
Volnoe Delo Foundation holds 4th international Lean Summit in Sochi
8 April 2016
The 4th international Lean summit organized by Volnoe Delo Foundation, Japanese Kaizen center in Krasnodar region and MSU Business school closed at the Imeretinskiy hotel in Sochi. More than 300 Russian and international participants exchanged their experience of using lean technologies at the production facilities. A trilateral agreement on human resource development in Russia was also signed.
Among Lean summit’s participants were over 300 CEOs of Russian biggest companies, experts from the UK, the USA, Japan, Germany, Sweden, France and Spain. This year’s motto was Smart production systems trumpet a new lean era. The summit was organized by Volnoe Delo Foundation, Japanese Kaizen center and MSU Business school.
Two days of the summit were marked by 15 interactive workshops, round tables, videoconferences with foreign partners. Kuban agroholding, owned by Basic Element group, presented a virtual excursion to the agroholding. Paul Bourne, Director of the business theatre from Cambridge, hosted workshop on management using stage technology.
The issues of lean technologies incorporation into local government bodies were discussed at the summit for the first time. Representatives from different regions discussed development of regional lean programs during at the round table “Lean regions and administrations”.
A trilateral agreement on joint efforts to develop human resource in Russia was signed by Volnoe Delo Foundation, Japanese Kaizen center and Open technology academy. The agreement includes joint development and implementation of educational programs aimed at professional training and retraining for employees for the leading Russian industries, development and incorporation of common standards for the levels of university training as well as holding different events varying from conferences and seminars to exhibitions and internships abroad.
The 4th international Lean summit was attended by the biggest Russian companies including Basic Element industrial group, United shipbuilding corporation, NLMK, Kalashnikov group, Banking systems and services company and others.
Suggestions on lean technologies incorporation into industrial, educational spheres and government bodies will be forwarded to the federal ministries by the summit’s participants.
The first lean summit took place in Gelendzhik in March 2013. It reunited more than 100 CEOs of manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, building, logistics enterprises, retail chains, hotels, medical centers and state officials from 16 Russian regions. More than 150 participants from 25 regions took part in the second summit in 2014. The third summit that was held in April 2015 was a venue for more than 200 CEOs of the biggest Russian companies representing 25 regions.
Detailed information on the Lean summit 2016 can be found on the official site http://leansummit.ru/
Alexander Ruppel, Minister of economy of Krasnodar Region:
“Kuban’s authorities have been cooperating with Japanese Kaizen center for the second year in a row. And this work has already been yielding results. For instance, lean seminars for municipal authorities are to be hold in nine districts this year. We hope that Krasnodar region will set a good example for other regions”
Tamara Rumyantseva, the head of Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation:
“Japanese centre in Krasnodar represents one of our Foundation’s twelve educational programs. We consider promotion of the lean production system and culture in Russia to be of big importance. We are waging a major campaign in the Ust-Labinsk district, our pilot territory, aimed at lean thinking shaping from an early age. We start to incorporate these programs from the preschool age to provide our country with a generation of young specialists who value human and material resources and are able to handle them properly.”
Olga Andreeva, the head of the Japanese Kaizen center:
“We have focused on education and are retraining teachers, headmasters and university professors at the moment. Lean technologies are of current importance taking into consideration recent economic developments. Luckily, Russia may boast of more and more companies incorporating production systems of the 21st century.”