jim Porter, retired chief engineer of DuPont said, "Stay calm, stay focused on the customer. Panic makes bad long term decisions. Stay focused on core values. Do not lose operating discipline."
"Felt leadership is critical," he said. "You can't get that by email. You must do it on the ground, face to face. And you have to make sure that everybody agrees that it is time to invest in the future.
Asked how to find the best leaders, Ortega replied, "People who can relate to the workforce, who know their people and who can motivate. I've never been a big management school type. It is about delivering results."
Porter said, "There are key characteristics, the most important being a positive attitude. PACE: a positive attitude changes everything."
Charles Miller, from Johnson Controls, asked, "But what about infrastructure?"
Ortega replied, "You must keep your plants evergreen or you will not sustain 98%+ attainment."
Tom Strang commented, "When the business guys get in charge, growth trumps infrastructure."
Archibald said, "We underinvested in the 1990s too. You have to keep beating the evergreen drum. If we have 75% capital in North America, why aren't we thinking about closing some of those plants? All our growth now is in the rest of the world."
Jim Porter opined, "A good project is safe, environmentally sound, and you can sell the stuff you make at a profit."
"At what point does cost cutting impact safety?" a questioner in the audience asked.
"Have your systems in place for process safety, the human element as well as the process systems." Hermann Ortega replied.
"Have we learned anything about how to do acquisitions?" an audience member asked, no doubt thinking about the fact that both Archibald and Strang are going through the process right now.
Archibald said, "We bought Morton Chemical in 1999, and it still says Morton Salt. Dow says they will keep us as an independent division..."
Strang said, "Some Hercules brands will be kept..."
"Investing in the future," Jim Porter changed the subject, "will be critical to get us through this. We need more non-competitive consortiums."
