Preserving Quality to Obtain Excellency
Meet Sujana Duni Hendarwan. The person responsible for BMJ paper quality that seeks a room for improvement in every step.
“Accepting challenges and changes that life throws at us is the way to survive.”
My BMJ journey began in 2007 when I was assigned to the Incoming Material Section as a high school graduate. However, BMJ’s working culture motivated me to expand my skill set and push myself further, and so I decided to pursue my Undergraduate Degree in Industrial Engineering as a way to expand my skill set while simultaneously working. Fortunately, my ambition did not go unnoticed. I was offered a promotion to the Quality Engineer Section which is aligned with my educational background.
As of now, I am working in Quality Control Department that specifically overlooks paper production. Looking back, I realized that I have experienced a lot of transformations throughout my career. Although those changes can be overwhelming, I believe that staying true to my life motto has helped my steps, that is, “Accepting challenges and changes that life throws at us is the way to survive.”
Quality Control Paper Department at a Closer Look
“How you find a solution from the root of the problem and communicate it clearly is a critical thing to make people understand you.”
Quality Control Department’s role involves handling various complaints from internal or external parties and managing the paper quality data reports. Although these tasks may sound relatively simple, they sometimes come with their own unexpected challenges.
There were times when conflicts arose between one department and another. In times like this, we are forced to utilize our soft skills in order to be heard and understood.
In order to put an end to the conflict, we gathered everyone in the same room to brainstorm together. We discussed the root of the problem by allowing every single person to speak up and share their opinions on it. We finally came up with the best solution as a team. This strategy has been proved to be the most effective way for us to resolve any kind of conflicts.
Another experience thatI found the most interesting was when I had to handle serious customer complaints which require me and the sales team to go to Sri Lanka. Handling customer complaints itself is already a tough job. Adding the fact that it was my first time travelling overseas and having to communicate everything in English did not make it any easier. Long-story short, hard work paid off. As a result, we managed to solve the customer’s problem with a satisfying outcome.
Coping with Transformation
My journey did not stop there. During my employment, I had to work on a pilot project of which purpose was to transform Quality Control to Quality Assurance. There is a huge ifference of focus between these two terms. Quality Control is more focused on product quality whereas Quality Assurance pays more attention to how all departments related to production are responsible to the quality of the product.
It was a particularly challenging project for me and my department. Especially when directing insights about the importance of product quality to all related departments, knowing that it is our collective responsibility. Despite having a challenging time comprehending the whole idea of product quality, I never see it as a sign of failure. We decided to embrace every individual and carefully began to train them to understand the idea of product quality and give new insights on how to handle the job. Through this pilot project we have come to learn a lot of new things. One of them was to collaborate with multiple departments, such as Finishing Department and Business System Services (BSS) Department which turned out to be very fulfilling as we saw their improvements proven by the decrease in the number of human-errors occurred.
The Determination of the People Behind
In BMJ, we believe that the best quality of products is achieved by the best quality of people which is actually affected by many aspects, from employees’ behavior to working environment.
From my own experience in the Quality Control Department, one of the ways to improve our quality is by implementing a consistent habit. We pay more attention to the process of doing the job rather than the final result. We keep track of every detail and audit them in order to achieve improved result in future projects. A good process always leads to good products.
“This is why BMJ always feels like home.”
We also have what we called a uniform perception in which a project is handled by a variety of people with the aim to decrease any quality differences between each shift. By having a specific standard to follow, those people will come up with the same and correct way to get the job done. If there were any human error occur, we would share it to those working in another shift and update it via our group text message. In the Quality Control Department, we have our own tagline to always work as a solid team. This mindset is what makes us extremely supportive of each other and brings us closer together.
BMJ facilitates us with various activities, including outside work-related, such as badminton, fitness, and hiking. We feel like any of our needs and hobbies are always supported. It allows us to have constant growth, not only as an employee but also as a person.
BMJ always treat us as a family. Ever since I started in 2007, we always have each other’s back and that has never changed until now.