The July edition of the Operational Excellence (OPEX) Reference Group Meet Up brought together transformation and process improvement professionals from across industries for a powerful session on “Maturity First, Excellence Follows: Rethinking Your OPEX Roadmap.”
The virtual session featured Eimantas Sinkevicius, Head of Operational Excellence at Yara Europe, who drew on more than 15 years of transformation experience to explore the critical role of organisational maturity in determining the success or failure of OpEx initiatives.
Eimantas shared a dynamic framework that maps an organisation’s lifecycle—from early-stage chaos to operational prime and eventual decline—and revealed how aligning the right operational excellence tools to the right maturity stage is key to unlocking sustainable value.
Using real-world insights from Yara’s European Shared Services Centre transformation, Eimantas explained why even the most well-designed improvement programs can fail when introduced too early—or too late—and how understanding an organisation’s maturity stage can help leaders make smarter, better-timed decisions.
Key Discussion Highlights
- Understanding the organisational lifecycle: from startup to bureaucracy
- Why maturity—not methodology—is often the missing link in transformation success
- Selecting the right OPEX tools (e.g. Kaizen, BPF, competency models) based on maturity stage
- How aging organisations can be revitalised through gap-driven strategy
- The two key maturity indicators: decision-making speed and implementation agility
- Lessons from Yara: when process documentation fails—and when it finally works
The interactive session concluded with a high-engagement Q&A exploring strategy deployment tools, idea management systems, public sector challenges, and how OPEX can help rejuvenate aging institutions and prevent decline.
Upcoming Meetup
The OPEX EU/UK Chapter will hold its next meetup on 27th August, featuring Iris Velikonja, Senior Director of Global Operational Excellence at CBRE, on the topic: “Bridging the Gap Between Process Thinking and Execution with GenAI .”
About the Operational Excellence Reference Group
Powered by PRIME BPM, the OPEX Reference Group is a cross-industry community that connects transformation professionals to collaborate, share insights, and accelerate operational success. Designed for professionals involved in process improvement, digital transformation, system implementation, compliance, risk management, and continuous improvement, the group offers a platform to stay ahead of trends, gain practical knowledge, and engage with industry leaders through exclusive meetups and sessions.