Akzonobel

​You might say Lee Yen Khiew runs a tight ship! She manages our Regional Solutions Lab for Marine, Protective & Yacht Coatings in South Asia. Her team provides around-the-clock support for the business.South Asia is a complex region across India, South East Asia and Australasia consisting of 14 countries and seven sites manufacturing marine, protective and yacht products.That's why Lee Yen says excellent communication and cross-team alignment are essential. "We work around the clock to provide technical support and resolve issues quickly. Basically, there are two levels of communication: one within research and development (R&D) teams in the region, followed by alignment across the functions prior to external communication with customers. A cross-team agreement is essential to get everyone on the same page and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. By practicing effective communication, my team has been successfully resolving technical issues in the region, both internally and externally.""My team needs to communicate with many functions from commercial, marketing, manufacturing, production, quality control, technical service, procurement and sourcing for technical support – and we do this across five time zones!"New experiences"I feel very proud to be a member of the AkzoNobel family," says Lee Yen. "My story started in May of 2000 when I joined the company as a laboratory technician in a Quality Control laboratory for Marine, Protective and Yacht Coatings in Singapore." "Three years later, I was promoted to Chemist and transferred to the R&D laboratory, where I was given an opportunity to further my studies in Belgium for a year. I was the very first employee at that time to be given such a sponsorship to pursue studies abroad. I'm very grateful that I was able to complete my Master's degree in Material Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven."In 2019, Lee Yen took up a two-month assignment in China. It was part of a program that opens up opportunities for career development in the R&D community. "This was a great learning experience and fantastic opportunity to work with the R&D team in North Asia to broaden my knowledge and skills," says Lee Yen. "I kept a record of many of my sweet memories in a journal during the assignment. One of these was creating a mini-dictionary of technical terms in Mandarin. It was certainly a challenge to keep up with a Primary 6 language level education – but thankfully I had lots of support from my Mandarin teachers and colleagues in China."Leadership role modelsLee Yen recalls hearing one of AkzoNobel's senior leaders saying: "We win together, not as individuals. Together we're stronger, together we're unstoppable." It's an inspiring message that still helps her boost morale and team spirit.Her own team has vision statement that helps keep them focused: Unconventional solutions to create a brighter tomorrow for South Asia with excellent teamwork and positive thinking. Created four years ago, it's standing the test of time! "As leaders, we need to be role models, be consistent and deliver a clear message to our teams," Lee Yen says. "It's up to us to harness the strength, talent and commitment of all employees and make sure they know how vital their contributions are."The original article was published here.

​Meet Jinjuta Boonchot, a Production Supervisor at our site in Chonburi, Thailand. She’s successfully transitioned into a leadership role after participating in the first wave of our Graduate Engineer Trainee program. Persistence pays off“As an exchange student in Wisconsin, I joined an ice hockey team,” says Jinjuta. “With zero experience, I fell so many times that I lost count of my bruises. But I felt the more I tried, the better I could do it. So I kept going to the rink, kept on practicing. When I fell down, I got right back up. By the end of the season, I was playing in games as a forward. And we actually won!”The same resilience Jinjuta showed on the ice is helping her develop her career at AkzoNobel.Preparing for a leadership positionJinjuta first joined AkzoNobel in January 2019 as part of the first wave of the Graduate Engineer Trainee program. The program prepares high potential candidates for leadership roles. It combines on-the-job training, assignments, projects and classroom training. Senior leaders are also on hand to provide mentoring and coaching throughout their projects.“As Graduate Engineer Trainees, we all get different assigned projects to work on and rotate every six months,” she says. “After completing the challenging, but also very fun, 18-month program, I’ve now transitioned into a leadership role as Production Supervisor. I was part of the transfer of water-based production to the Chonburi site as a team leader, which was a great learning experience for me as a person.“If you had told me two years ago when I started as a fresh graduate, that I would be leading a team of 20 people, I would have laughed. But AkzoNobel has shown me that to be bold and make a change, it’s all about believing in possibilities,” says Jinjuta.Many opportunities for growth and developmentThe Graduate Engineer Trainee program is just one way we develop talent at AkzoNobel and strengthen our position as an employer of choice. Because we believe our people are our greatest asset and that we can only reach our ambitions as a company if we all grow and develop together, it’s very important to us to support our people in their journey to reach their full potential.As part of an initiative we call “Growing with AkzoNobel”, we run a number of other exciting talent and development programs, including:Leaders have created a supportive environmentJinjuta has found the intercultural aspect of working for a multinational is a big advantage: “It’s exciting to think about where this ride with AkzoNobel will take me, what I can become and how far I can go.”“I’m lucky to have great mentors and leaders here,” says Jinjuta. “They’ve given me support and the confidence to ‘go for it’ and try. Working on project improvements, it’s all about doing things differently from current practice. Sometimes we don’t get the results we’re hoping for, but we still learn and grow. Then we try again until we can deliver.”The original article was published here.

​The future of aviation in Southeast Asia took a welcome step forward recently with an event organized to celebrate Girls in Aviation Day 2021 in Singapore.Part of a wider initiative devised by Women in Aviation International (WAI) and with the purpose of introducing girls to a future in the industry, the day included various activities to enable young ladies aged between 10 and 17 to interact with the world of aviation in ways that were accessible, educational and fun.Hosted by the local Chapter Women in Aviation International (WAI SG) in Singapore, that meant looking at all aspects of aviation through a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lens. This included activities that explored such diverse subjects as meteorology and navigation, as well as the excitement of a flight simulator. Madam Poh Li San, Vice President of the Changi Airport Group and a Member of the Singapore Parliament, delivered the opening address for the event.Jemma Lampkin, Sales Director for AkzoNobel’s Aerospace Coatings business in APAC, and a keen supporter of the initiative, even set an aviation-themed crossword puzzle for the girls to solve, drawing on her own aviation expertise and inspiration from her father’s experience as an established crossword setter for the international press.Jemma is a passionate believer in creating more opportunities through diversity and inclusion and the event happily coincided with the launch of the Singapore chapter for AkzoNobel's Women Inspired Network (WIN) program: “Encouraging girls and young women to pursue their aviation dreams is very important for us as a business and for the future of our industry,” she says.“We want to inspire local girls to see the exciting careers available to them as engineers, astronauts, aircraft maintenance technicians, pilots, dispatchers, air traffic controllers, and dozens of other jobs within the aviation community.“By being one of the sponsors for Girls in Aviation Day and playing an active part in its organization, we’ve been able to introduce those girls to role models and help educate and inform them in a fun and supportive atmosphere.”WAI's Singapore chapter was started earlier in 2021 and is the first in Southeast Asia. Its mission is to build on the values of diversity and inclusiveness by encouraging more women to create an impact in the industry, benefitting the Singapore aviation and aerospace industry ecosystem.Marie-Louise Philippe, President of WAI SG adds: “We were excited to see the girls explore aviation in a fun way and if this event sparks their interest in aviation then this would be a wonderful outcome."The original article was published here.