Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKSQ Study Mission for Service Quality Management in Singapore (Part 1)

Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) is organizing a study mission to visit Singapore include a half-day seminar / sharing session at Singapore Quality Institute (SQI) regarding service quality in Singapore and technical visits to Universal Studios Singapore, which arranged by SQI, from 20 to 24 Feb 2013. This study mission will enable delegates from Hong Kong organizations to learn the best practices of high service performing organizations in pursuit of performance excellence. I would like to summarize the trip for sharing below.

We arrived Singapore Changi Airport on 20 Aug 2012 afternoon. We took a group photo in the airport.

Then we visit the Merlion Park and took a photo in front of the Merlion. There are large and small Merlion in the park.

Program 1 - Visit Singapore Quality Institute (SQI) on 21 Feb 2013
We took a group photo in front of SQI office.

Mr. Kenneth Liang (Chairman, SQI) gave a welcome speech.

Mr. Kitson Lee (Hon. Secretary, SQI) introduced SQI to use. SQI's mission is to be the World Class Leader for Advancing, Learning and Sharing Knowledge on Quality and Its Best Practices. Moreover, SQI's activities included seminar, training, study mission and conference were mentioned. SQI Certified Couses were included Certified Quality Manager, Certified Quality Engineer, Certified GD&T Engineer, Certified Quality Supervisor, Certified Quality Technician, Certified Quality Inspector, Certified Service Quality Executive, etc.

After that Our Chairman Mr. Karson Chui (Chairman, HKSQ) introduced Hong Kong Society for Quality. HKSQ's mission is to promote greater awareness of the need for quality in Hong Kong for ensuring product and service excellence through continuous improvement of quality and customer satisfaction, and to provide continuing education to professionals involved in the quality and reliability disciplines.

Karson also introduced our ex-co members to SQI, most our ex-co members and former chairmen were participated in this study mission. Kenneth appreciated our members commitment.

The Sharing talk entitled "Overview of Service Initiatives in Singapore" was presented by Kitson. Kitson said the services industry contribute about 64.8% to overall GDP of Singapore. Kitson quoted Mr. Teo Chee Hean (Deputy Prime Minister) statement to explain the public service that "The Public Service must strive to deliver its services with excellence. In return, customers must understand that the Public Service has to balance serving the needs of individual customers against the collective needs of the public."

The he briefed the principles of public service (since 1995) that CARE which mean Courtesy, Accessibility, Responsiveness and Effectiveness. Since citizen had higher expectations of the public service, government engaged citizens to Co-create Solutions to benefit all Singaporean.
Then some case examples were discussed in Public and Private Sector as follows.
Healthcare for Public Sector: POLYCLINICS (S.M.I.L.E. - See Me In Line) and SingHealth;
Private Sector: ion Orchard, Triumph - Mood Lighting, and Singapore Post.

After the talk, our chairman presented a souvenir to SQI for appreciation to their arrangement and hospitality.

And also presented a souvenir to the speaker to appreciate his talk on service initiatives.

Then we had 撈起 (Lo Hei).
Yusheng, yee sang or yuu sahng or Prosperity Toss, also known as lo hei (Cantonese for 撈起) is a Teochew-style raw fish salad. It is a food for Chinese New Year in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.