APM Terminals Apapa graduates 175 lean practitioners

One hundred and seventy-five (175) employees of APM Terminals Apapa have graduated as Lean Practitioners since the start of the Lean Academy in 2019.

Lean thinking is a transformational framework that provides a new way to organising human activities to deliver more benefits to society and value to individuals while eliminating waste.

Derived from Toyota’s 1930 operating model-The Toyota Way, the philosophy is based on a Lean manufacturing method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers.

Apapa’s Lean practitioners are expected to take the lead in introducing innovative solutions to terminal operations with the goal of improving efficiency and customer service. APM Terminals Apapa is transformed by re-tooling and re-educating employees to eliminate waste, boost productivity and promote innovation every day.

Martin Kjeldsen, Way of Working (WoW) Project Manager, says “Our employees play a central role in our transformation. They are the ones who will make Apapa a great place to work through involvement and engagement within our Way of Working, through high level of Lean education, a Lean mindset and Kaizens – for immediate, real results and long-term sustainable impact.”

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In the past years, the terminal worked extensively on identification of talent at Apapa to support the future Lean journey and building relations within the Apapa team to ensure cross functional collaboration.

Martin Kjeldsen adds, “Practicing Lean requires a changed mindset from running the business to improving the business, helping us preventing fire-fighting in our day-to-day job. It’s not easy, but it is manageable if we set our minds to it. If we invest heavily in WoW and celebrate our successes.”

A major milestone in the terminal’s Lean journey is the introduction of Practical WoW Coaches. This is a dedicated stand-alone role with the objective of strengthening APM Terminals Apapa’s Lean capabilities and knowledge of WoW tools. The introduction of Practical WoW Coaches has been a dream for Martin since he joined APM Terminals in 2018. “If you can dream it, you can do it,” says Martin.

A practical WoW Coach, Victor Enegide, describes Lean as a systematic way of eliminating waste while focusing on individual development. He says, “To us, as employees, it gives a better understanding of what we do on a day-to-day basis. It also makes us understand that we shouldn’t let good get in the way of better.