As a business with more than 40 years of history, Vnflour has gone through many stages of economic development. With a business philosophy focused on product quality, Vnflour has always earned customers’ trust and support. What VNflour needs in this stage is to renew its operating method and strengthen its internal capability so it can go further in the years ahead.
VnFlour – Quality products and modern production lines
Vnflour is a company with more than 40 years in wheat production in Vietnam, entering the first period of the country’s market-opening economy. From a business specializing in producing raw flour products and supplying them to companies and agents that made finished products such as instant noodles, eateries, and restaurants, Vnflour has now become one of the flour manufacturers with a scale of hundreds of employees, exporting to many countries around the world, and affirming high-quality Vietnamese products in the international market.
Having witnessed and experienced many stages of market fluctuation, Vnflour recognizes that grasping future trends is extremely important and that the company must continuously update itself so it is not left behind. Technology is one of the key factors for those long-term development steps.
But how to invest in technology appropriately, and whether it can help Vnflour change the way it operates right at the present moment, is not an easy question. With the characteristics of a manufacturing industry, Vnflour has many managers with years of experience and strong professional expertise, but they are not necessarily strong in thinking about business management on a digital platform.
“Applying a management method without pairing it with technology will not achieve the expected results,” shared Mr. Mã Văn Phước, Deputy General Director of Vnflour.
Difficulties and the determination to renew from an ambitious leader
The issues Vnflour faced at the time were as follows:
- How to control and measure work performance as the management and production apparatus continues to expand.
- With more departments and employees, how to measure overall and departmental KPI/OKR indicators in line with the company’s growth expectations.
- There was not yet effective connection and collaboration among departments and individuals, and there was a lack of accountability for the work each member was responsible for.
- Difficulty in managing goals and simplifying a complex organizational structure.
- Is there software simple enough for the team to adopt while bringing synchronized effectiveness?
As someone eager to learn, Mr. Phước searched for many management methods and operating software products to bring back and apply. Yet there was still a very large gap between him and the team. People had become too familiar with their departmental specialist work and did not want additional change. The door for a software solution to enter was already narrow; if that software was also complicated, it certainly would not be welcomed.
Mr. Phước identified that what Vnflour needed in the coming period had to be a management software that met three factors:
- Simple, so that his team, even those from the 7x generation, could use it.
- A consistent management mindset that would create one team one voice and break down “departmental” barriers.
- The ability to create focus, responsibility, and achievement of growth goals.
Consensus creates a new situation
After several interactions with Simplamo, Mr. Phước was very impressed by the thinking foundation of the software and the way Simplamo’s functions were presented — very visual, easy to understand, and focused. But to gain the team’s agreement, Simplamo needed to show them immediate benefits.
Faced with this situation, Simplamo decided to shorten the distance by improving the quality of meetings at Vnflour through the Weekly Meeting framework. This was a way for the leadership team to feel the difference without creating too much change in the current operating approach.
By organizing this meeting, combined with support from Simplamo’s consulting team, Vnflour gradually identified issues appearing in the organization, learned how to solve problems effectively, and gave every member the opportunity to speak their mind. In particular, with this digitized meeting framework, the weekly meeting time was significantly reduced from two hours to 90 minutes.
With a series of benefits gained after two months of experiencing the meeting feature, the Vnflour team agreed to apply Simplamo’s business management software across the entire organization. The kickoff day for operating the business on Simplamo took place in March 2022, together with implementation consulting from Simplamo experts:
- First was rebuilding the organization’s accountability chart, systematizing departments, and clarifying the role of each position. This was also a moment for everyone to look back at one another’s responsibilities and contributions over a long period, then build a new chart suited to operations for the next six to 12 months.
The Vnflour team built the accountability chart before presenting it on Simplamo.
- Setting the company’s quarterly priorities (Rocks). In this way, the team agreed on what the company needed to focus on in the next 90 days. When everyone looked in the same direction, departmental barriers gradually came down.
- Building a scorecard to measure important weekly indicators, helping Vnflour’s leadership closely follow everything happening across the company during the week and thereby make timely forecasts — something especially important for a manufacturing business that relies on imported raw materials like Vnflour. These indicators also support employee performance evaluation and ensure the team always stays focused on its work.
- With ready data and a transparent accountability chart, the Vnflour team continued to hold weekly meetings smoothly every week, staying close to one another and urging execution of the organization’s goals.
Vnflour – A renewed organization with strong internal capability
During a meeting with Vnflour in the final days of 2022, we witnessed many impressive changes. Members of the leadership team enthusiastically shared about the past year’s operations; everyone talked with one another about scorecards, goals, and vision.
After nearly one year operating on Simplamo, these terms were no longer unfamiliar to them. They discussed goals for the new year in a way that was easy to understand and easy to grasp one another’s intentions.
Simplamo guides Vnflour on using the 1-on-1 Review feature.
“Operating on Simplamo, Vnflour’s team learned a systematic business management mindset and gained a shared operating framework. People even discussed with one another how to build rocks effectively and what indicators should be used for measurement. Simplamo brings an American management mindset to Vietnam, and thanks to that Vnflour also gained this management thinking. Everything became transparent, and I gained companionship from the team,” Mr. Phước shared.
Changes after nearly one year of application:
- The departmental system and roles became clear and transparent, and members showed high responsibility at work.
- It became easier to control employee activities and focus the team’s energy on important goals.
- The company gained a simple personnel data and evaluation framework that saves time and brings effectiveness to the business.
- 40% reduction in meeting time.
- The team understood the vision and mission clearly and formed a shared voice in every decision.
Vnflour has gained strong internal capability thanks to a healthy and responsible leadership team. Based on this solid human foundation, Vnflour set breakthrough growth goals for 2023, nearly 200% higher than 2022. This is very encouraging for a manufacturing business that has entered its 40th year like Vnflour.
We hope the values from Simplamo will continue to spread and create impressive results for Vnflour in the time ahead.
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Simplamo – A modern, scientific goal-management software that uniquely combines KPI and OKR. It turns everything complex in management into something simple and familiar for every employee. It frees leaders from pressure, helps them focus on what matters, and optimizes business performance.
Start experiencing Simplamo and feel the change after only four weeks!
Register for a Simplamo demo at: https://app.simplamo.com/sign-up
