Investing in people and their knowledge is the best investment-R. Ramachandran, Director (Refineries) BPCL

Mumbai: With the objective of developing knowledge base of the employees in different areas of Refining, thereby making them multiskilled, BPCL organised for the first time an innovative, inhouse “ REFINERY SYMPOSIUM FORUM” for its employees on 16^thMay 2020.Domain experts from Process Plants , Finance, HR, R&D, Supply Chain Optimisation, Process Technology, Digitisation and other areas were identified through a selection process and they were provided with access to various journals and magazines and other research materials to develop presentation material for the participants.

The SYPOSIUM FORUM was organised on the Microsoft team VC platform where around 500 employees and staff participated. The employees included those working from homes and also those working in office and plant areas. In his key note address Mr. R. Ramachandran, Director (Refineries) – whose brain child was to organise such a symposium – said “ The life of an organisation depends not only on its performance but also on how knowledge and experience is passed from the senior experts to everyone down the line” . He went on to say “Investing in people and their knowledge is the best investment and it assures that the baton of the organisation gets passed on to the right hands, i.e., the future generations”. Before ending his address he remarked “The core of petroleum engineering has not changed and what has been said and done in the past is relevant today and what is being said and done today is relevant in future and to the future generations”.There were seventeen areas that were identified in the entire Refinery value chain and domain expert groups were formed from the employees with relevant experience and technical knowledge. Each domain expert group consisted of 5-8 members and they presented a synopsis to the participants of their domain area which showcased the recent trends, process and optimal utilisation of resources to achieve outcome and goals in the respective areas, identify implementable ideas which can directly be implemented or can be used as a derivation for enhancing the performance of the refinery and value of the organisation as a whole.The group of experts will then were open to questions on their domain of expertise and involved in an interactive session, answering the questions of the participants.

This symposium was similar to way in which various symposiums are organised wherein varied subject matter experts from different parts of the world come together to answer various questions. They are renowned experts in their field of study recognised throughout the industry. In this case, domain experts are identified from our pool of employees. The symposium was modelled on the world renowned conferences where the subjects are well researched, ideas exchanged and action item for individual business units identified.After the symposium, in this case, the domain experts were judged by the participants on the basis of the following parameters: Synopsis, number of implementable ideas given, level of satisfaction of the audience in answering their questions and domain knowledge. One of the participants said after the symposium “We really got enriched and it was a new and enthralling experience and I would now endeavour to be a domain expert in my own area”. Another participant complimented the organising team in leveraging technology to promote the culture of learning and disseminating knowledge. A young enthusiastic participant complimented Director(R) “ In these turbulent times it is reassurance and direction that people seek from their leaders and you have done that by addressing your team members. This event will lessen their anxiety and divert their energies to learning and positivity”.