apo news february 2010

8/14/2019 APO News February 2010

1/8Printed on Recycled Paper

Potential economic drivers: entrepreneu

....p-WatchEurope

....Comment board

....Productivity methodologies, tools, andtechniques

....Mental health and productivity

....A leadership platorm or businessexcellence in Thailand7....Program calendar7....New ofcer in the Secretariat7....APO/NPO update7....Photo report7....Eco-products International Fair 2010....APO Alumni Association in Korea ormed....People behind the scenes

Volume 40 Number 2 February 2

6, Conference, Thailand

8, APO alumni, ROK

5, Observational study mission, Japan

The APO began the new year o 2010 with the Forum or Promoting Entrepreneurship in Asia at the Secretar

Tokyo, 1315 January. Twenty potential young entrepreneurs and business starters rom 15 member coun

attended. The main purpose o the orum was to discuss the very basics o entrepreneurship, the various op

and opportunities or entrepreneurial initiatives, and the keys to successul entrepreneurship to guide participants in

ting up thriving new businesses, explained Secretariat Research and Planning Program Ocer Yasuko Asano. In

the APO organized a large-scale conerence on the same subject with similar objectives, which received positive

back. Asano added, This orum was a ollow-up to the conerence but organized on a smaller scale. However, the

up o expert speakers and level o enthusiasm and passion among participants were comparable.

The APO invited three successul entrepreneurs and our venture capitalists to share their principles and experienc

business management. Chie resource speaker Proessor Nobuhiko Hibara o Ritsumeikan University, Japan, acil

the overall program. The speakers true stories rom their lives and business endeavors were well received, with ro

o applause ollowed by numerous questions and comments.

The rst entrepreneur who spoke was Founder & CEO William Saito, Intecur, Inc. Saito,

the winner o the US 1998 Entrepreneur o the Year Award, compared the understand-

ing and practices o entrepreneurship in the USA and Japan. When describing successul

entrepreneurs, Saito emphasized that there are eight important attributes: perseverance,

conidence, optimism, vision, creativity, leadership, integrity, and the ability to inspire

others. CEO Natsuko Shiraki, o jewelry manuacturer and exporter Hasuna Co. Ltd.,introduced the concept o ethical jewelry made o environmentally and socially riendly

materials and her mission o creating a society that brings brilliant smiles to all through

jewelry. The story o Kouta Matsuda, ounder o Tullys Coee International Pte. Ltd.,

received rapt audience attention, refecting the renown o Japans third-largest coee chain.

Matsuda, a Japanese brought up in the USA, explained that his initial impetus or starting

the business originated rom cultural dierences he had experienced in childhood and his

conviction that the ood industry could bridge them. His determination and charisma have

won the trust o investors, employees, and partners, resulting in Tullys enormous success.

Ater the entrepreneurs shared their groundbreaking business adventures, our venture capitalists explained how

view business opportunities in Asia rom an investors point o view. President and CEO Naoki Nick Kondo o

Stellas K.K. said that although Japan had imported business models rom other developed countries, this model ireversed, and Japan now exported its

models. He marries capital to busi-

ness management, i.e., uses capital

to change business behavior and in

turn the economys behavior. He

emphasized the changing economic

paradigm and potential awaiting in the

Asian market or entrepreneurship and

business innovation.(Continued on page 5)

C O N T E N T S

APOnews

InformationtoMakeaDifferenceinProductivityISSN: 1728

Matsuda speaking on hisness start-up experience

Forum participants applauding speakers


2/8

APO News February 010

The 2009 European Productivity Conerence

(EPC2009) was organized by the Grimsby

Institute o Further and Higher Educationand the associated British Productivity Centre in

late October. It provided a unique opportunity

to assess the current productivity thrusts in the

Atlantic area. Its successul ormula ollowed

the traditional advice to the bride that she wear

something old, something new, something bor-

rowed, something blue...well, green.

A substantial proportion o productivity ac-

tions, now boosted by recession, are the well-

honed tools o the past. This was brought out by

enterprise cases in the two local industry clusters

which, in addition to public services, were the o-

cus o presentations: ood processing and chemi-

cals. Collectively termed ecient eectiveness

or how to get more with less, techniques such as

predetermined time systems ollowing in the work

study tradition are currently available in sotware.

Nowadays, they pay as much attention to quality

and cost as to productivity as such. Pinched or

unds, governments at all levels are particularly

active in this area and developing networks to

share best practices. More generally, enterprises

emphasize that what gets measured gets done,

not just in the more traditional aspects o pro-ductivitysocial and economicbut also in the

green or ecological. SEE productivity, reerring

to combined social, environmental, and economic

productivity, was an EPC2009 buzzword.

Similarly, borrowed and adapted continuous im-

provement techniques such as Lean Six Sigma,

kaizen, and their derivatives that originated

outside Europe are oten utilized by enterprises.

A common theme running through presentations

on such lean approaches was the importance o

teamwork and continuous employee developmentpractices: project teams at operational and strate-

gic levels have evidence-based approaches; and

think tanks within companies use substantiated

tools (UNIDOs Produce Plus was described) to

determine the root causes o issues and to acilitate

knowledge transer rom consultants to employees

and beyond into supply chains.

Partnership was another common thread. People

and organizations must work together in partner-

ships to get things done by listening to each other,

respecting each other, and building a climate o

trust, which are much more easily said than done.

Where the contrary happens, particularly in tradi-

tional industries, the productivity uture is bleak

indeed, and participants were reminded that the

correlation between productivity and pay is 0.99.

SEE productivity, reer-

ring to combined social,environmental, and economic

productivity, was an EPC2009

buzzword.

Some new concepts are being developed to

meet not just global competition but also en-

vironmental challenges. For example, national

and European laws as well as international

agreements increasingly require enterprises toexamine and improve their carbon ootprints.

Reducing carbon emissions is a key challenge

or raising Europes agricultural productivity. A

new tool here is the use o inexpensive satellite-

surveillance systems. These are so precise that

armers can decide which ertilizers to use and in

what quantities on which parts o a single ield

as well as what measures they should take in the

light o changing weather conditions. Not only

p-WatchEurope

Low-carbon productivity

can such precision arming increase yields by

10%, but greenhouse gas production and pollu-

tion rom ertilizer runos are signiicantly re-duced. Thus was born the concept o low-carbon

productivity. One o the EPC sponsors, CO2

Sense Yorkshire, works in partnership with local

organizations to nd ways o using and generat-

ing energy more productively to reduce carbon

emissions in the region by 25% by 2016.

But new techniques need backing rom the old.

Thus, ood availability can be signiicantly

increased, at minimal cost, simply by reduc-

ing agricultural waste in such areas as storage,

distribution, and supermarket quality selection,

although somewhat perversely the continuously

growing size o supermarket chains has been a

major driving orce in productivity improvement.

Change is, as ever, needed not just in peoples

skills but above all in their attitudes and behavior

to modiy Western consumers habit o throwing

away up to hal o the ood they purchase, which

is both morally and ecologically wrong.

Europe borrows rom wherever it can, although

a presentation rom the head o Chinas 500-odd

productivity centers created neither awe nor

stimuli. An innovative approach introduced in oneEPC2009 presentation was the smart grid, i.e.,

installing closed loops between energy utilities,

modes o transport, and buildings since all three

both produce and consume energy at dierent

times (Austin, Texas, provides a striking example).

Experience shows that it is not only the technical

innovations that are important here, but also the

involvement o the whole community in such ap-

proaches so that the productivity and conservation

awareness o all citizens is vastly enhanced.

Getting the most out o a process is all about un-derstanding and reducing variability. To overcome

the problem o enterprises being data rich and

inormation poor, approaches, some o which

used sophisticated mathematics, were presented

or turning data into an asset by transorming them

into knowledge. Finnish research on absenteeism

pointed out the importance o investing in the

smooth fow o work and continuous development

to increase well-being and productivity.


3/8


Comment board

Productivity cannot be enhanced at the corporate level without supportive gov-

ernmental action. Thus, although the scale o the current recession has meant

that virtually all companies have resorted to considering and oten implement-

ing major sta cutbacks (raising traditional labor productivity), several Euro-

pean governments have introduced large-scale short-time working schemes.

These enable a company to maintain its labor orce on virtually ull pay or

periods o up to a year, with the government nancing substantial skill trainingto enhance the companys innovative capacities ater making it through the

hard times. Thus enterprises do not impair their long-term prospects or the

sake o immediate survival.

Grimsby was a highly appropriate location or a productivity conerence. It

is a work-in-progress showcase o a region that 40 years ago depended on

the single industry o ishing. This was decimated by a political decision:

to conserve ish, Iceland extended its marine territorial exclusion area to

200 miles. While once Grimsby was home port or 1700 trawlers, only our

remain today. To create a new identity, Grimsby has positioned itsel at

pinnacle o value-added chains such as sh and ood processing, chemica

and port acilities, adding wind-arm maintenance and tourism over time. A

educational, research, consulting, and catalyzing driving orce (setting

new bodies or and with enterprises in these clusters) has been provided

the Grimsby Institute. In the process, it has become a major local employ

(1500 sta, which doubled in a decade, and 20,000 students) and set nstandards in productivity education, such as its Master o Science in Produ

tivity and Innovation degree.

Anthony C. Hubert is President of EuroJobs, an organization he established to promote e

forts to raise the quality of working life and productivity in Europe. He was formerly Secretary

General of the European Association of National Productivity Organizations. He writes regular

for this column.

Bureau Director Chita De Gracia Cilindro, Bureau

of Workers with Special Concerns, Department ofLabor and Employment, the Philippines.Participant, study meeting on Participation o Women

and Retirees in the Workorce, 710 December 2009.

The study meeting was very inormative and inter-

esting, as it dealt with an emerging issue not only in

the West but also in most parts o Asia. The APOis being proactive by anticipating problems beore

they can seriously aect productivity. Compared

with the Republic o China, Singapore, and most European countries with aging

populations, the Philippines has a relatively young population. That does not mean,

however, that the knowledge and inormation that I gained rom the meeting were

o little use to me. On the contrary, the novelty o the issue motivated me to learn

more. I have recently been designated to head the newly created Bureau o Workers

with Special Concerns (BWSC) within the Department o Labor and Employment.

The BWSC will handle issues connected with emale workers, young workers, and

workers in the inormal economy. Thus, all the topics discussed by the resource

speakers will be useul in my work, especially the actual programs and services

mentioned, all o which I can replicate with some modifcations.

PresidentDr. Jose L. Bacusmo, Visayas State University, the Philippines.

Participant, multicountry observational study mission on Controlled-environment

Agricultural Production Systems, 30 November4 December 2009.

I participated in the project to learn more about protecting vegetables and other

crops rom excessive rain and strong wind. These two environmental conditions

are the main constraints on achieving a reliable, year-round supply o vegetables

in the Eastern Visayas region o the Philippines. I learned a lot rom the project,

including greenhouse designs, ways to protect crops and greenhouses rom strong

winds, controlling the temperature inside the greenhouse, materials used in gre

houses, the benefts o growing crops in controlled environments, and the conc

o the plant actory in Japan. Ater returning to the Philippines, I attended

APO grantee meeting. I hope that I can make some contribution to productiv

improvement in the Philippines. I am now planning to reassess the greenhou

screenhouse acility at my university based on what I learned rom the proje

I also want to invite the local speaker Dr. Chiachung Chen o National Chu

Hsing University to Visayas State University to hold a seminar or our studeand provide us recommendations on the rehabilitation o our greenhouses.

Assistant ManagerJhia Sheng Khoo , Business Development Division, SM

Corporation Malaysia.Participant, study meeting on SME Financing in the Atermath o the Glob

Financial Crisis, Indonesia, 2327 November 2009.

Like all the other participants, I greatly benefted rom the work o the organ

ers, speakers, and ellow participants at the study meeting. The speakers lectu

were very ocused on delivering the main points o interest as well as the bro

perspectives, while the participants presentations were useul or exchang

ideas and best practices in each respective country. The meeting discussed

need to increase collaboration between the government and private banksdeveloping risk-sharing systems or delivering microloans to SMEs acing d

fculties in securing collateral. Some other suggestions on how to assist SM

in managing their fnancial challenges were also discussed. They included

establishment o equity investment devices or innovative SMEs and the adap

tion o a cluster approach or SMEs to improve economy o scale, optimize op

ating costs, lower capital investments, and improve technology innovation. T

site visits to local companies and agencies during the project were also valua

because they allowed us to acquire a practical understanding o the processes a

implementation o microfnancing.

by A.C. Huber


4/8


production lot size must be reduced, which requires a quick changeover

o the equipment, especially in part production using machine tools. The

essence o changeover is to return the settings o machines to the identi-

cal position at which the same product was produced previously. Thus amethod or remembering the identical position or every changeover and

being able to set the machines to the correct positions are crucial. Also,

categorizing changeover activities into in-time activities that must be

done while machines are stopped and out-time activities that can be

done while machines continue to turn out products (e.g., preparation o

tools) is another important eort because changeover time is a period or

in-time activities. The ability to reset machines accurately and the cat-

egorization o changeover activities contribute to rapid changeovers o 10

minutes or less.

A JIT parts supply system is especially eective in assembly operations

in which varieties o in-house manuactured and/or outsourced parts arerequired. It allows workers to maintain neatness on the assembly line and

in its surroundings, enhances assembly eciency because o convenient

handling o parts by operators, and ensures that the necessary parts are

available while minimizing unnecessary inventory. Furthermore, through

proper use o inormation technology, the administrative costs or part

purchasing and logistics can be reduced.

Practical mechanisms applied in JIT parts supply typically include the

kanban system, two-bin system, sequence supply, and kit parts supply.

The kanban system is or medium- to high-cost parts that need to be sup-

plied requently with a short supply lead time. The two-bin system is or

low-cost parts that need to be supplied requently with a short supply leadtime. Sequence supply is or bulky and heavy parts to be provided accord-

ing to the sequence in which they are used on the assembly line. Kit parts

supply involves providing a kit o parts or assembly as a set or each

product in a parts box or on a trolley that moves with the products along

the assembly line. It is important to keep in mind that these mechanisms

assume stable parts requirements with small fuctuation. In addition, the

parts supplied using the above JIT mechanisms must be deect ree.

Productivity methodologies, tools, and techniques

The term just-in-time (JIT) was created by Kiichiro Toyoda, ounder o

Toyota Motor Company, and is one o the most important guiding prin-

ciples in the Toyota Production System. It implies that only the required

products or parts should be made and supplied at the required time and inthe required amount, which can reduce production lead times with high

fexibility and avoid overproduction and unnecessary inventory o prod-

ucts or work in progress. In other words, JIT is customer pull-based

manuacturing and thereore can achieve higher service levels to custom-

ers in terms o quality, cost, and delivery. JIT is also an important guiding

principle or lean manuacturing implementation in various manuacturing

industries.

The practical implementation o JIT includes the ollowing activities:

1) Establishment o fow manuacturing;

2) Quick changeover o the equipment and parts in case o multiple

model production using the same manuacturing line; and3) Implementation o a JIT parts supply system.

Flow manuacturing deals with actual manuacturing processes or the

making o products or parts. In principle, products or parts go through

the manuacturing process one by one (single-piece fow) rom the rst

operation through the inal one and are made ready or the customer,

which minimizes the production lead time and work in progress in be-

tween the process steps. Flow manuacturing systems work based on the

relationship between takt time, the pace o manuacturing according to

the customers requirements, and cycle time, the unique time needed to

process one piece at each step. Once the process steps or the production,

takt time, and cycle time o each step are given, it is possible to denehow the manuacturing system unctions, including estimation o the re-

quired number o operators (Figure), assignment o tasks to each operator,

and layout.

When dierent models o parts or products are produced in the same

manuacturing process, in order to reduce the lead time and inventory

o parts or products and to cope lexibly with customer requirements,

Just-in-time

Contributed by Managing Director Takao Kasahara, Stream-

line Strategy Japan, Inc., resource speaker or the APO training

course on the Development o Productivity Practitioners: Ad-

vanced. As a consultant in the feld o manuacturing systems

and business process reengineering, he has been working with

more than 100 actories and 50 companies in 20 countries.

To provide easy reerence to productivity-related

terms including methodologies, tools, andtechniques, the APO developed the p-Glossary,

available on its Web site (www.apo-tokyo.org).Defnitions and explanations o just-in-time are given in the p-Glossary.


5/8


The National Institute or Occupational Saety and Health (NIOSH) o

the USA denes a healthy work organization as a competitive organi-

zation that can realize prot with satised and productive workers and

ewer stress patients. A 1999 NIOSH report claimed that, Stressul labor

conditions actually increase the ratio o absenteeism, delays in work, and the

ratio o leaving the workorce. While many disregard this warning, according

to Deputy Director Shinichiro Iida, Mental Health Research Institute (MHRI),

Japan Productivity Center (JPC), the issue o mental health in the workplace

has never been as important and is critical to securing the competitiveness o

enterprises and even entire nations.

Mental health and productivity was the topic o an APO multicountry observa-

tional study mission in Japan, 1822 January. Increasingly pressing concerns

over mental health in the workplace were discussed by 19 participants rom 11

member countries who work in this eld. They observed the measures imple-

mented by the government and in both public and private sectors in Japan to

enhance workers mental health.

The JPC, the missions implementing organization, is a leading player in the

struggle to improve mental health in the workplace. In 1980, it introduced the Ja-pan Mental Health Inventory (JMI), a tool or surveying the mental health status

o workers in our topic areas: body; mind; personality; and workplace. Using

the JMI, the MHRI has processed data rom 2.8 million workers in 2,800 enter-

prises. The results are analyzed and reported in two ormats: an individual report

or the employee and an establishment report or the employer. The reports are

ollowed by sel-care and workplace improvement measures, respectively.

The Japanese government has also played a key role in promoting better

mental health. In 2000, the Ministry o Health, Labor and Welare releas

guidelines on ensuring mental health in the workplace. It instructed employ

to establish mental health development plans organized around our care

sel-care by workers; line care by managers or supervisors; care by industrhealth sta in the workplace; and care by external resources such as therapi

The program reminded us o the importance o mental heath in connect

with productivity improvement in organizations. It was also a great o

portunity to learn the various preventive and management measures an

support program or employees who return to work ater medical leave a

healthcare, commented Senior Researcher Ga Woon Ban, Korea Product

ity Center.

Mental health and productivity

Potential economic drivers: entrepreneurs .................................................................................. (Continued from page 1

Takaaki Hata, Partner, Globis Capital Partners, discussed general venture

capital business models and key success actors in terms o teams and qual-

ity o entrepreneurs. He believed that there were three common themes

among companies perorming well: sticking to the basics; maintaining

strong teams; and being strong individuals. Hata particularly emphasized the

importance o good communication and the need or entrepreneurs to run

as quickly as possible and be fexible when rethinking strategy i necessary.

Hitoshi Suga, a winner o the Small

Business Agency Award or Nurturing

Entrepreneurs at the Japan Venture

Awards 2008 and Special Advisor tothe President o Tullys Coee Japan

Co., Ltd., spoke on meeting Matsuda

and instantly deciding to invest based

on Matsudas energy, personality, and

background. Instinct is pretty impor-

tant or any venture capital start-up

investment, said Suga. Another unique

enterprise, the University o Tokyo

Edge Capital Co., Ltd. (UTEC), is

the sole venture capital rm authorized by the University o Tokyo as it

technology transer-related company. UTEC is involved in the orma

tion o new ventures and takes risks on innovative technologies, as well as

making lead investments in the seed/early stages. UTEC was established

in 2004, and Managing Director Tomotaka Goji, a ounding partner, dem-

onstrated how the advantage o proprietary access to a university can be

maximized in areas like IT, biotechnology, clean technology, and physica

science technology seeds.

On the last day, participants visited the Entrepreneur Group or Growing Ja

pan (EGG Japan) Incubation Oces. EGG Japan is operated by Mitsubish

Estate without any governmental support. Its business ecosystem connectall necessary support including providing low-rent oce space and human

networking through the Tokyo 21c Club to nurture entrepreneurs.

The orum was a valuable opportunity to network with many o Asias

brightest and best young entrepreneurs, commented Director Woon

Bock Ng, Socialico Pet. Ltd., Singapore. This orum allowed me to look

at Tokyo and its culture and see i I could bring some business concepts

back home.Suga emphasizing the importanceof instinct when making invest-ment decisions

At the Mental Health Center for Workers, Yokohama Rosai Hospital


6/8


A leadership platform for business excellence in Thailand

Aquality award program is an important driver or catalyst that

can enhance the competitiveness o our region as well as that o

individual nations through the creation o quality enterprises,

stated APO Director or Thailand Dr. Vitoon Simachokdee, Permanent Sec-

retary o the Ministry o Industry, at a public seminar on 18 December 2009

as part o the APO conerence on Quality Award Systems held in Bangkok,

1518 December. The seminar, with the theme Sustainable Competitive-

ness Using the Business Excellence Model: Leadership and Innovation, also

marked the 15th anniversary o the Thailand Productivity Institute (FTPI),

the national productivity organization o the country.

The FTPI plans to cover new areas

o productivity to play an eective

role in the Thai economy. Its roles

include administering the countrys

only business excellence ramework

and associated Thailand Quality

Award, considered one o the key

award systems in the region. Five

APO experts rom the Asia-Pacic,USA, and Europe shared their busi-

ness excellence experience on the

topic o leadership and innovation

with over 200 seminar attendees

including 23 APO participants. The

key speakers included: CEO C.V.

Jagadish, Systems on Silicon Manu-

acturing Co., Pte. Ltd. (a Singapore

Quality Award winner), Singapore;

ormer Global Business Excellence Leader Hans Van Beek, Philips Con-

sumer Liestyle, the Netherlands; ormer CEO Dr. David Spong, Boeing,

USA; and Executive Director Thomas E. Schamberger, Foundation or theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Inc., USA.

Prior to the commemorative conerence, the three-day second Quality Award

Administrators Meeting was held as part o the regional two-year (2010

2011) APO planning cycle ocused on the development agenda or quality

award programs in member countries. This was a ollow-up to the rst meeting

in Mongolia in 2007 which developed the current platorm or the advance-

ment o award systems in APO member countries. The 2009 meeting was able

to determine a common pathway and set goals or uture quality awards.

The irst day o the main conerence included a session introducing APO

activities related to quality award programs. Details o our major programs

were reported including the 2007 Mongolian meeting, 2008 Tokyo expert

meeting, center o excellence in business excellence initiative, and 2009

regional survey on the Impact o Business Excellence/Quality Awards on

Enterprises. A highlight was the presentation o the preliminary results

o the survey by Chie Expert Dr. Robin Mann, Director o the Centre or

Organisational Excellence Research, New Zealand. The survey studied the

perormance implications o award systems in the Republic o China, India,

Japan, Singapore, and Thailand rom the perspectives o the senior manage-

ment team and CEOs. The results conirmed that the business excellence

ramework is viewed positively and directly contributes to the improve-

ment o business results. Major ndings o the survey were: 1) the benets

o adopting a business excellence ramework are generally seen ater ve

years; 2) leadership and culture are key challenges or most adopters; 3) in-

novation is a dierentiator or uture success or more advanced enterprises

as well as new adopters; and 4) inormation sharing in the region on busi-

ness excellence remains limited and should be developed to accelerate learn-

ing and raise the bar or business perormance. Dr. Mann explained that the

key ndings o the report would be used as the basis or the 2010 and 2011

regional agenda.

The conerence was also the venue or a series o workshops, special orums,

and roundtable discussions where dierent stakeholders were able to describe

their own agendas and exchange views on award programs. Participants also

discussed how to address three main challenges and concerns o administra-

tors, which were related to maintaining relevance, quality assurance, and und-

ing support. The discussion was acilitated by Dr. Mann and coacilitated by

APO experts Hans Van Beek, Dr. David Spong, David E. Schamberger, and

Surender Kakkar rom India who provided proessional inputs and guidanceor participants.

By the end o the meeting, the group o administrators realized that, as they

continued to operate their award programs, their unique experiences during the

journey toward business excellence were also important or the region. There-

ore all members agreed to cooperate or continued progress. They also agreed

with Dr. Spongs concluding remarks that, The secret o success in business

excellence is simply being consistent and persistent with passion.

APO Director for Thailand Simachokdeedelivering remarks

Discussing how to improve award programs

Chief Expert Dr. Mann (standing) conducting the 2009 regional survey in Japan


7/8


Photo report

Painting and ceramic villages in Bac Ninh ProvinceWorkshop on the Evaluation of the Integrated Community Development PrograOne Village, One Product Movement Promotion in the Mekong Region, Vietnam,13 November 2009

The APO Eco-products International Fair (EPIF) 2010 will be held inIndonesia at the Jakarta Convention Center, 47 March, with the themeGreen Productivity to Enhance Competitiveness. This will be the sixthEPIF organized as part o APO eorts to promote Green Productivity(GP), a strategy or enhancing productivity and environmental

perormance simultaneously or overall socioeconomic development.

As the largest international environmental air and conerence in Asia,the EPIF brings key international players and executives rom leadingcorporations under one roo or multiaceted business networking and

promoting green branding strategies among the general public and consumers.It is also a venue to introduce and demonstrate the latest environmental

technologies, manuactured goods, equipment, systems, and services, alongwith environmental initiatives o governments, public institutions, and NGOs.

The local organizers, the Indonesian Chamber o Commerce and Industryand Ministry o Manpower and Transmigration, are expecting 100,000visitors at this years EPIF, given the increased concern and interest inenvironmental issues among the government, business community, andgeneral public. Indonesia, which hosted the UN Framework Convention onClimate Change Conerence in Bail in 2007, is perectly placed to receivethe EPIF torch o eco-commitment and carry it to new levels o achievement.

Eco-products

International Fair 2010

APO/NPO updateNew APO Director or IndiaMr. Rajinder Pal Singh, Secretary, Department o Industrial Policy and Promotion,Ministry o Commerce and Industry, was appointed new APO Director or India,

w.e.. 1 January 2010.

New APO Alternate Director and Liaison Ofcer or PakistanMr. Tahir Ali Shah, Joint Secretary, Ministry o Industries and Production, and Mr.Khawaja Muhammad Yousu, Chie Executive Ocer, National Productivity Organ-ization, were appointed new APO Alternate Director or Pakistan, w.e.. 9 December2009, and APO Liaison Ocer or Pakistan, w.e.. 14 January 2009, respectively.

New phone/ax numbers or NPO o PakistanThe phone/ax numbers o the NPO or Pakistan were changed to: tel: (92-51)910-7091 to 7094; ax: (92-51) 910-7095.

Hiroko Kosaka started as an IndustryDepartment program oicer in the APOSecretariat as o January 18. She brings awealth o international and environmentalexperience to her duties, one o which issupporting the Eco-products InternationalFair in Jakarta in March. Ater receivinga BA in International Relations in Tokyo,she received an MA in the same subjectand an MSc in Environmental Changeand Management in the USA and UK,respectively. Her employment history involved both public- and private-

sector experience, where she worked in numerous areas including economiccooperation through Japans ocial development assistance, multilateralenvironmental cooperation, and business restructuring o large companies.Kosaka enjoys visiting hot springs in Japan and learning about othercultures in her spare time and looks orward to cooperating with membercountries and NPOs to enhance the work o the APO in the region.

New ofcer in the Secretariat

Visiting a demonstration organic farm in Uttar PradeshWorkshop on the Development of Commercial Organic Farming, India, 915 Dcember 2009

April

PakistanWorkshop on Building Sae, Competitive Horticultural Chains in theAsia-Pacifc Region: Fruit and Vegetable Chains, 1217 April 2010.

Objective: To enhance participants understanding o the key principlesand practices o building sae, competitive horticultural chains, analyzethe perormance o resh ruit and vegetable chains in member countries,identiy the issues and problems, and ormulate action plans.

Participants: Producers, processors, retailers, wholesalers, traders,government oicers, academics, and consultants involved in ruit andvegetable supply chains.

Program calendar

Kindly contact your NPO for details of future activities, including eligibility forparticipation. The project details along with the address of your NPO are avail-able from the APO Web site at www.apo-tokyo.org.


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Published monthly byAsian Productivity Organization, Hirakawa-cho Dai-ichi Seimei Bldg. 2F, 1-2-10 Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0093, Japan;

APO Alumni Association in Korea ormed

The Republic o Korea (ROK) has become the 10th member country with an

APO alumni association, a productivity network ormed by participants in

APO projects. These associations allow members to share knowledge and

expertise. The APO Alumni Association o Korea was established by the Korea

Productivity Center (KPC), the national productivity organization o the ROK, with

the inaugural meeting held on 15 December 2009.

The KPC has received many requests to organize a gathering o experts which

would allow them to share their experiences and practices. The groundwork or

setting up the alumni body started in September in 2009. This small but pragmat-

ic learning organization has been established with around 100 applications. KPC

Vice Chairman Woo-Keon Park will lead the alumni association as the frst chair.

Dr. Sung Soo Kim, ormer President o the Asia-Pacifc Association o Education

in Agriculture and Environment, an international association that developed rom

an APO project, will act as an adviser.

The KPC played host to the inaugural meeting o the APO Alumni Association o

Korea at the Best Western Premier Hotel Kukdo in Seoul. The meeting, which wasattended by 45 participants, kicked o with welcoming remarks rom First Chair

Park, ollowed by a round o introductions by participants. Selected individuals

were then invited to make short remarks. They then became better acquainted by

talking about their experiences in APO projects and other productivity activities.

The KPC is planning to organize regular meetings where association members

strengthen their network or continuous learning and improvements in their productiv-

ity endeavors. These meetings will include an annual meeting or the entire member-

ship and smaller-scale seminars on specifc topics such as SME management, Green

Productivity, and agriculture. We are also planning to organize public seminars so

that APO project participants can share their updated news, inormation, and ad-vanced knowledge o productivity when they return to Korea, explained APO Liaison

Ofcer or the ROK Jun-Ho Kim o the KPC, when asked about upcoming events o

the association. He also expressed a desire to expand the network to the global level

via close communication and inormation sharing with other APO alumni bodies.

People behind the scenes: Dr.Muhammad Saeed

Problems both large and small can occur at any time. They could

arise rom a lack o preparation or despite the closest attention todetail imaginable. This is oten the case in APO projects involving

many dierent international parties. The ocer in charge may receive an

apologetic e-mail message or phone call rom the main speaker at the last

minute delivering the news that he or she cannot attend or some unore-

seeable reason. Sometimes the host country requests project postponement

due to security threats or natural disasters. This can even happen once a

project has started. Someone, usually meaning the ocer in charge, must

thereore step up and take charge on the ront line to decide the best

course o action ater intense communication with all involved.

It is certainly true that all the ocers in our department try their best to

nd an ideal solution or each situation. However, Dr. Muhammad Saeedstands out as one who explores every avenue and spares no eort to imple-

ment the project as scheduled or nd a conclusion satisying everyone. His

sincere, earnest personality and capacity to exercise good judgment in a fex-

ible manner make things work, said a Secretariat sta member in the Agri-

culture Department, in which Program Ocer Dr. Saeed works. Dr. Saeed is

also an example o how to nd the balance between work and happy amily

lie with his sincerity, earnestness, thoughtulness, and cooperative attitude.

In recent years, numerous in-house activities

have been conducted at the Secretariat: settingup taskorces, internal presentations in connec-

tion with program improvement and perorm-

ance enhancement, etc. These are occasions

when all sta members are invited to discuss actors determining the

success or ailure o APO projects and exchange ideas or their improve-

ment. On such occasions, we can always rely on Dr. Saeed to encourage

his colleagues by sharing his mistakes or diculties, making honest com-

ments, and dispensing good advice. Dr. Saeed is also quick to respond to

e-mail messages rom sta seeking assistance. The APO News team is one

o the beneiciaries o his cooperative nature. Despite the demands o

his projects, he never orgets to take photos o the most interesting and

exciting moments or the benet oAPO News readers.

One more thing that should be mentioned is Dr. Saeeds loving amily.

I heard that his children always miss him during his requent trips over-

seas, said one colleague, and those who know the amily can testiy to

their closeness. This is likely the main source o the positive energy and

happiness in his lie.

Participants at the inaugural meeting

APO

alumnl

news

apo news february 2010

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