WISU-KARRIERE

WISU 8-9/07
981
hey say, Home is where the
heart is. Having been away
from my hometown in Malaysia sin-
ce seventeen, I have learnt that this
is true. Upon receiving the ASEAN
scholarship, I set forth to do my A-
levels (Abitur) and then, chemical
engineering degree in Singapore.
Upon graduation, I joined my intern-
ship company as a quality assuran-
ce engineer. Supplying to the semi-
conductor and automotive industry,
we practised Kaizen and Six Sigma
in our everyday activity. Following
that, my horizon extended to mana-
ging a corporate-wide technology
transfer project that took me to our
mother facility in Japan. I later took
pride in developing new internatio-
nal suppliers to match our high qua-
lity standards.
Work was encompassing and de-
manding. It was a logical conse-
quence to expand the team. In my
final year with the company, I recrui-
ted and trained a team which wor-
ked under me to further our goals.
After ensuring a smooth handover, I
was ready to continue my career to-
wards business strategy. My jour-
ney took me to Germany Hano-
ver, to be precise. I pursued my
MBA under scholarship at GISMA
Business School, coupled with a
semester at Krannert (Purdue), USA.
Working, living and learning in an in-
tensive fulltime program with my 60
classmates hailing from more than
20 different countries, I was even
more convinced that I would thrive
in an international environment.
My graduation year of 2004 was not
the most lucrative year to look for a
job in Germany. However, Lady
Luck was on my side. At a recruit-
ment fair in Mannheim, I had my first
encounter with BSH (Bosch und Sie-
mens Hausgerte). Two months la-
ter, I interviewed for the Internatio-
nal Management Trainee Program
and started with BSH in August. I
was assigned to the technical pro-
gram and started with the corporate
quality division in the Munich head-
quarters.
Most of the trainees were fresh gra-
duates except for a handful of us
with experience and/or higher de-
grees including two with PhD. Al-
though at first glance, this was a
step backwards for me, it was an in-
vestment what better way to learn
the ropes of a German corporation?
The 15-month program comprised a
condensed exposure to the corpo-
rate headquarters and product divi-
sions. It promised a good overview
of how the business works via 2-3-
month assignments including a stint
outside of Germany. Additionally,
there were workshops from profes-
sional trainers as well as meet-the-
management close-up sessions.
To be frank, my time as a trainee
was not always a bed of roses.
Speaking hardly any German, I di-
ved into two weeks of intensive lan-
guage course. A fortnight later, I had
to make a video-taped presentation
in a language that I had spoken for
only one month! Fortunately, with
some diligent practice at home, I
pulled it through. The courses in
crisis management and role-playing
were more daunting for us foreig-
ners, but we put up a good fight
with whatever smattering of German
that we could muster up!
In terms of content, my first assign-
ment with the corporate quality
division was not extremely challen-
ging as it was comfortable waters,
similar to my early past professional
work experience. I was to assist in
developing a more efficient corpora-
te quality audit system in time for the
upcoming certification audit by TV.
On the other hand, I greatly appre-
ciated working with the auditors
from the five BSH product divisions.
Our difficult, sometimes even com-
bative discussions helped me to un-
derstand and experience first-hand
the strain that sometimes exists be-
tween the headquarters and the
operative organizational layers. The
headquarters sit at the cockpit and
needs a management tool to over-
see the many arms of the corporati-
on in order to find gaps and synergy
for a sustainable corporate strategy
while the factories have to ensure
daily operational effectiveness and
efficiency. In the end, we came up
with a tool to map our processes
and automate reporting in a feasible
operational system.
All the same, I still yearned to learn
more about the household appli-
ance industry from the business si-
de and to contribute more than sim-
ply from the back office of a trainee.
My program coordinator (a true
gem!) gave me this chance! There
was a project manager position
open in the cooling division of BSH
(PK). I packed my bags and moved
to Schwabenland, totally in disre-
gard of the changes from the lively
city of Munich to the quiet home-
town of the beloved Steiff Teddy
Bear, Giengen an der Brenz. My as-
signment was to develop the part re-
lease process and roll it out to all PK
factories worldwide.
In this project, I enjoyed sparring
with my very knowledgeable super-
Die Nachfrage nach White Goods, wie Haushaltsgerte auch genannt werden, steigt weltweit. BSH Bosch
und Siemens Hausgerte ist heute bereits mit 70 Gesellschaften in 43 Lndern rund um den Globus vertreten.
Tan E-Lin, die aus Malaysia stammt, ihr Ingenieurstudium in Singapur absolvierte und an der GISMA Business
School in Hannover ihren MBA machte, durchlief das Management-Trainee-Programm des Unternehmens.
BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerte
In Chasing a Dream,
Begin With the End in Mind
T
Tan E-Lin: Malaysia,
Singapore, USA, Germany
WISU-KARRIERE
WISU 8-9/07
982
visor who taught me much while
respecting my inputs and ideas. As
such, I could work very indepen-
dently. Between project meetings in
Denglisch/Hochdeutsch/Schw-
bisch, I was in the laboratory where
tests were conducted and skimming
through engineering drawings.
s the project manager, I had to
sell our concept to our PK ma-
nagement to win management at-
tention for a successful roll-out in
the factories. I was told that I had
twenty minutes in the monthly PK-
management meeting. I knew that
this would not be easy. In most com-
panies, continuous improvement or
process optimization projects such
as this one usually take a second
seat to major product projects or
more critical, burning customer/
quality issues. In addition, my pre-
sentation was to be the last agenda
point in a long list of an entire day of
management topics.
Yet, I had nothing to lose. I was con-
fident that what we had developed
was good and feasible. My sincere
answers to some skeptical questi-
ons prompted interested attention
amongst the factory managers and
department heads, and then, their
support. The deal was made each
factory manager would name two
team members and my next step
was to organize the kick-off work-
shop with my international team.
All this while, time was ticking in the
Management Trainee Program that I
was still in. In this program, there
was no guarantee in getting a per-
manent position with BSH. I, as all
the other trainees, had to look for
and apply for a position just like any
other external BSH-wannabe or an
internal candidate.
Within the part release project, I was
working with the PK development
and quality heads. I was offered a
permanent position in the develop-
ment department, facilitating teams
for FMEA and similar improvement
projects. I was not exactly jumping
for joy at the thought of continuing
where I had left off in Singapore du-
ring my early professional career.
There was little fit with my profile,
experience and interest. I duly sche-
duled for a session with the deve-
lopment department head in which
we discussed how we could find a
better solution for PK and me. He
promised to come back to me on
another proposal.
In the meantime, I spent time fine-
tuning the part-release concept with
my extended international team. I
have always thrived working with a
multicultural environment and en-
joyed this immensely. As in most
lean organizations, my team mem-
bers were loaded with their normal
tasks in addition to working in this
project. As a result, I was the project
manager-cum-secretary. As I am
somewhat of a perfectionist, I had
spent the night before the kick-off
event printing materials for the parti-
cipants so that the next day, I could
hand out professional materials to
them. This helped them to convince
and train their colleagues when they
went back to their factories. Inci-
dentally, I had also personally orga-
nized our team dinner. I took pains
and pride in doing this and, well, it
paid off in every single way.
The kick-off event was a tremen-
dous success. Why? Because the
team members who were also initi-
ally skeptical about such a project
(which has been tried and failed in
the past, etc.) left the two-day
workshop convinced that this was
OUR project and that WE could
make it successful this time! I was
on a high and, no, I had no alcohol at
the dinner party!
At the end of the kick-off event, the
development head mentioned that I
had a ten-minute appointment with
the PK division CEO. I was thrilled to
have this opportunity.
It was a very straightforward discus-
sion. He had my resume but was
more interested to know what my
career goals and interests were than
in discussing my past. After appro-
ximately fifteen minutes, he said, I
have the right job for you! Lo and
behold, I would be joining the same
management team that I was pre-
senting my project to just two
months before. I would be managing
my own team in product line ma-
nagement.
As I had always believed in seeing
through what I started, I continued in
the project roll-out and conducted
trainings in the factories. This took
me to Turkey, China and Spain. As
the new position was demanding
more of my attention, my boss, the
division CEO, wanted me to com-
plete the handover and focus on my
new job. I dutifully did that and mo-
ved on. The beautiful part is that in
my new position, I am in charge of
product project management that
involves part-release. I still have
contact with my ex-team members
and our baby.
I am now almost two years in my
current position as head of product
line management. The initial part
was another exponential learning
curve for me. Mastering a new func-
tion in a new industry and new cul-
ture/country was challenging. How-
ever, I would say that winning the
respect of my capable, experienced
and older subordinates was some-
thing that makes me beam with
most pride.
Along with my team in product line
management, I am in charge of ma-
naging new product projects, our
product portfolio and our business
performance. We are the interface
between the factories, the technical
departments and our marketing
colleagues. My product lines inclu-
de table-top and single-door refri-
gerators and freezers of BSH global-
ly. Driven by achievement, I am ela-
ted that I managed to turn around
these very defiant business fields by
bringing in differentiation in our pro-
duct design to prevent price wars.
Today, my responsibilities include
the American Side-by-Side (SbS)
refrigerators and all merchandise
business in our cooling division. The
higher-end SbS segment allows me
to dabble in marketing and design,
shaping these sexy products while
the merchandise business recol-
lects my past supplier development
experience when dealing with our
partners worldwide.
y technical experience and MBA
training help very much but
mostly, my interest, business acu-
men and inner drive to shape corpo-
rate strategy on the global scene.
What I am doing today is exactly
what I set my heart and mind to as I
moved to Germany four years ago.
A
M
BSH Bosch und Siemens
Hausgerte GmbH
Hauptsitz: Mnchen. Das Un-
ternehmen beschftigt welt-
weit 38.000 Mitarbeiter. Um-
satz im Jahr 2006: ber 8,3
Mrd. Euro.
Gesucht werden Wirtschafts-
wissenschaftler, -informatiker
und -ingenieure. Geboten wer-
den Trainee-Programme in ver-
schiedenen Bereichen.
Kontakt: Jrg Wagmller, Te-
lefon 089/4590-2334. Weitere
Informationen unter www.bsh-
group.de.