May Sheng
Assistant General Manager, Hitachi Asia Ltd.
Industrial Components & Equipment Division (ICE)
When speaking with my management team, I often refer to myself as a “General Management Manager” because my scope of work is so broad. I lead the operations and logistics team, support sales administration, manage the warehouse and inventory, and help maintain our office facilities. My team (10 people) and I constantly look for ways to improve our operations—such as through cost savings solutions and collaboration with the sales team on inventory management and reduction of sales backlog.
I'm grateful that in my 32 years at Hitachi, I have had many opportunities to learn and explore. Some of the tasks have been challenging yet rewarding. My passion at work keeps driving me with positive energy, though the 32 years of the journey have not always been smooth sailing.
Becoming more sustainable and digital is essential to Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems and our local operations. My team and I are working with the IT team to find more digital solutions that could streamline layers of manual work processes and reduce paperwork. This will help to eliminate redundancies and increase productivity and efficiency. Employees could spend more time on valuable tasks. Staff could have better time management and work-life balance to improve their well-being to generate an energetic work environment.
Additionally, we are looking to create more sustainable operations. We recently changed the lights in our warehouse to LED, and next, we'll do it for the office. We also want to add recycling bins to the office to sort trash. Also, I'm looking into ways to encourage our staff to reduce the use of one-time plastic through things like recyclable lunch boxes for takeout food.
In the next 10 years, I plan for more streamlined processes and continue bonding with the team/colleagues for a good working relationship and connectivity.
Right now, we have a lot of redundant processes. By listening to staff, we should look into their relevant points to explore solutions/alternatives, leading to a more engaged and inspired team.
Additionally, since COVID-19, maintaining connectivity between the team has been more difficult. Effective communication is important for staff engagement to understand the company's direction so we can collectively achieve our goals. I try to keep my team focused on our goals by inspiring them to imagine this is their own business, and having the mindset of being the “owner” of the company means being proactive on job commitments and driving through challenges to achieve our goals and mission.
* As of July 2023
