AVP Jalil Bin Sam & Rahmad Bin Chik (Chairman of SingPost Branch - UTES) collecting the Award on behalf of SingPost & UTES respectively at the NTUC May Day CBF Model Partnership Awards Ceremony 2010 on 29 May 2010.
(L-R): Mr Stephen Lee - President of Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), PSG Rahmad Chik,

Mr John De Payva -President of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), AVP Jalil Sam

and Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Manpower.

In recognition of the productivity gains and enhanced competitiveness by being  Cheaper, Better and/or Faster (CBF), NTUC has selected Singapore Post Limited for the May Day CBF Model Partnership Award 2010 – Institutional Category.
With support from its Union, the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES), Singapore Post Limited partnered with the NTUC - Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS) to hire and train women back to work through the Flexi-Works! Scheme.

SingPost employs part-time mail sorters to help in the mail sorting process, enabling the postmen to focus more on outdoor delivery. SingPost further improved the mail sorting processes and invested in equipment to increase efficiency. Eighty percent of the cost of equipment was funded using the grant from the Flexi-Works! Scheme.

Previously, the old sorting frames were immovable and mail pieces were sorted into mail bags. Staff needed to lift the filled mail bags out of the metal frames and transfer to the next point of the mail process. It was laborious for the staff and mail bags did not last with the dragging of the mail bags to the next work point. To ease the heavy lifting and dragging, SingPost introduced a new sorting frame that comprised letter trays within a wheeled frame, known as the Easy Trolley or ET. Mail items are sorted and arranged on the trays before stacking on the trolleys. Mail items are sorted in a single direction and with the address facing up, reducing sorting errors. As a result, the average time taken for the sorting of the mail items was reduced. This also helped to shorten the time spent on any rework. The ET is easy to push, cutting down the time spent on transferring mail items and arduous lifting of and dragging of the mail bags. As mail items are arranged in trays, the risk of mail pieces being damaged is also reduced. This initiative also helped to free up more space, leading to work stations being more organised. The projected savings from this project is about S$580,000 in equivalent man hours per annum.