World Opex

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. Entries for the World Opex Awards 2026 are officially open. For decades, operational excellence has created enormous value in factories, hospitals, banks, supply chains, and other businesses worldwide, yet it has never had a global stage of its own. 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁: 1. Recognition earned on merit, scored by an independent panel of 𝟴𝟬+ 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 across 30+ countries and six continents. 2. 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Bronze, earned against an absolute standard, never against other applicants. 3. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝘅 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆, Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, TQM, 5S, Kaizen, and more. 4. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, win or not. 5. 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, for organizations, SMEs, and individual practitioners, in any industry and any country. Key dates: Entries open today. Early bird until 31 July. If you have led or witnessed real operational excellence, this is built for you. awards.worldopex.com Alex Bolinelli Anil Sinha Artur Ambrozin Diaa Kassem DJ Duarte Dr. Fabrizio Majorana CEO Everaldo Giacon Iryna Krushevska John S. Kevin Ollivier Matthew Nowell, MBA, LSSMBB Nitin Bankar William Nunes de Aquino Alper Ozel Asim Alsarhani Azman Shah Mohamed Noor A.W. Schultz Nguyen Phuoc Hien (Chris Nguyen) Govind Tiwari, PhD, CQP FCQI Dr. Rey Fremista Gourav Dudeja Homero Garza Jackson Okemwa Mageto - CSSBB Jitender Punia Jose David Quesada Campos Joseph Daniel Katuri Julie Savage-Fournier, P. Eng. Laxmikant Natu Makarand Pinjarkar Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy Mohammad Jaid Alam Nital Zaveri Naveen K , CQP MCQI Sabina Chirita Selamat W. Hia Rafael Celiberto Akash Gandhi Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB Alessandro Lasi

Two days before something new opens for the Operational Excellence community, a question for the weekend. What is the most overlooked operational improvement you have ever seen? The kind that quietly changed everything, that nobody outside the team ever applauded, that you still think about years later. The line that ran cleaner because of a small change. The standard that quietly held for a decade. The problem so well solved that everyone forgot it ever existed. The defect that was eliminated forever... Share it below. Genuinely curious to read these. awards.worldopex.com | Opens June 1, 2026 #OperationalExcellence #Lean #SixSigma #ContinuousImprovement #WorldOpexAwards #WorldOpex Anil Sinha Artur Ambrozin Diaa Kassem Alex Bolinelli Dr. Fabrizio Majorana CEO Iryna Krushevska William Nunes de Aquino Alper Ozel Azman Shah Mohamed Noor Asim Alsarhani Govind Tiwari, PhD, CQP FCQI Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.) Dr. Rey Fremista Gourav Dudeja Homero Garza Jitender Punia Makarand Pinjarkar Rafael Celiberto Sabina Chirita Nital Zaveri Selamat W. Hia Alessandro Lasi Chandan Kumar Dey Olaf Boettger Dave Harry Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo Carlos Emidio Mayukh Ghosh Najeh ESSID Noel Torres Nikhil Pal Phani Kumar Puppala Sandeep Kumar Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD Sonia K. Singh, MHA, PCC Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar Vladimir Bosio Yannick STEUNOU Andrei Bonamigo 🇧🇷🇮🇹 Jose David Quesada Campos

15+ years driving global business transformation, Lean digital transformation, and operational excellence across manufacturing, logistics, and international operations. Sustainable improvement powered through process excellence and strategic execution. Joseph Daniel Katuri is an established Operational Excellence and Business Transformation leader recognized for helping organizations accelerate productivity, improve operational efficiency, and build sustainable performance systems. A Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Lean Practitioner, and Kaizen Facilitator, he brings deep expertise in Business Process Management (BPM), Process Mining, Lean transformation, and global operations improvement initiatives. His work focuses on leading large-scale Lean digital transformations and process optimization programs that strengthen execution, improve visibility, and enable long-term operational growth across complex business environments. Today, as Founder and Lead Consultant at Erfolvia Consulting in Germany, he continues to support organizations in building high-performing operational systems and transformation capability. We are honored to welcome Joseph Daniel Katuri as a Founding Regional Ambassador of the World Opex Awards. His role will help connect practitioners, champion excellence, and expand the reach of operational excellence across industries and regions globally. Welcome, Joseph Daniel Katuri. Entries open on June 1, 2026, at awards.worldopex.com. Diaa Kassem, David Fernandes, Homero Garza, Rajeev Seth, Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD, Mayukh Ghosh, Eric D Jones, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt, Gourav Dudeja, Artur Ambrozin, Najeh ESSID, Ashish Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.), A.W. Schultz, RAJESH K SHARMA, Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB, Chandan Kumar Dey, Raymond Werner, Yannick STEUNOU, Phani Kumar Puppala, Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar, Makarand Pinjarkar, Yogesh Ranaware, Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo, Vladimir Bosio, Sonia K. S. Kunjan Singh, Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy, Carlos Emidio, Asim Alsarhani, Pradeep Kumar, Bhushan Badgujar PMP®, PRINCE2®, CSSMBB, Sabina Chirita, Mark van Klinkenberg, Girish G. Sadanand Patil, Murat ŞEN, Nital Zaveri, Laxmikant Natu #WorldOpexAwards #OperationalExcellence #LeanTransformation #BusinessTransformation #LeanSixSigma #ProcessMining #Kaizen #Germany #FoundingRegionalAmbassador #OpEx2026 

Automotive transformation. Supplier excellence. Operational improvement driven through deep manufacturing expertise, Deming Award leadership, and execution discipline. Laxmikant Natu is a seasoned automotive industry executive recognized for helping organizations strengthen supply chains, improve operational performance, and build sustainable manufacturing systems. With extensive expertise in supplier and parts development, he has supported major automotive and packaging organizations in enhancing process capability, engineering conformance, and operational reliability across complex industrial environments. A distinguished TQM and Deming Award journey mentor, he played an instrumental role in guiding three Tata Group companies to achieve the prestigious Deming Award, bringing exceptional expertise in quality transformation and business excellence. His core strengths span Lean Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS), Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, PPAP, APQP, and automotive quality standards including ISO/TS 16949, combining technical depth with practical transformation leadership. We are pleased to announce Laxmikant Natu as a Founding Regional Ambassador of the World Opex Awards. His role will help connect industry leaders, champion excellence, and expand the reach of operational excellence across manufacturing and automotive sectors. Welcome, Laxmikant Natu. Entries open on June 1, 2026, at awards.worldopex.com. Diaa Kassem, Kelly Kujan, David Fernandes, Homero Garza, Rajeev Seth, Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD, Mayukh Ghosh, Eric D Jones, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt, Gourav Dudeja, Artur Ambrozin, Najeh ESSID, Ashish Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.), A.W. Schultz, RAJESH K SHARMA, Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB, Chandan Kumar Dey, Raymond Werner, Yannick STEUNOU, Phani Kumar Puppala, Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar, Makarand Pinjarkar, Yogesh Ranaware, Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo, Vladimir Bosio, Sonia K. S. Kunjan Singh, Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy, Carlos Emidio, Asim Alsarhani, Pradeep Kumar, Bhushan Badgujar PMP®, PRINCE2®, CSSMBB, Sabina Chirita, Mark van Klinkenberg, Girish G. Sadanand Patil, Murat ŞEN, Nital Zaveri #WorldOpexAwards #OperationalExcellence #LeanManufacturing #TPS #SixSigma #Automotive #SupplyChain #FoundingRegionalAmbassador #OpEx2026

A manufacturing leader with extensive experience across multinational operations, driving operational excellence through Lean transformation, quality systems, and people development. Chris Nguyen is an accomplished plant leader recognized for advancing operational excellence, manufacturing performance, and leadership capability across the mechanical and electronics industries. With extensive experience leading multinational manufacturing operations, he brings deep expertise in Lean methodology, World Class Manufacturing (WCM), digital transformation, and factory leadership excellence. His background includes full P&L ownership, end-to-end plant operations, and large-scale operational improvement initiatives. A Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (CLSSBB), Project Management Professional (PMP), author, and WCM instructor, he is also recognized for developing high-performing teams and strengthening operational discipline across manufacturing environments. Today, he serves as Plant Manager at Amphenol RF Vietnam, where he continues to lead manufacturing excellence and transformation initiatives. We are pleased to announce Chris Nguyen as a Founding Regional Ambassador of the World Opex Awards. His role will help connect manufacturing leaders, champion excellence, and expand the reach of operational excellence across the region. Welcome, Nguyen Phuoc Hien (Chris Nguyen) Entries open on June 1, 2026, at awards.worldopex.com. Diaa Kassem, Kelly Kujan, David Fernandes, Homero Garza, Rajeev Seth, Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD, Mayukh Ghosh, Eric D Jones, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt, Gourav Dudeja, Artur Ambrozin, Najeh ESSID, Ashish Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.), A.W. Schultz, RAJESH K SHARMA, Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB, Chandan Kumar Dey, Raymond Werner, Yannick STEUNOU, Phani Kumar Puppala, Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar, Makarand Pinjarkar, Yogesh Ranaware, Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo, Vladimir Bosio, Sonia K. S. Kunjan Singh, Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy, Carlos Emidio, Asim Alsarhani, Pradeep Kumar, Bhushan Badgujar PMP®, PRINCE2®, CSSMBB, Sabina Chirita, Mark van Klinkenberg, Girish G. Sadanand Patil, Murat ŞEN, Nital Zaveri #WorldOpexAwards #OperationalExcellence #Lean #WCM #DigitalTransformation #Manufacturing #Leadership #FoundingRegionalAmbassador #OpEx2026

25+ years helping organizations become smarter, more efficient, and transformation-ready across global industries. Operational excellence driven through strategy, quality, and digital innovation. Nital Zaveri is a prominent Quality and Operational Excellence leader recognized for advancing corporate strategy, digital transformation, and business architecture across organizations in the USA, GCC, Africa, and India. As Managing Director of Concept Business Excellence Pvt. Ltd., he has helped more than 1700 organizations and trained over 60,000 professionals globally in Lean Six Sigma, Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, Total Quality Management (TQM), and organizational growth methodologies. An MIT Alumnus and ASQ Top 40 Global Voice of Quality, he is widely respected for combining strategic leadership with practical transformation execution. His contributions to operational excellence and quality leadership have earned him numerous professional recognitions internationally. Through his advisory work, coaching, and transformation leadership, he continues to support organizations in building sustainable, high-performing business systems. We are honored to welcome Nital Zaveri as a Founding Regional Ambassador of the World Opex Awards. His role will help connect leaders, champion excellence, and expand the reach of operational excellence across industries and regions globally. Welcome, Nital Zaveri. Entries open on June 1, 2026, at awards.worldopex.com. Diaa Kassem, Kelly Kujan, David Fernandes, Homero Garza, Rajeev Seth, Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD, Mayukh Ghosh, Eric D Jones, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt, Gourav Dudeja, Artur Ambrozin, Najeh ESSID, Ashish Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.), A.W. Schultz, RAJESH K SHARMA, Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB, Chandan Kumar Dey, Raymond Werner, Yannick STEUNOU, Phani Kumar Puppala, Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar, Makarand Pinjarkar, Yogesh Ranaware, Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo, Vladimir Bosio, Sonia K. S. Kunjan Singh, Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy, Carlos Emidio, Asim Alsarhani, Pradeep Kumar, Bhushan Badgujar PMP®, PRINCE2®, CSSMBB, Sabina Chirita, Mark van Klinkenberg, Girish G. Sadanand Patil, Murat ŞEN #WorldOpexAwards #OperationalExcellence #LeanSixSigma #Industry40 #Quality #BusinessTransformation #SmartManufacturing #FoundingRegionalAmbassador #OpEx2026 

A factory that runs perfectly is invisible. That is exactly the problem. The operation that never makes the news is often the best one in the company. Nothing catches fire. No heroic recovery. No war story for the town hall. Just a line that has not missed a shipment in three years, a defect rate so low people stopped tracking it weekly, a problem solved so completely that everyone forgot it ever existed. And so it goes unrecognized. Because recognition, in most organizations, follows drama. The dramatic turnaround gets celebrated far more loudly than the quiet discipline that meant no turnaround was ever needed. The firefight gets applause. The fire that was prevented does not, because a prevented fire leaves nothing to point at. That prevention can take many forms. Sometimes it is a robust process or a well-designed system. Sometimes it is automation that makes the error impossible. Sometimes it is a team's hard-won judgment. Often, it is all three working together. What they share is this: when they work, they disappear, and the excellence behind them goes unseen. As our Founder, Ashish Gupta, puts it: "The deepest operational excellence is almost always the hardest to see. Done well, excellence removes the very evidence of the problem it solved. That is exactly the work the world has never had a way to recognize." That is the gap the World Opex Awards was built to close, to recognize the durable, not just the dramatic. The quiet, compounding work that never trends, however it is achieved. Entries open 1 June. awards.worldopex.com

Operational excellence. Lean transformation. Industrial engineering expertise driving sustainable performance improvement. Murat ŞEN is an experienced operational excellence leader and industrial engineer recognized for advancing continuous improvement systems, manufacturing transformation, and efficiency-driven business practices across defense and corporate sectors. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with deep expertise in TPS, Lean transformation, Agile methodologies, supply chain optimization, manufacturing systems, and process improvement, he has helped organizations strengthen operational capability and build sustainable performance cultures. Through consulting, training, and technology initiatives at Conatus, he continues to support organizations in implementing practical operational excellence frameworks and modern transformation strategies. His work combines technical depth with organizational capability building, helping teams improve execution, efficiency, and long-term business performance. We are pleased to announce Murat ŞEN as a Founding Jury Panel Member of the World Opex Awards. His perspective will bring Lean expertise, operational insight, and transformation leadership to the evaluation process. Welcome, Murat ŞEN. Entries open on June 1, 2026, at awards.worldopex.com. Diaa Kassem, Iryna Krushevska, Dr. Olivia McDermott, Kelly Kujan, David Fernandes, Homero Garza, Rajeev Seth, Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD, Mayukh Ghosh, Eric D Jones, MBA, Six Sigma Black Belt, Gourav Dudeja, Artur Ambrozin, Najeh ESSID, Ashish Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.), A.W. Schultz, RAJESH K SHARMA, Alessandro Castanhede, MBA, MBB, Chandan Kumar Dey, Raymond Werner, Yannick STEUNOU, Phani Kumar Puppala, Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar, Makarand Pinjarkar, Yogesh Ranaware, Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo, Vladimir Bosio, Sonia K. S. Kunjan Singh, Mohamed Ashraf Ghazy, Carlos Emidio, Asim Alsarhani, Pradeep Kumar, Bhushan Badgujar PMP®, PRINCE2®, CSSMBB, Sabina Chirita, Mark van Klinkenberg, Girish G. Sadanand Patil #WorldOpexAwards #OperationalExcellence #LeanTransformation #TPS #LeanSixSigma #Agile #Manufacturing #FoundingJuryPanel #OpEx2026

A young woman on a factory floor once made Shigeo Shingo change the name of one of the most important ideas in manufacturing. The story says a lot about why his work endured. Shingo had been teaching a mistake-proofing technique he called "baka-yoke", literally "fool-proofing." During one session, a worker began to cry. When he asked why, she said: "Because I am not a fool." He apologized, and on the spot, renamed it "poka-yoke", mistake-proofing. Not fool-proofing. Because the goal was never to insult the person. It was designed so that the mistake could not happen. That instinct, respect for the person doing the work, ran through everything Shingo built. A few facts worth remembering about him: ✅ Born in Saga City, Japan, in 1909. An industrial engineer who would spend roughly 30 years teaching productivity improvement at Toyota. ✅ He developed SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), a method that cut equipment changeover times by an average of around 94 percent, in many cases from over an hour to under ten minutes. It remains one of the quiet engines of flexible, low-waste production to this day. ✅ He formalized poka-yoke and the idea of source inspection, arguing something radical for its time: that zero defects was genuinely achievable, not by inspecting harder, but by designing errors out at the source. ✅ He helped document the Toyota Production System for the world, authoring 17 books. His writing introduced much of the West to Japanese manufacturing thinking for the first time. In 1988, Utah State University established the Shingo Prize in his honor, which remains one of the most respected recognitions for operational excellence. One of his simplest lines stays with anyone who works in this field: "It is only the last turn of a bolt that tightens it. The rest is just movement." So much of operational excellence is exactly that, distinguishing the movement from the turn that actually matters. Shingo spent his life teaching people to see the difference and to respect the people doing the turning. If you have a favorite Shingo idea, story, or lesson that shaped how you work, we would love to read it below. The pioneers built the methods. The World Opex Awards exist to recognize the people carrying that work forward today. Entries open 1 June. awards.worldopex.com

For decades, operational excellence has quietly created billions in value. It has never had a stage of its own. So we built one. The World Opex Awards 2026 is the first global recognition program built by the people who actually do this work, 77+ operational excellence leaders across six continents, spanning Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, digital operations, supply chain, and shared services. Here is what makes it different: We rate, we don't rank. Most awards crown one winner and call everyone else a runner-up. We use absolute tiers: Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Meet the standard, and you earn the tier. Multiple organizations can reach the top because excellence is not a zero-sum game. Every entry is scored on merit across five transparent dimensions, and every entrant receives a detailed scorecard, win or not. Nine categories, open to organizations, SMEs, and individual practitioners, in any industry and any country. Entries open 1 June 2026 | awards.worldopex.com If you have led or witnessed real operational excellence, this was built for you. Swipe through to see how it works, and tell me: in your experience, what is the most overlooked kind of operational excellence, the kind that never gets the recognition it deserves? awards.worldopex.com #OperationalExcellence #Lean #SixSigma #ContinuousImprovement #WorldOpexAwards #WorldOpex Anil Sinha Artur Ambrozin Diaa Kassem Alex Bolinelli Dr. Fabrizio Majorana Iryna Krushevska William Nunes de Aquino Alper Ozel Azman Shah Mohamed Noor Asim Alsarhani Govind Tiwari, PhD, CQP FCQI Dr. Nidhi Gupta (Ph.D.) Dr. Rey Fremista Gourav Dudeja Homero Garza Jitender Punia Makarand Pinjarkar Rafael Celiberto Sabina Chirita Sadanand Patil Selamat W. Hia Alessandro Lasi Chandan Kumar Dey Dave Harry Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo Carlos Emidio Mayukh GhoshNajeh ESSID Noel Torres Nikhil Pal Phani Kumar Puppala Sandeep Kumar Terra Vanzant Stern, PhD Sonia K. Singh, MHA, PCC Sudhir Umeshrao Laturkar Vladimir Bosio Yannick STEUNOU Andrei Bonamigo Jose David Quesada Campos