PMI – Xiaoyu Wang – 2020
Goals
PMI is a leader in responsible production and social responsibility. To better environmental performance, since last year, it has launched a factory sustainability system collaborating with partner suppliers. Therefore, PMI enlisted Xiaoyu Wang to identify opportunities to improve the data collection process and the data quality from this system, as well as making it more user-friendly.
Solutions
Xiaoyu solved the problem through a continuous improvement process:
- Find out deficiency of the system itself: After reviewing the collected data from supplier factories, reviewing regulations and laws in China, and referring CSR disclosure information from large companies, Xiaoyu identified drawbacks in the system design and provided new algorism of data collection.
- Identify the key barriers for factory staff to submit high quality data: Xiaoyu visited 2 factories and interviewed staff from other 12 factories to learn more about the processes that is related to the sustainability performance indexes. He analyzed those factors through several perspectives such as personnel, equipment, management, and then identified the key factors that prohibited factory staff from submitting more accurate data.
- Train staff in factories and improve the communication about the system. Xiaoyu communicated with factory staff closely this summer and established a tighter connection with them on the system design. He collected timely feedback from the factories and coordinated with design programmers to incorporate the feedback into the new system. He also provided detailed and informative training to the factory staff this summer.
Impact
His suggestions make PMI’s factory sustainability system more logic and flexible, and clearer for PMI’s supplier factories in CAP (China, Asia and Pacific) to use. And his training enabled factory staff to use the system and increased their capacity in environmental performance management. His effort to the system paves the foundation for the new initiatives of PMI’s sustainability effort in the future.
