they saw as a sunset
industry. Packaging
was seen as the least
important thing on
customers’ minds: It only
exists to get products to
their destination, and
is then discarded. The
thinking was, just any
box would do.”
Undaunted, Susan
familiarised herself with
industrial packaging,
and even learnt to
operate a forklift.
Then, as hard
disk and electronics
manufacturers left
Singapore, she shifted
her sights to a new group
of customers – the oil
and gas, semiconductor,
medical and defence
industries, many of
which, she observed,
were more resistant to
economic downturns.
The hands-on boss
knocked on doors,
cold-called potential
customers relentlessly,
and was undercut by
competitors.
She says matter-
of-factly: “Often, when
there was a rejection, I
kept it to myself. What
purpose would telling
anyone serve? I just had
to solve the problem
and focus on all the
positives, and work
harder.”
Susan was then
confronted by yet
another obstacle: She
needed customers to
entrust their packaging
problems and products
to her before she could
even begin to design a
solution for them.
“We were a start-up
with no background, and
no one would just entrust
medical equipment worth
$250,000 to a stranger,”
Susan says. “In our fi rst
four to fi ve years, we
spent a lot of time sharing
the importance of being
lean and green.”WOMAN
OF THE
YEAR 2019TURNING
POINTSusan quickly off ered
what businesses really
wanted: bottom-line
cost savings.
This time, she
and her engineering
team minimised the
materials used to reduce
freight cost, selecting
materials that would
cut down the packing
and handling time. Her
solutions also addressed
customers’ specifi c
problems, such as parts
that constantly went
missing, or engineering
the packaging for
medical crates to fi t
into a passenger plane
for shipment without
damaging the product.
“We re-engineered
our wooden pallets for
packing. Local mixed
hardwood weighs about
25kg a pallet. We used
imported pinewood,
making each pallet 10kg
lighter. So businesses
would get huge savings
in freight costs as they
shipped hundreds and
thousands of pallets
around the world
every month.”
Susan’s redesigned
solutions saw up to
30 per cent savings in
packaging cost. She took
her new proposition and
began chipping away at
the market. Greenpac
had marked its turning
point, and business
started to grow.
Indeed, among
Susan’s chief
characteristics are her
capacity for problem-
solving and an ironclad
resilience, revealing
a disruptor spirit thatunderlineshervisionfor
Greenpac.Whenfaced
withobstacles,shefalls
backonasimpleadage:
Tryagain.
In2008,sixyears
afterGreenpacwas
founded,thefirmwas
rankedfourthinthe
prestigiousEnterprise
50 Awards–organised
byKPMGinSingapore
andTheBusiness
Times–whichSusan
remembersas“oneof
myproudestmoments”.
Butwhat’struly
admirableisthis:
SusanbuiltGreenpac
whenshewasjuggling
thebusinesswith
motherhood.A
BALANCING
ACT“My youngest child
was four when I started
Greenpac, and I hadto travel a lot,” she
recalls. “It’s not easy
for mothers to drop
everything and take off
the next day. You have
to stock up the fridge,
make sure someone
takes the kids to school
and tuition – there are
all these logistics.”
She credits her
husband and late mother-
in-law for helping her
raise the children.
Her husband puts
it simply: “If you don’t
support your wife,
you probably don’t
understand how capable
she is. If you do, you’d
know it’s only fair to give
her every opportunity to
pursue what she wants.”
Susan ensured that
her work trips were
short, fl ying long-haul
for just a day or two,
then coming right home.
She admits: “I fi nd it
hard to strike a balance.
When you’re at work,
you constantly think of
family, then when you’re
at home, you feel that
you’re neglecting your
work. The key is to stay4 56100 HERWORLD SEPT 2019