ONE COMPANY, TWO DECADES

Logistics Insight Asia, 1/7/2008

This October, MARY YEO, Managing Director, UPS Singapore, celebrates 20 years' service. She tells Bob Gill why she stayed so long and how the new 'one company' approach is paying off.

Since joining UPS in 1988, Mary Yeo has held a number of high profile position, including regional (Asia Pacific) roles as Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Quality Manager. In 1998, she took over the helm at UPS Singapore, where under her leadership, the company took the UPS Enterprise Excellence Award as the top performer out of all 34 countries in the UPS global network in 2002, and won the Top 10 Best Employer in Singapore award on three occasions.

With a 2007 revenue of US$49.7 billion and a workforce of more than 425,000, UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and has developed a growing portfolio of specialized transportation and logistics services. The five-facility, 82 vehicle, 32 weekly-flight Singapore operation employs some 1400 people and recorded a 10 percent growth rate in the last quarter of 2007.

Q: How did you get started at UPS?
A: Back in 1988 I was the Singapore country manager for a Hong Kong headquartered company called Asian Courier System, a conventional courier service provider. UPS was looking to expand in the region and acquired us in October 1988. I was appointed to head up the Singapore office - but only after a 30-day probationary period. At that time, UPS was very male dominated and I was relatively young, so I guess they were a bit hesitant in appointing me straight away.

Because of Hong Kong's impending return to China, the HQ was moved to Singapore which gave me the opportunity to take up a series of roles with regional responsibility before coming back to head up the local operation.

Early last year, there was a global alignment, which led to integration of the express and logistics businesses, and so I am now responsible for all activities in Singapore. I report to Andy Connelly, who is in charge of 29 countries as Senior Vice President, South District, UPS Asia Pacific Region.

Q: What is the relative significance of the express and logistics offerings at UPS?
A: It really is one organization now and I like to think that we have an equal focus across our spectrum of services. For example, a sales meeting with a customer primarily looking for logistics services may uncover unmet needs for express, and vice versa. This also extends to the operational level, where we have single command and control center for all our vehicles, which facilitates, for example, a truck collecting heavy goods from a client to pick up envelopes at the same time.

Q: Your thoughts on current business conditions?
A: Well, of course the economy is a little jittery right now, but in Singapore, at least so far, the government is keeping to its growth projections, which does give us some confidence for the rest of the year.

But generally, I think the key thing when faced with uncertain market conditions is to be able to ride the waves. And there are a number of things that we can do.

It's with good reason that we say that UPS is "a technology company with trucks" rather than a "trucking company with technology". The US$1 billion the company spends each year on technology aims to improve the effectiveness of our processes - how we manage the warehouses, how we handle packages, how we increase supply chain visibility. As we become more cost-effective in our processes, we can pass the savings on to our customers.



Q: The recent ramp-up in fuel prices must be a concern?
A: It is obviously an area I have been tracking and I am pleased to see that the operations department has been doing a very good job, as my expenses locally have not notably increased.

In Singapore's Central Business district, where parking is difficult and you can't stop at the roadside, we have put out more "walkers" out to make collections, and have vehicles stationed at strategic locations with their engines off. When the walker's bag is full, he will call over the van driver, who will collect it and give him an empty one to continue his rounds.

The integration initiative that I mentioned has also helped to mitigate fuel costs, through a reduction in the number of stops the vehicles need to make.

Q: Why should a prospective customer choose UPS?
A: We are 101 years old; we have an unrivalled global network; we can handle any item from envelopes to aircraft engines; and we are flexible in that there is a whole bag of services that customers can choose - from standard door-to-door up to fully customized, complex logistics solutions.

Importantly, the "one UPS" approach means that we can present a single and seamless face to the customer, as opposed to other companies where different services are offered by different, and often isolated, business entities. In short, you can trust us to ship anything to anywhere in the world.

Q: An example of the benefits a company has realized after engaging UPS?
A: We have one customer from the disk drive industry that has made UPS Singapore its warranty repair center. "Bad drives" come in from to our facility from all over the world - two ocean freight and three air freight schedules a week - and are screened and repaired by trained UPS staff before being ID coded, stored, and sent back to wherever the customer requires.

Providing such a value-added service has enabled UPS to save millions of dollars for the customer, who would otherwise have had to set up its own disk drive repair facility. We are looking to get more of this type of business.

Q: Why stay at one company for so long?
A: UPS has a very rare corporate culture in that it looks after its people so well, and there are many other UPSers (as we call them) who have decades of long service. The company promotes from within; everyone is called by his or her first name; there is extensive two-way communication with all levels of employee; and an absence of that boss/subordinate mentality.

For me personally, I came in as an O-level holder and UPS accepted and nurtured me and gave so many different opportunities that there was no reason to look for alternative employers. And I have always had informal and comfortable relationships with my superiors, who guided me and gave me the freedom to go ahead and do my job and to develop further.

Q: The famous UPS dress code. Is it still so strict?
A: It has become more relaxed recently - for example, men no longer have to wear ties - but we are still pretty conservative. For ladies, we encourage long hair to be tied up and no open-toe shoes. For the guys doing deliveries, the brown uniform should be nicely pressed and hair should be neat and not touch the collar. Image is important, and I do discourage sloppy attire. Dressing smartly and appropriately for work gives you the confidence to deal with customers.

Q: In this industry, it is still quite rare to find a female taking the top job? Did you face any particular challenges because of your gender?
A: Well, there are more women executives around now and the situation has improved since those early days. Then, I really was the only woman executive and it could be intimidating to walk into a big meeting with 70 men all in suits and me the lone woman in a skirt. But in those situations, it is up to the individual to stay focused, get the message across, and break down the barriers. There is no such thing as a glass ceiling for women; the sky's the limit.

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