New corporate education trends

It is becoming increasingly common for industry giants the world over to share their knowledge and experience with clients (and vice versa), and for good reason – this is a clear win-win situation. Companies get dividends on their educational programmes in the form of partner loyalty, while each business benefits in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in the process.

As far back as the 1990s, Motorola was among the first to pioneer a corporate training and education solution with its Motorola University (or Motorola U, as it was sometimes called). The people who ran the university were convinced it helped strengthen partnerships. The Six Sigma improvement doctrine was a huge step forward for corporate education and is still in use today.

As early as the 1990s, Motorola introduced its Motorola U corporate university.

The perks of client education are further exemplified by the achievements of the multinational conglomerate General Electric. Its GE Healthcare business division, one of the world’s topmost providers of diagnostic systems, has spent the last five years investing around a billion dollars in educational projects across the world that target both employees and partners. At first, the aim was to teach medical personnel to handle sophisticated equipment through clinical education courses, but as 2015 rolled around they added a programme on healthcare management decisions, IT training courses, and courses aiming to enhance patient experience.

The Dom TechoNICOL frame construction company picked up the trend of client education and now offers all partners an opportunity to undergo on-site assembly training and participate in regular webinars. Rusklimat also runs a corporate university that spans the gamut of classroom training, conferences, webinars, online courses and more, all of them aiming to provide an effective and convenient educational product for the company's clients and partners in the world of household and industrial climate equipment.

Corporate universities have a range of programmes for various types of client businesses.

This year marks the launch of SIBUR’s very own programme of regular partner and client training. The SIBUR Business Practices platform, which went live in March 2019, serves as an education hub providing both classroom and distance learning opportunities (webinars, online courses and video streams).

The role of teachers will be filled by SIBUR employees, who are true professionals in their fields. For example, the workshops on the SIBUR production system (PSS) will be led by Denis Samokhvalov, Director for Economics and Efficiency Management, who oversaw the launch of PSS. Webinars on products will be helmed by technical support and product development staff.

All partners of the Company can register for the courses online. There is a Feedback section on the website, where everyone can share impressions, offer advice or ask a question.

Maria Borisova,
Marketing and Sales Director at BIAXPLEN:

“Client education programmes are akin to language courses in that they help us achieve a level of understanding where we can appreciate each other’s values and goals. They also give everyone involved an opportunity to pass on their best practices, enriching the arsenal of tools at hand and lifting everyone up to a level playing field. Most importantly, it helps create a shared information environment where participants can communicate freely and more effectively, which then boosts loyalty and performance.”

Maria Borisova and programme participants.

Elena Zaznobina,
Head of Key Account Management at SIBUR’s Basic Polymers Division:

“We invest heavily in our partnerships, sharing insights, arranging educational initiatives, and working on joint projects. All of us share the same goal – to grow production and consumption of polymers. These educational initiatives give us valuable feedback from our clients, which we then integrate into our work with all of the partners to establish a more trustful relationship with them.”

Anastasia Salnikova,
Senior Manager – Customer Engagement and Promotion of Customer-centric Practices:

“We expect an enthusiastic response to SIBUR Business Practices and lots of feedback. Based on clients’ comments and answers to short end-of-webinar questionnaires, we will be able to develop this initiative further.”

Andrey Tikhonov,
Head of Product Development and Technical Support at SIBUR’s Plastics, Elastomers and Organic Synthesis Division:

“E-learning benefits both us and the client. We are determined to find out what our clients need and do everything in our power to give it to them, using our R&D capacity among other things. We want our clients to be on top of things, and with the web-based learning there is nothing standing in the way. All they need to participate is a computer and an internet access.”

SIBUR’s Products

Preliminary polls held among SIBUR’s clients identified products and technologies to be the most requested topics for educational programmes. In light of that, we paid special attention when putting together the SIBUR’s Products category on SIBUR Business Practices. These courses have something in them for engineers, procurement staff, as well as management.

In addition to sessions on products, speakers will also talk about relevant industry regulations to give clients insights on how to increase market penetration, and efficient techniques to process products into goods.

“Processors need to hear about new products, because this will allow them to make the most out of our feedstock, discover optimisation opportunities and reduce reject rates,” said Konstantin Vernigorov, Head of Product and Technological Development at SIBUR's Basic Polymers Division. “On top of that, these courses provide a networking venue for industry members and SIBUR’s tech team.”

“In our role as the producer, we are privy to details on each stage of making the product, from design to end models,” commented Andrey Tikhonov, Head of Product Development and Technical Support at SIBUR’s Plastics, Elastomers and Organic Synthesis Division. “Access to this body of knowledge will let our clients boost their productivity and effectiveness.”

BIAXPLEN.

“We are just taking our first step when it comes to educating clients about products. We want to create a seamlessly working mechanism, but in order for that to happen we need to learn and exchange knowledge on a regular basis, and only then it will all become a self-sustaining organism. I think that this result can be achieved in 2–3 years of consistent platform operation, even if right now we do not fully comprehend just how much these processes will contribute to the Company’s activities,” added Konstantin Vernigorov.

Effective Production

The transfer of the SIBUR Production System (PSS) became the first step in the client education programme.

2016 saw the active phase of PSS implementation successfully completed. As a result, SIBUR developed a holistic view of common processes and approaches to work, shaping a cohesive, unifying production culture across the Company. The changes took effect at all SIBUR sites and yielded significant financial gain.

PSS training participants at SIBUR-Kstovo in November 2018.

The SIBUR Production System was designed in association with DuPont, a global petrochemical industry leader in innovation and production efficiency. /p>

In 2017, SIBUR's PSS was recognised with the Gastev Cup in the Russian efficiency leaders contest. The Company was the absolute winner, receiving a perpetual trophy./p>

The next step in developing the production system practices was to impart them to our clients. /p>

In 2018, SIBUR held four pilot trainings on PSS for partners and its front managers. Following positive feedback, we decided to make the training regular.

The production educational programme combines lectures and hands-on sessions. The chief lecturer will be Denis Samokhvalov, Director for Economics and Efficiency Management, who pioneered PSS at SIBUR. Classes on PSS implementation at a specific division will be taught by the division’s director. “When adopting these practices, including Lean Production (a PSS component), our clients give a boost to their performance, which then results in mutual benefits for them and for us,” explains Denis Samokhvalov.

Hands-on sessions take place at the facility hosting the classes. They see participants get acquainted with new techniques, ask questions, and decide whether this knowledge can be applied to their processes.”

“The ready-made tools successfully tested by SIBUR will help our clients to become the most competitive suppliers operating on export markets, and get prepared for high standards of FMCG audits,” says Maria Borisova, Marketing and Sales Director at BIAXPLEN.

Alexey Ivanov,
Head of Production at Polipak:

“The tools that we got introduced to at the PSS training are truly handy. SIBUR is being proactive with client engagement, and it really put its best foot forward with the PSS courses. The way the Company improves on things and makes its employees part of the process is really something to admire.”

Vladimir Vasin,
Head of the Lean Production Project at Netkanika:

“The on-site training was very well-organised. One day is quite enough to introduce the production system and go over its modifications for different companies. We were given handouts and reference materials that should help us put the newly acquired knowledge to use at our own facilities.

The day was filled with lectures and excursions with a lot of show and tell. If utilised correctly, all of these tools can greatly boost a facility’s performance. For us, it's still early to speak of any concrete results, but it did galvanise me into generating more of my own ideas.”

SIBUR’s Kstovo site.

Dates and sites of PSS trainings in 2019:
• 27 March – BIAXPLEN, Balakhna;
• 7 June – SIBUR-Kstovo;
• 6 September – SIBUR-Neftekhim;
• 21 November – BIAXPLEN, Balakhna.

Follow the link to register (currently available in Russian only) for a fitting date.

Management Practices

The Management Practices category will most likely be interesting to those who hold management positions. It includes classes on the best methods and tools to shape and maintain management culture.

The main programme here is Standard Management Practices (SMP) – a set of management practices designed to provide a more effective way of managing the division, developing employees and increasing the manager’s performance.

Standard management practices aim to streamline the division and facilitate employee growth.

In 2018, SIBUR held a pilot SMP webinar for distributors and its employees. Based on its outcome, the Company decided to make the training regular (1 hour webinars covering 11 practices). Each webinar offers tools for tackling various challenges that managers encounter in their work. For example, participants had a chance to learn about international management practices at a Getting a Grip on Things webinar that was feature a presentation of the famous Getting Things Done (GTD) method. David Allen, the man behind GTD, maintains that productivity is not a gift, but a skill that can be cultivated.

In accordance with user preferences, this was made a distance learning programme. Online learning solutions are what is at the core of SIBUR Business Practices.

Follow the link to sign up (currently available in Russian only) for the Standard Management Practices webinars.

SIBUR Business Practices platform is just part of the Company's effort to educate its clients. This March, SIBUR and the Russian Export Center (REC) launched Export Accelerator, a joint educational initiative to enhance client export potential and expertise in foreign economic affairs. The participants were eleven SIBUR's partners in polymer processing that seek to boost overseas sales or show strong potential for entering international markets. The next issue of SIBUR for Clients will provide more colour on the programme.

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