At the second of the three meetings scheduled by Tecpetrol for this year, the area's internal leaders met with representatives from the value chain in the San Jorge Gulf region.

Each phase of the ProPymes' cycle is a new chapter in the story of Tecpetrol's commitment to its value chain. Last year, it unfolded through a virtual global meeting, and this year, as we head into the post-pandemic era, the launches were organized by region at the company's three operating headquarters. The first meeting took place a month ago at the Neuquen corporate building, the second event was held in Comodoro Rivadavia, and in September it's Salta's turn.
"This is an opportunity to meet with suppliers, to find out what people achieved over the last period and plan together the actions that will be taken in the upcoming round," explained Luis Lanziani, to Tecpetrol Hoy. As the Senior Manager of Supplier Development, Lanziani participated in the event which was organized in a hotel in downtown Comodoro Rivadavia, attended by some 50 executives including suppliers, Tecpetrol's main internal department leaders at the operation, and special guests.

Fernando Estrada, Senior Director of Procurement, opened the event with a heartfelt welcome to the value chain involved in the development of the basin, where 28 of the 211 small and medium-sized companies participating in the Program are based. He talked about the path of evolution taken in recent years and reinforced the Program's objectives before presenting the results and key areas to be developed over the next cycle.

28 of the 211 companies in Tecpetrol value chain are based in the San Jorge Gulf basin.

Horace Pizarro, Vice President of Argentina Conventional & Non Operated, was joined by Ande Haile Selassie, Gulf the Division Director of the San Jorge Gulf, as they wound up the meeting with a discussion on the basin's current output figures and plans for the medium term.

Developed by the Techint Group as an initiative to improve the quality of its value chain, ProPymes is today celebrating twenty years of uninterrupted history, with the unmatched enthusiasm and verve it had at the start, a program in constant evolution as it stays abreast of trends and opportunities. "For Tecpetrol, the last two years have been a period of expansion, and we envisage a trend towards consolidation for the coming cycle, boosting the program's objectives: to improve company competitiveness, drive productive investment, promote export capacity and enable import substitution," explained Lanziani as he talked about the pillars of ProPymes.

The future in five key areas

"This program has an extremely technical aspect, and the areas we're presenting are common to all our launches as they're about the development of a work culture focused on safety and quality, efficiency, and the professionalization of its resources," stressed Lanziani. This also involves digital transformation, diversity and inclusion as key issues.

Program topics for the 22/23 period

● Field implementation of processes and controls (Health, Safety and Environment)
● Traceability and maintenance of equipment and tools (Quality)
● Task and resource planning (Productivity / Efficiency)
● Staff competencies (Professionalization)
● Diversity and inclusion

One of the program's strengths is its training courses. In the last period (21/22) 316 people received special training, averaging 32 hours of course time each (a total of 10,250 hours delivered). For the 22/23 period, the idea is to deploy an elearning portal for suppliers and start measuring compliance in order to apply a scoring system for access to special training.

Some 50 people attended the second launch eventof the 22/23 cycle of the Tecpetrol's ProPymes Program.

Among those invited to the event were participants from the Project Consulting Program. These companies are driving the supplier management system, presented as a continuous flow. "We detect companies that need to grow in terms of management capacity and operations control so that they can integrate their work with the company and we can accompany them on their growth path," explained Lanziani.

Consultancy numbers are also promising: during the last period, 2,986 expert consulting hours were delivered to 60 companies to enable 1,069 defined tasks to be executed. Now, the expectation is for 3,500 hours to be delivered in the next period. Another key objective for 22/23 is to incorporate specific technical consultancy services to tackle particular issues such as safety, digital transformation and production, and draw up a way of scoring companies for their compliance with the work plan, aimed at consolidating their commitment to quality.

The main message that still resonates with all participants is that "beyond any operational plan, Tecpetrol's goal is to achieve safe operations, narrowing the gap between the instance of planning operational controls and their implementation in the field," in Lanziani's words