Returning to OWP for the 10th time, Jean-Frederic Guinot, CEO of Farinia Group, explains how the yearly learning boost helps keep his firm fit for the future.
The nature of IMD’s OWP, a week-long customizable program that takes place in Lausanne every June and in Singapore every November, is that it is always evolving. This means that repeat participants like Jean-Frederic Guinot – who is back for his tenth edition – are always exposed to the latest management thinking.
“I love to learn, and they say it’s a lifelong learning journey,” says Guinot, who is CEO of Paris-based Farinia Group, an industrial holding company that specializes in forging and machining, developing cast iron counterweights and ballast solutions, and digital transformation. Guinot first came to OWP 15 years ago after he had just founded the company. This year he is attending with 14 of his top engineers from across the different companies. “I don’t bring the same people every year, but we spread the thinking across the group and that helps us to get better. We are profitable, and we operate in the commodities business, which is a tough area. So, I tend to think that the fact we are profitable is thanks to education,” he explains.
Once the week is over, the learning doesn’t stop. Guinot makes sure that the ideas that have been ignited in Lausanne are implemented and ingrained across the business by holding workshops. “We cannot bring everyone to Lausanne, but what we learn we dispatch to others,” he says. Sometimes this involves having follow-up sessions with IMD professors back in the organization.
Top of mind for Guinot this year is artificial intelligence (AI) and how to best harness data and build business cases. Farinia has plans to invest between EUR 300,000-400,000 annually in the technology over the next three years and is using OWP to dive deep into AI and how it works before he sets the direction.
Another area of interest is pricing strategy and how to create more value with customers and communicate and capture this value. “These are the two topics I am trying to push in the group, so it helps to come to OWP to make that happen.”
While Guinot himself is a repeat participant, he enjoys seeing his different team members get energized by the experience. “I am confident that they will help others in the organization catch up on these topics. Over the next five years, our ambition is to become a significant force in smart factory.” This year’s OWP is on the theme of “Mastering future readiness”. Guinot says the sessions and concrete use cases fuel inspiration and motivation for the work ahead. “We are not going to discover everything that we need to do in one week; it’s a long journey.”