Four Principles, the leading Lean Management consultancy and part of Abdul Latif Jameel, Wednesday announced it has partnered with Saudi Customs to improve their operational performance. Four Principles will support Saudi Customs to implement best-in-class initiatives, from setting up an operational excellence department to identifying process improvement opportunities across its core activities. These initiatives are bringing the customer experience to new levels of excellence by applying the lean methodology – delivering best practice techniques to streamline, improve and optimize all aspects of the organization. In line with the ambitious goals of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Customs has initiated a transformation project aiming to support the country in building a prosperous economy through increasing efficiency and effectiveness of its operations in all ports. Supported by the lean experts from Four Principles, Saudi Customs is implementing company-wide initiatives and identifying process improvement opportunities, bringing the customer experience to industry leading standards. Co-founder and managing partner of Four Principles Seif Shieshakly said: "In line with Saudi Vision 2030 plan to transform the country into an international logistical center, Four Principles is proud to be supporting these changes through implementing continuous improvement projects at Saudi Customs in order to improve efficiency towards operational excellence." Ahmed Al-Haqbani, governor of Saudi Customs, said: "The first step for Saudi Customs is to become the best regional customs service, contributing to the Kingdom's vision of becoming a global platform for logistical services and raising economic competitiveness. "By partnering with Four Principles to transform major operational processes, we are confident that we will achieve our Vision for Saudi Customs, starting with the 24-hour customs clearance goal." Al-Haqbani continued: "We have created a unified center for customs operations that receives and treats customs' declarations from all ports in one center. This was the first step in streamlining the operations moving towards simplifying procedures and reducing customs clearance time. The concept was successfully piloted in one port and is expected to be implemented in all ports across Saudi Arabia by mid-2021." The Business & Management Forum has recognized the joint efforts of Four Principles and Saudi Customs teams by awarding the operational excellence department the highest accolade in the category of "Change Leaders Award" for the Governmental sector. Additionally, these joint efforts have enabled Saudi Customs to obtain the ISO-9001 certificate in Riyadh Dry Port in a short period of time. The vision of this new partnership is to continue pursuing this journey in the long term and to achieve the same level of excellence in all Saudi Customs' ports. — SG
