Malakoff Corporation Berhad (“Malakoff”) held the graduation ceremony for the first batch of its Lean Six Sigma (“LSS”) Green Belt graduates on 3 April 2018 at Malakoff Academy of Excellence. The graduation ceremony, held in conjunction with Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Management Division (“CASM”) Open Day, recognised 23 Green Belters who have successfully completed their training in 2017.

Lean Six Sigma or LSS is a powerful process improvement methodology that combines the tools of two quality management concepts, namely “Lean” and “Six Sigma”.

Chief Executive of Malakoff, YBhg Dato’ Ahmad Fuaad Kenali congratulated the graduates on their achievements. He added that “through the implementation of LSS, a company would be able to recognise key areas of improvement and then reduce the variations in those areas to improve quality and speed.”

The Malakoff Lean Six Sigma was launched on 25 May 2017 with the view to achieve continuous operational improvements and cost reduction. It was envisioned that with LSS, waste will be removed from business processes and at the same time solve problems caused by a process, subsequently creating savings for the Company.

From 2017 to 2019, Malakoff aims to train 468 of its staff in various belt categories. This year, it is expected that Malakoff will produce 60 Yellow Belts, 90 Green Belts and 15 Black Belts. By 2019, it is expected that a total of 270 Yellow Belts, 153 Green Belts, 25 Black Belts and 10 Master Black Belts will be certified.

At present, Malakoff has 25 concurrent Black Belt and Green Belt projects that are in various stages of development. These projects, if implemented properly, will yield varying cost savings for the company over a long period of time.

Dato’ Fuaad reminded the graduates that “LSS is not an additional burden from your current work load, but is a short-term sacrifice that will unlock benefits to the company over the long term. The full benefits of Lean Six Sigma will only be realised when applied correctly at both strategic and operational levels. Whilst the application at the operational level results in cost reduction, the application at the strategic level results in wider benefits for the organisation.”

At the end of the graduation ceremony, Dato’ Fuaad and members of the Management Committee visited the booths by various sections under CASM, namely Corporate Affairs & Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Business Process Improvement, and Group Health, Security, Safety & Environment, and external exhibitors such as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Cert Academy and the Road Safety Department (JKJR).