If you are using KDE4 (which I guess you are) then here’s how to go about it:
- First make sure that widgets are unlocked (right click on desktop and select unlock widgets)
- Open the KDE4 menu and navigate to the application of your choice
- Right click on the application icon and select ‘Add to Panel’, and then you will see that the corresponding icon has appeared in the panel.
- To move the icon in the panel right click on it and select ‘Start move of Icon’, and move it to the desired location.
There is also a quick-launcher community plasmoid which you can get from the opensuse repositories but it may not be completely bug-free. Hope that helps.