Over 1,900 Company Training Committees (CTCs) formed1; NTUC urges Companies to tap on CTC Grant for Transformation
and enhance business productivity ~
Hydroflux Marketing Pte Ltd, established in 2012, is a wholesale retailer for water dispensers and water purifiers in Singapore. Unionsed under The Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers’ Union (SMMWU), the company has formed a Company Training Committee (CTC) and undergone the Operations & Technology Roadmap (OTR) with NTUC Industry Training & Transformation (IT&T). These initiatives help facilitate the transformation and restructuring of the company, and development of its workforce.
Challenges faced before business transformation
As the company expands its customer base, it encountered various challenges:
1. Managing over thousands of customer records is a labour-intensive process and results in storage issues due to the manual recording of servicing details on service cards.Without digital records, retrieving dated information or older customer records becomes a challenge.
2. Serving hundreds of customers every month for new sales and product maintenance is a time-consuming process as it requires the organisation and coordination of schedules among various stakeholders - salespersons, customers and product engineers. The risk of double-booking installation dates often occurs due to the manual arrangement. In addition, the deployment and assignment of engineers are often not optimised. This inefficient work process is also exacerbated by multiple steps for engineers to adhere to when generating documentation for new sales orders. Furthermore, the vast number of schedules increases the risk of losing track of products due for maintenance.
3. Generating monthly reports is a tedious process of manual search and data input, leading to repetitive and unproductive work. Faced with these challenges, the company explored solutions to reinvent its processes and train its workforce.
NTUC and SMMWU help company transform its business and workforce
Hydroflux was introduced to NTUC and SMMWU to leverage the NTUC CTC Grant to propel the business forward through transformation, ensuring sustainability and enhancing its workforce capabilities. The company developed a four-year OTR to synergise their efforts and refresh their offerings to optimise efficiencies, increase revenue, market share and gross operating profit.
The OTR identified areas of transformation and business growth such as the need to implement the Customer Life Cycle Management System to manage their database of customers and to automate the administrative backend processes. The system will be presented as a mobile application for customers and Hydroflux’s employees.
The system would help to:
• Free up the time spent on generating documents, monitoring maintenance, installation, and servicing schedules.
• Allow for proactive engagement with customers on product maintenance, installation, and servicing, and/or sharing of new products.
• Improve staff morale by minimising errors, mundane and repetitive tasks, leading to reduced stress meeting tight deadlines.
• Enhance efficiency, productivity, and accuracy in business processes.
• Foster data connectivity across the organisation; bridging administrative, logistics, marketing, sales, and installation teams to improve overall organisational efficiency and effectiveness.
Additionally, Hydroflux also redesigned its Lifestyle Specialist role into Senior Lifestyle Specialists to provide career advancement opportunities for its employees, offering growth and progression within the organisation.
NTUC CTC Grant helps increase wages, welfare and work prospects of workers
The company applied for the NTUC CTC Grant and it was approved in August 2023. While the new system is in the midst of implementation, Hydroflux, as a progressive employer, has rolled out an 8% wage increment for 12 workers set to benefit from the project. The company has initiated the restructuring plan, benefiting 26 workers through the Career Development Plan. The company also fully pays for 80% of its workforce union membership as part of its enhanced employees’ benefit.
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1Figures are as of 31 January 2024
