ST Engineering Annual Report 2020

Environment: Productivity In 2020, the Group achieved realised productivity savings of $23.7m from continuous improvement projects in Singapore. This was in addition to COVID-19 related cost savings including procurement savings. We achieved a value added per employment cost of 1.54 for our global operations. This is an improvement from 1.52 in 2019, in part due to COVID-19-related government support received during the course of the year. We continued to enhance our systems and processes, including the introduction of a budgeting tool to enable seamless collaboration across business functions while improving data accuracy and visibility. Over the last three years, we have also progressively deployed self-service online portals for our employees to request for mid- to back-office support. These service portals are capable of performance measurement and analytics that generate insights on areas for improvement. We continued to embrace continuous improvement tools such as 5S, Kaizen and Root Cause Analysis to improve work processes. Key initiatives introduced in 2020 included additional e-learning modules in the areas of problem-solving tools. These modules were rolled out to all Singapore-based mid-level managers, executives and production employees. Eight teams participated in our annual Team Excellence Convention and they showcased their accomplishments in value creation and productivity enhancements through the creative use of technology, innovation and continuous improvement tools. At ST Engineering, we believe that a highly skilled and engaged workforce is essential for productivity improvement, especially when delivering differentiating solutions to solve real-world problems. Leveraging technology and innovation to continuously improve our processes and promoting skills upgrading are key drivers of the Group's productivity movement. SUSTAINABILITY / ST ENG I NEER I NG 82