Go Digital Wednesday - Christine Weaver

The new Head of Digital Innovation, Christine Weaver has spent over half of her life working at Unipart.

In 2005 she began an apprenticeship with Unipart Logistics aged 16. The course consisted of studying three NVQs for eight months at a time, including: warehousing, business administration and customer services.

Christine said: “Initially I found it difficult, a 16-year-old girl straight out of school, working with much older people. But I had a coach and mentor on the apprentice course and at Unipart, so I had huge support.”

Christine chose to specialise in warehousing, and completed a fourth NVQ (level 3 warehousing) by the age of 19. By this time she had been named Warwickshire Apprentice of the Year.

“I loved studying and the course,” said Christine. “There’s no better way of doing the job and learning about it than taking an apprenticeship. If I’d just gone into warehousing I would have learned just that, but on the programme I studied things like leadership behaviours, and because I moved around it made me more well rounded.”

Moving to Unipart Expert Practices to learn The Unipart Way and lean thinking, Christine put that into practice on a seven-month assignment with a client in Hungary.

She returned to work as an Operational Excellence Practitioner at Magna Park and was later promoted to Senior Op Ex Practitioner for the Technology sector. In August 2020 she became Head of Op Ex and Digital Solutions.

In regards to her long career, Christine said: “Unipart has given me endless opportunities. I've completed my Institute of Leadership and Management level 5 in leadership, coaching and mentoring and now I’m on the Unipart Gate To Great Leadership course. This is what keeps me here. If I want to learn something new, people really encourage me to learn and go for it.”

After completing her Six Sigma yellow and green belt, Christine is now half-way through her Six Sigma Black Belt training, which she does alongside a level 6 Improvement Leadership qualification.

She said: “Black belt wasn't what I expected, but in a good way! I thought it would be data and graphs, which is really only a part of it, there is so much more about change management, behaviour skills, levels of engagement and leading change.”

“And we recently did a session on mindfulness. It taught us how to help yourself and your colleagues navigate through changes, to being aware of your surroundings and mental health. I found it really valuable and I think anyone in a leadership position would feel the same.”

Christine has implemented the skills she's been taught throughout her Six Sigma journey across several projects, saying: “I’ve supported Vodafone, the Mickleton site in the US and VW Dordon with data analysis, and I’ve applied my change management skills with the digital champion community.”

Whatever your job role Christine recommends signing up to Six Sigma, saying: “If you have to deliver change in your day job then Six Sigma is a set of tools that is going to really help you do that. The belts have taught me how to manage my resources and have definitely helped my development.”

And from September Christine started her new role as Head of Digital Innovation. Where she will oversee the ASCI, the Digital Champion network and drive digital innovation across Unipart Logistics.

You can book upcoming dates for Six Sigma workshops on Unipart Way Online, provided you have your line manager’s approval. Send an email to Master Black Belt Sue Christelow on sixsigma@unipart.com when you are ready to book your place.

To share a story to be considered for Go Wednesday email unipart.group.communications@unipart.com