KOTA KINABALU: The recent Team Excellence Convention for Sabah and Sarawak region which drew participation from 37 public and private sector organisations resulted in a collective saving of RM71.6 million.
Speaking at the convention’s closing ceremony yesterday, Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) Board of Directors member Datuk Ag Buhtamam Ag Mahmun said that certain measures must be taken in order for an organization to be productive.
“To be highly productive, we must be continuous in our efforts to improve, we must not waste and we have to be more creative. This has to be our daily practice,” Ag Buhtamam said.
In a nutshell, he said the convention was aimed at providing a platform for organisations to introduce creative ideas and innovation, improving efficiency and effective work processes, reducing cost and wastage, saving time and enhancing quality of products and services.
In line with the 11th Malaysia Plan, it was stated that productivity could be the ‘game changer’ for the country, labour productivity was expected grow at a rate of 3.7 per cent every year heading to 2020, Ag Buhtamam added.
“Based on the productivity reports of 2016/2017, Malaysia had been experiencing a positive growth as the rate had increased from RM75,548 in 2015 to RM78,218 in 2016.
“There was a growth of 3.5 per cent. This was very near to growth rate that we expected, which was 3.7 per cent,” he asserted. Despite the positive growth, Ag Buhtamam admitted that there was much need to be done in order for the country to reach the expected figure.
He also expressed his hope that the participating teams would be able to qualify for the the annual Productivity and Innovation Exposition (APIC) 2017, to be held in November in Genting Highlands.
On a separate note, Ag Buhtamam also encouraged the teams to adopt the Blue Ocean Strategy principle in their daily business.
Blue Ocean Strategy refers to the creation by a company of a new, uncontested market space that makes competitors irrelevant and that creates new consumer value often while decreasing costs.
“There are three main pillars of the Blue Ocean Strategy, namely the business must be able to produce a high impact, it must be cost efficient (which is different from ‘spending less’) and it must be easily replicated or it must be able to rapidly expand,” Ag Buhtamam added.
He cited successful companies like Uber, Grab, Booking.com and others as benchmarks that Malaysian companies can look up to.
During the event, which was held at Le Meridien Hotel, Ag Buhtamam presented certificates and awards to the 37 teams.