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Saturday, December 19, 2009
L&T President Venkataramana describes Project Excellence in India at 17th Global Symposium
Reported by David Pells in New Delhi
Mr. K Venkataramanan, President of Larson & Toubro (L&T), one of India's largest global companies, delivered an important keynote presentation at the 17th Global Symposium 2009 - Managing Projects, Programs & Portfolios - which opened on Monday, 14 December 2009 at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, India. Mr. Venkataramana's presentation, delivered on Monday afternoon, was entitled "Institutionalising project excellence in management of large portfolios."
During his 40-minute presentation, Mr. Venkatarama described the practices and processes developed at L&T in recent years to promote excellence in engineering, project management and operations. To begin, he indicated that 80% of L&T's turnover is from projects, that they generally only pursue large programs and projects, and that they are currently managing a portfolio of 100 to 150 large projects, of which about 40 are very large and of national importance.
According to Mr. Venkataramana, "Business drivers for us are global competition, project complexity, margin pressures, and regulatory compliance. Now we have four major excellence initiatives underway, related to engineering, procurement, project management and construction management."
He described how the company has institutionalized operational excellence through use of standardized processes and procedures. He presented an interesting chart showing the institutionalization of risk management on large projects, resulting in the effective use of schedule contingencies, estimating accuracy contingencies, and risk event contingencies. He also described the L&T Project Management Institute, an in-house academy for development of project managers and leaders, which has a dean of faculty, professors and a full curriculum of project management and engineering courses. The company also has a focus on Knowledge Management whereby they capture and share internally lessons learned on major projects.
Mr. Venkataramana concluded with a brief description of a new Program Management Office that has been established at the top of the company, with senior executives, in order to look at the "big picture." Again, according to the speaker, "Technology, talent and training! These are key throughout our organization."
According to Wayne Abba, another keynote speaker visiting from the USA, "This presentation was about as good as anything I have seen. L&T clearly has mature processes and a lot of experience. This would stack up well against any presentation by corporate executives back home, or in the world for that matter."
L&T is a US$10 billion engineering, technology, manufacturing and construction company with global operations. One of India's most successful and respected companies, L&T provides products and services for programs and projects across various important sectors of the Indian economy, including infrastructure, oil and gas, power, chemical, petrochemical, mining and civil construction. The L&T Group markets equipment and services in over 30 countries; has manufacturing operations in India, China, the Arabian Gulf region, Southeast Asia and Australia; and has a global supply chain. The company was ranked no. 1 in quality and reputation by Wall Street Journal Asia and has been referred to in the media as the "builder of India of the 21st Century."
Other keynote presentations on day one of the 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi included: the Honorable Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning commission, Government of India (Inaugural Address); Panel presentation on subject of Challenges in Speedy Execution chaired by Mr. B K Chaturvedi, member of Planning Commission of India; Panelists - Mr. Rakesh Nath, Chairman of the Central Electric Authority; Mr. S K Roongta, Chairman & Managing Director of SAIL; and Dr. Sarita Nagpal, Dy. Director General of CII: Adesh Jain, Honorary President, PMA, India (Why certification of project professionals is growing exponentially); Wayne Abba, globally recognized earned value management expert from the USA (Earned Value Management - the ultimate answer in arresting time and cost overruns); and David L. Pells, President & Managing Editor, PMForum, Inc. USA (The 5th Generation of Modern Project Management).
The 17th Global Symposium provided an opportunity for Indian government officials, project managers and company executives to come together for presentations and discussions about managing projects & programs in India. The 17th Global Symposium was jointly organized by Project Management Associates (PMA) and the Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), in association with the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi was organized under the Chair of Mr. B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, who is also the Chair of the 2009 International Advisory Committee (IAC). The Programme Director was Mr. Adesh Jain, Honorary President of PMA. For information about the symposium or to see copies of presentations, visit http://www.cepm.com/gs09/default.aspx.
Founded in 1993, Project Management Associates (PMA) is a non-profit registered professional body of projects and business managers, aimed at strengthening project management in India. PMA's vision is to be an apex agency for promotion of project thinking in India and worldwide for continuously enhancing delivery potential of programs and projects, thereby providing competitive edge to organizations, and growth to individuals. Based in New Delhi and with branches in Hyderabad, Pune and Ranchi, PMA serves members and stakeholders throughout India. PMA is the Indian national association member of IPMA. The Managing Director of PMA is Mr. Arvind Agarwal; the honorary president is Mr. Adesh Jain. For more information, visit www.pma-india.org. For more information about IPMA, visit
The Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM) is a project and programme management education, training and consulting organization based in Noida, New Delhi, India. The company offers basic and advanced project management courses, on the web, in public seminars and in-house workshops. CEPM's Certificate in Project Management (CIPM) is a high quality, low-cost project management qualification; CEPM also offers certification training in support of both PMI's PMP® certification as well as IPMA's 4-level competence-based certification program. For more information, visit http://www.cepm.com.
Mr. K Venkataramanan, President of Larson & Toubro (L&T), one of India's largest global companies, delivered an important keynote presentation at the 17th Global Symposium 2009 - Managing Projects, Programs & Portfolios - which opened on Monday, 14 December 2009 at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, India. Mr. Venkataramana's presentation, delivered on Monday afternoon, was entitled "Institutionalising project excellence in management of large portfolios."
According to Mr. Venkataramana, "Business drivers for us are global competition, project complexity, margin pressures, and regulatory compliance. Now we have four major excellence initiatives underway, related to engineering, procurement, project management and construction management."
He described how the company has institutionalized operational excellence through use of standardized processes and procedures. He presented an interesting chart showing the institutionalization of risk management on large projects, resulting in the effective use of schedule contingencies, estimating accuracy contingencies, and risk event contingencies. He also described the L&T Project Management Institute, an in-house academy for development of project managers and leaders, which has a dean of faculty, professors and a full curriculum of project management and engineering courses. The company also has a focus on Knowledge Management whereby they capture and share internally lessons learned on major projects.
Mr. Venkataramana concluded with a brief description of a new Program Management Office that has been established at the top of the company, with senior executives, in order to look at the "big picture." Again, according to the speaker, "Technology, talent and training! These are key throughout our organization."
According to Wayne Abba, another keynote speaker visiting from the USA, "This presentation was about as good as anything I have seen. L&T clearly has mature processes and a lot of experience. This would stack up well against any presentation by corporate executives back home, or in the world for that matter."
L&T is a US$10 billion engineering, technology, manufacturing and construction company with global operations. One of India's most successful and respected companies, L&T provides products and services for programs and projects across various important sectors of the Indian economy, including infrastructure, oil and gas, power, chemical, petrochemical, mining and civil construction. The L&T Group markets equipment and services in over 30 countries; has manufacturing operations in India, China, the Arabian Gulf region, Southeast Asia and Australia; and has a global supply chain. The company was ranked no. 1 in quality and reputation by Wall Street Journal Asia and has been referred to in the media as the "builder of India of the 21st Century."
The 17th Global Symposium provided an opportunity for Indian government officials, project managers and company executives to come together for presentations and discussions about managing projects & programs in India. The 17th Global Symposium was jointly organized by Project Management Associates (PMA) and the Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), in association with the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi was organized under the Chair of Mr. B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, who is also the Chair of the 2009 International Advisory Committee (IAC). The Programme Director was Mr. Adesh Jain, Honorary President of PMA. For information about the symposium or to see copies of presentations, visit http://www.cepm.com/gs09/default.aspx.
The Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM) is a project and programme management education, training and consulting organization based in Noida, New Delhi, India. The company offers basic and advanced project management courses, on the web, in public seminars and in-house workshops. CEPM's Certificate in Project Management (CIPM) is a high quality, low-cost project management qualification; CEPM also offers certification training in support of both PMI's PMP® certification as well as IPMA's 4-level competence-based certification program. For more information, visit http://www.cepm.com.