Changing the mindset of Malaysian companies

In July 2009, the Multimedia Development Corporation or MDeC, embarked on a challenge of hosting a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Programme for 12 MSC Malaysia companies at the MSC Malaysia headquarters in Cyberjaya. This initiative was a part of its Capability Programme Development (CPD) geared towards helping ICT organizations develop best practices and achieve professional certifications.

What started out as a mini “pilot” project aimed towards enabling C-Level managers to select suitable projects for Lean Six Sigma execution in their own organization attracted twelve MSC status companies that grabbed the opportunity to be part of the programme. The three-month programme, sponsored by MDeC and delivered by Lean Six Sigma practitioners from LSS Academy and Lean Applied included an executive workshop, a Green Belt Training and several project coaching clinics.

Encik Ahmad Syahrir, Manager of the Capability Development Department at MDeC said that the CDP Six Sigma Programme was spearheaded in 2007 with a matching grant of 50% of the cost or RM 100,000 (whichever is the lower) to help jumpstart the Lean Six Sigma project. Despite these perks, there were no takers from local Malaysian companies. Encik Syahrir explained that this was largely due to two reasons. First, there were no Lean Six Sigma success stories in Malaysia. All the success stories came from Multi-National Corporations and foreign companies. Secondly, local Malaysian companies would rather choose known quality improvement initiatives like ISO that come with the certification, which their customers expect. Lean Six Sigma is non-certified and what you get at the end is not a paper chase but a profit gain. In short, companies found it difficult to change from the ISO safe zone.

Instead of throwing the towel and giving up on Lean Six Sigma, MDeC decided to introduce a new approach targeting specifically ICT organizations. This “pilot” approach was started to overcome the hurdles and challenges that Malaysian companies face. Instead of getting companies to buy into the programme, MDeC decided to run a training programme for C-level managers from ICT organizations to become Lean Six Sigma Project Champions. This way, Malaysian success stories can be created, so others can take the lead.

However, Syahrir adds that 80% of the participants in this programme are from MNCs, which means the problem of reaching local Malaysian small and medium sized companies still persists. Awareness is not an issue, as MDeC has been striving since 2007 to get close to 2,500 companies in the MSC Malaysia community interested. So what exactly will it take to nudge these companies? First, the proof is in the pudding, i.e. lowering cost and increasing profits. Also, there is a need to engage companies that have not reached a ‘maturity’ level. Most local companies are start-ups with small numbers that cannot afford a Lean Six Sigma programme.

One of the trainers, Dr. A. Aruleswaran of LSS Academy says part of getting people interested is to let local Malaysian trainers talk about Lean Six Sigma. Dr. Arul says, MDeC’s programme in itself an innovative concept helps to bring Lean Six Sigma to the local organization’s doorstep. Dr. Arul, author of Changing with Lean Six Sigma explains that local companies will benefit immensely from Lean Six Sigma and that the twelve companies that took this opportunity are indeed taking a step in the right direction. But the crucial question remain: how does one change a companies approach? Dr. Arul points out that the first initiative needs to come from leaders of the organizations.

He also pointed out that practitioners used various examples in the training session to illustrate how Lean Six Sigma can work. He asserted that Lean Six Sigma is all about effective problem solving by seeing problems are “opportunities”.

Practitioner En. Sharil Goh Fadhil of Lean Applied used various examples in his training session to illustrate how Lean Six Sigma can work. He asserted that Lean Six Sigma is all about effective problem-solving by seeing problems are “opportunities”. The training consisted of a team exercise to learn key concepts like Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Voice of the Business (VOB), and a simulation of an IT organization serving two customers, that ran into many problems.

CC Tham, an LSS trainer described the training as being a true learning experience with hands-on simulations that mimic a transactional business process that is typical in any organization. The role playing techniques he says were highly interactive, dynamic in nature and never failed to capture participant attention. Tham, whose role in the programme included co-developing suitable Lean Six Sigma modules for IT based industries and to coach managers to successfully run a fully-fledged Lean Six Sigma project was also instrumental in working with MDeC’s CPD Programme Senior Executive in developing a training plan.

Tham said he did not expect the project leaders to be “seasoned” drivers of the project as he says almost fifty percent of them will initially find it difficult to adapt to a Lean Six Sigma problem solving approach due to time constraints, pressure from sponsors and use of wrong tools. The change to a Lean Six Sigma approach, he said, works faster and better if there is a coach right from the start of the project, which indeed was the highlight of this programme.

Ms. Sangeetha, a participant of the programme, who is an ITSM division manager from Emerio which is a Singapore based IT company, says that her company is familiar with Lean Six Sigma through their customers, an IT conglomerate. She found the sessions interesting and would definitely introduce it to two key teammates at her company.

The success of the programme was evident in October 2009, when 21 participants from these 12 companies graduated with Green Belts at the MDeC Achievement Award Ceremony.

One of the participants, Ms. Ong Sze Peng from ACS, who is in charge of the daily running of a global BPO operation in Malaysia found the practical learning experience to be very helpful in “actualizing” the Lean Six Sigma concept and tools. She found the trainers to be fantastic and the one to one coaching sessions to be most helpful. She would like to learn more on Lean Six Sigma especially in its application to the marketing department. Ong who is also one of the highest scorers in the examination found certain tools like the DMAIC, fishbone diagram, brain writing, pareto and control charts to be useful in the daily running of her operations.  She says, Lean Six Sigma is definitely a good approach that will help corporations to reexamine and change many aspects of operations.

Encik Ainol Akbar, General Manager of Fuziq Software Sdn. Bhd. runs an IT company that specializes in banking products, where requirements are very stringent. He says that projects and processes are part and parcel of developing new products and Lean Six Sigma offers a comprehensive toolset and methodology that puts processes in place. His goal is to achieve on time delivery within cost in a structured manner. He would definitely recommend the programme to others and says that when he started many people told him that Lean Six Sigma is only for manufacturing. Akbar confidently states, “This is not true. It is applicable everywhere.”

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Thaatch Kananatu is the Editor of VoiceNet magazine. The Star of the Issue is a tribute to individuals and organizations in the business community who have overcome obstacles and triumphed beyond boundaries.  If you would like to share your experience write to the editor at editor@voicenet.asia or tkananatu@lss-academy.com.