Page 224 - DMGT302_FUNDAMENTALS_OF_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 14: Project Management

Notes

Case Study Every Beginning is Difficult

eginning of 2008, Hui Bing was selected to participate in the first wave of Lean Six
Sigma training and project work. After being nominated she did some readings on
Bthe web to figure out what Lean Six Sigma is about. The result was sobering: Lean
Six Sigma is a tedious, time-consuming exercise that is based on lots of data and has been
applied in preferably manufacturing environments. Equipped with a “can do” mindset,
she attended the training and started working on a project together with her team members
to increase efficiency in the outbound operations.
“Nothing is too small to know, and nothing is too big to attempt. Sometimes we give up at the
exact moment when changes are about to occur for the better. If you know you are doing the right
thing, keep going and you will get the results you are looking for.” Xie Hui Bing, Operations
Manager at Schenker Singapore (Pte) Ltd.
The process became thornier when she tried to involve her warehouse staff in the project
work. On one hand, they were interested in improving their own work environment. On
the other hand however, every warehouse staff were scared of losing their income due to
the project’s benefits in overtime reduction. It took her a lot of courage and leadership
skills to navigate through the early phase of the project work.
Over time, Hui Bing and her team members as well as her warehouse staff got captivated
by a methodology that made sense, even in constantly varying logistics processes.
Understanding the value stream and optimising the flow of the outbound operations –
from receiving the order through picking and packing until ready-to-ship, revealed plenty
of room for improvements. At the end, her team developed more than twenty improvement
ideas of which seven were selected for implementation in phase one, leading to significant
increase in efficiency, i.e. higher throughput in lesser resources.
Her project was successfully completed in 2008 and she was tasked to present it at an
all-staff communication session together with the other pilot Green Belt, Rhoger Tan,
Operations Manager at Schenker Singapore. Since then, Hui Bing has been mentoring
another Green Belt on his project to successful completion.
In January 2009, Katherine and Serene were listening to Hui Bing’s and Rhoger’s
presentations. The first impression was very encouraging; both pilot teams were able to
pull it off, i.e. on top of their daily workload, they learnt and applied some powerful new
tools to their respective work processes, developed solutions and delivered remarkable
results in processes and cost savings.
Not much later, the two together with a group of other Green Belts were commissioned to
take on a Lean Six Sigma project for their respective operations. Whilst both were still
under the very positive impression of the pilot runs, Katherine had only one fear:
“I cannot do it because I don’t know how to deliver savings in my process!” Serene had
another concern: “I do not like statistics. I will not be able to use these tools!”

Master Black Belt, KH Tan, Lean Six Sigma Specialist at Schenker Singapore, responsible
for Lean Six Sigma deployment could calm them down. He assured all second wave Green
Belt candidates that the focus of Lean Six Sigma is not all about statistics. It is much more
about analysing and improving business processes, with some proven tools to deliver
results for businesses, stakeholders and customers. Whilst statistics can be helpful, it does
not mean that Lean Six Sigma Green Belts become statisticians. Often enough, one of a
Contd...

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