"Tugade’s projects help businesses with doing over."
"Tugade’s projects help businesses with doing over."
Midway through the five-day webinar series on manufacturing in the “new normal” that’s being run by the Center for Strategy, Enterprise and Intelligence (CenSEI), it’s become clear to me that the virus continues to cast a long and foreboding shadow over our economy, and especially the manufacturing sector.
It’s in our workplaces, not our homes, where the virus is taking a huge toll, forcing businesses to look for new ways to redo pretty much everything.
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On the first day of the CenSEI webinar series last Wednesday, Mon Agustines, the US-educated head of URC’s flexible packaging business, shared the many adjustments that the Gokongwei-owned company has had to put in place. Among his advice:
Immediately set up a crisis management team, including a wellness officer and a CSR and government liaison to stay on top of regulatory compliance.
Productivity tips: On the job training toward multi-skilling as operating capacities are driven down by the lockdown. URC invested in isolation, quarantine, and dormitory facilities to get around transportation as well as health-at-work issues.
The company even managed to relocate some of its manufacturing processes outside the plant. Making medical masks and cleaning resins, it turns out, can be done just as well at home.
Undersecretary Ruth Castelo of DTI issued this admonition to her listeners: “Buy local,” if we want to provide the consumer demand that is what will ultimately keep our manufacturing industry afloat.
KPMG’s chief operating officer Noel Bonoan took a different tack, looking at the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in our country. In light of concerns about our BPO’s losing ground to AI adoption by foreign clients, Noel suggested that BPO’s could turn a risk into an opportunity by offering AI development as an additional outsourced service.
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The second webinar day last Friday opened with Eckie Gonzales, the Harvard-educated chairman of The Medical City, the country’s largest single-brand healthcare network. The hospital has enjoyed zero COVID cases among its medical staff, not surprising in view of the numerous cautionary protocols they’ve installed. Like other speakers, Eckie believes things are starting to improve, but people should remain cautious.
DOLE Assistant Secretary Dr. Teresita Cucueco shared the numerous circulars that her agency has issued on workplace safety. Dr. Francisco Cruz, a public vaccination expert, reminded us that we’ll need a lot more time to make sure of both a vaccine’s protective strength and any adverse effects. His unsettling prediction: another pandemic in five to seven years.
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Day Three yesterday was fittingly opened by Secretary Art Tugade, the country’s transportation czar, who updated us on the four major sectors he covers: airports, seaports, roads and railways. Among his good news:
This month will see the completion of the Bicol International Airport and the ground-breaking for an even bigger project, the Bulacan airport proposed by San Miguel’s Ramon Ang.
Completion of the Cagayan de Oro seaport—the country’s biggest—as well as the Cavite gateway terminal, our first-ever barge terminal.
Half a dozen rail programs will be partly or substantially completed before Duterte steps down, including three stations of the Mega Manila subway (Valenzuela, North Avenue, and East Avenue) and the long-delayed MRT common station.
Sec Art was followed by two senior Ayala executives to provide the perspective of one of the country’s most respected business groups.
From IMI Electronics, the sixth largest automotive EMS in the world, chairman Art Tan shared some of their COVID-coping changes: cutting the workforce by half, onsite living and sleeping arrangements for up to a thousand people in their plant, and, of course, strict control over people movements.
From another Ayala affiliate, KTM Motorcycles, which exports most of its production to other countries including China, chief operating officer Dino Santos paid tribute to the bayanihan spirit displayed by his officemates and even competitors during the lockdown.
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IFC expert Jin-Chang Lai noted an adoption rate of only 1 percent for non-recourse supply chain financing in the Philippines. This can be improved with future modernization of logistics and warehousing services, as well as wider digitization of both supply chain finance and management.
Harvard-trained lawyer Hans Latta, who used to run a trucking business back in the States, explored the logistical implications of the transportation network being built by Sec Art. Among them:
E-commerce and cashless transactions made necessary by COVID will increase warehouse sizes and reduce retail outlet sizes.
Trucks will become bigger, moving away from box to trailer configuration, in order to increase loads and minimize service failures.
The trucking industry will modernize and become more specialized. Manufacturers will thus also have to redesign their plants: tractor-trailer loading systems, taller buildings with racking, palletized inventory handling.
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Tomorrow’s webinar will focus on upgrading data infrastructure to enable “new normal” manufacturing. Readers interested to attend may simply click on either link below:
https://forms.gle/rw7qXtAMBfHFKR7y8
https://zoom.us/j/97306533399
