FEB ‘22
Cultural Transformation Workwear Group (WWG) “You get to make this a better place to work”. These were the empowering words that echoed in the minds of a team that collectively shared a vision - to ‘make a better workplace for all’. What resulted over the span of 12 months, was a complete cultural transformation that changed the working lives of the entire team. From the shop floor, all the way up to the highest level of management, everyone got involved and worked together to achieve their vision. Safety incidents plummeted, employee morale reached an all-time high, productivity soared and Continuous Improvement initiatives increased by at least 100%. It was a success story by all accounts, but more importantly, a lesson in sound leadership and outstanding teamwork.
their organisation began.
WWG is Australia’s largest workwear provider, with an
Vative knew that there were multiple ways to achieve
extensive track record of delivering workwear garments to some of Australia’s best-known companies. They believe strongly that pride in what people do, starts with what they wear. WWG began their humble operation by supplying the Australian contingent with garments during WWII. Since then, they’ve grown to serve over one million customers worldwide, shipping to over 30 countries. WWG now comes under the banner of ASX listed company Wesfarmers; one of Australia’s largest listed companies with a diverse, crossindustry portfolio. WWG’s stable of household name brands includes Hard Yakka, King Gee, NNT and Workwear Group Uniforms. In 2019, WWG identified an internal desire to improve productivity through automation. The idea was great, but had a common flaw that similar organizations face – if the process is flawed, automation only creates more flaws – and at a faster rate. WWG quickly realized this and realized they should consider applying Lean, first. They sent their Continuous Improvement Manager, Scott Simpson to attend one of Vative’s Lean Practitioner, three-day workshops. These workshops are focused on Lean philosophy and implementation. They educate leaders on how to practically implement Lean tools to achieve substantial and sustainable productivity gains. Scott saw the value in his training and upon completion, knew that Lean could solve a large portion of their issues at WWG, with measurable outcomes. He was certain that a Lean mindset was the key to driving a cultural transformation they had long yearned for. As a result, he invited the Vative team to visit their enormous 27,000 sqm
P 22 at Melbourne Airport, where a plan to transform warehouse
cultural transformation at WWG. After collaborative discussions, they came up with a solution that combined Lean and leadership coaching, as well as organisation-wide, Lean training. As a result, an appropriate training package was selected to meet the needs of each department. For example, all shop-floor staff were assigned to complete a four-module, online course through the Vative Academy platform, that focused on the basic principles of Lean and 5S, whilst supervisors and managers were to receive Lean Practitioner and/or Lean Six Sigma training. Training on a Lean Six Sigma level, also incorporates Six Sigma into Lean, which provides further process improvement tools and techniques, that enable a deeper level of analysis. With any form of Lean training, individuals are generally required to complete a Continuous Improvement project as part of their course. This not only benefits them through upskilling, but also benefits the team and the organisation. The leadership team at WWG were excited, they were all aligned and ready for change. However, as all good leaders know, it doesn’t just take a handful of decisions in a boardroom to initiate positive change, it takes an entire organisation and leaders need to lead by example. As Adam Brown, Operations Manager at WWG put it “Lean is not a one-person journey, you need 100% buy-in from the topdown. If we don’t experience it, understand it and believe it, we’re not going to convince our people”. As a result, Adam organised a meeting on the shop floor, which included everyone in the organisation and presented this initiative for change. He ended the meeting with a compelling message