Ford Vietnam has undergone enormous change over the past two years – from the completion of the first phase of its US$80 million modernization of its plant in Hai Duong, to the addition of a second production shift for the first time in the plant’s 25-year history.
The investment boosted annual production capacity at the plant from 14,000 to 40,000 vehicles, while adding a second shift more than doubled the number of hourly operators at the plant from 500 to 1,100.
The changes also prompted a shift in the way Ford Vietnam’s HR department delivered its Learning and Development plans – nurturing a learning culture within the organization and transforming the way they train staff and share knowledge across departments.
Helping to implement that change is My Phan, HR lead, L&D and Engagement. She joined the company in December 2021 and immediately saw opportunities to help drive improvements in training and knowledge sharing.
“The motivation behind any program is excellence and how we deliver our products and services to the customers and how satisfied they feel,” My said. “That comes from the mutual understanding and the smooth collaboration between the NSC (national sales company) and the plant.”
The goal was to help achieve Ford’s global focus on improving quality and reducing costs while also matching Ford Vietnam’s increasing production and sales targets. That meant the HR team had to develop strategies to help employees develop new skills and prepare them for ongoing changes.
The first strategy was focusing on in-house training for LL6-level people leaders to help their manufacturing team leaders develop new skills. The second strategy was to improve the sharing of knowledge across the entire business.
“The greatest source of knowledge is from the business itself,” My said. “Sharing that knowledge helps drive understanding between departments and by understanding what others are doing, they can increase understanding and collaboration.
The People Leader Café was adopted from ASEAN markets and gives higher level managers (LL4 and LL5) a chance to share business acumen and leadership advice with staff. The #NextGen Plant Youth School was introduced to help young engineers learn more about the production, the team, the structure, the technology of other jobs and departments.
The team also launched the Acabiz mobile app that combines training modules, company notifications and other useful tools in Vietnamese to hourly operators who don’t have a laptop or have an email address.
“On the surface, it’s easy to see that our programmes are about collaboration with different departments in Ford Vietnam,” My said. “But for me it’s about excellence and focus on what we do as a company.
“I'm very thankful to the plant manager Tran Tien Duc. He is the sponsor for any learning activities in this plant, and without him, without a sponsor, without the leadership alignment, everything would amount to zero.
“I think the work we’ve done here also encompasses many of Ford’s OS Behaviours,” My said. “With a small team, we always have to think about doing only what matters and having a bias for action. I always think that we must think about how we deliver excellence to our customers. So, yes, own it, deliver it, of course! That’s what we do!”
