My Unipart Journey - Mellissa Freeman

As part of our My Unipart Journey series, we’ve been sharing the stories of colleagues across the business who have recently completed their L6 Improvement Leader apprenticeship, in conjunction with Anglia Ruskin University.

This time, we speak to Mellissa Freeman, Senior Operational Excellence Manager within Unipart Logistics, who proves that there’s always something new to learn…

Mellissa joined Unipart over 35 years ago, in 1987, initially within Unipart Rail at their Doncaster site. In 2014 she moved to Unipart Logistics, as an Operational Excellence Manager within Unipart Expert Practices (UEP, now known as Unipart Consultancy).

“I moved to UEP in an internal and external role, supporting both operations within Unipart Logistics and external customers. After 12 weeks, I was offered an internal role. I’ve worked right across Unipart Logistics; at Nuneaton and Magna Park - I delivered The Unipart Way in-a-box when we first took on the NHS contract so I’ve worked at all the NHS sites, and I did six months at Cowley when we took on the HSS contract. I even went external again for six months into British Gas (another UL customer) to support improvements there.”

“Following the British Gas project, I started a new role supporting new contract wins. I’d go into the new contract sites and be the face of Unipart. I'd look at all the processes, complete the due diligence, and then stay with the site until it transferred to business as usual. Recently I’ve been in JCB at Stoke and Mercia Park and now I'm working as a Senior OpEx manager at UL Dordon.”

Even with so much experience under her belt, Mellissa has wanted to pursue further learning.

“I completed my Six Sigma Green Belt around 20 years ago when I was with Unipart Rail. I’d been keen to complete my Black Belt since then, and I’d mention it in my reviews. Once it became an apprenticeship, Unipart were able to offer me the opportunity through the Apprenticeship Levy. I still wanted to do my Black Belt because the Green Belt was such a long time ago and I wanted to refresh my skills and then share that with other people.”

The benefits of the apprenticeship are already making a difference to Unipart.

“If I hadn't done my Level Six Apprenticeship, I wouldn’t have known about things like simulations, which I’ve been doing as a result.

If you can simulate something and can prove what benefit is going to give you, it’s much cheaper than experimenting with the business’ money and doing it in real life.

It’s also helped me understand the benefits of a Digital Twin, something we’re looking at implementing at Dordon.”

Looking back on her 20 years of Six Sigma learning, Mellissa cherishes her achievements:

“As part of the apprentice, I had to gather all the evidence to prove what I've done and it was incredible to look back! Sometimes all the things that you do pass you by, but it made realise that I have done so much, and I really enjoyed it.

"But, if I'm honest, and this is really crazy, I get more out of the fact that I passed my maths because never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it possible. That was the wow moment for me.”

“The others on the apprenticeship were a really good team of people, who've stayed in touch and we’ve really supported each other. There's more to do to actually finish the Black Belt though. For example, you need to be able to deliver some of the yellow belt and green belt training, so I've already booked to deliver some of the training for the next cohort of Green Belts. I really enjoyed the Level Six Improvement Leader course and I would absolutely recommend it to as many people as possible.”

Mellissa's Standout Unipart Memory

In recognition of Unipart’s 50th anniversary, we also asked Mellissa to share her standout memory. She said

"To have supported the first Overdrive event at UL Mercia Park was a particular stand out moment - it was great to be part of such a milestone and helping the team to adopt The Unipart Way tools for the very first time".

The Level 6 Improvement Leader Apprenticeship is delivered by our own Six Sigma experts in conjunction with Anglia Ruskin University. It is a Nationally-recognised apprenticeship qualification and forms part of The Unipart Way Black Belt certification.

Unipart started teaching this as an Apprenticeship in 2022 and the first of our delegates have just achieved their qualifications. Improvement leaders are expert practitioners of The Unipart Way and use their deep understanding of the Operational Excellence system to drive business benefits through continuous improvement and innovation, and to coach others to do the same.

Entry to this programme requires that you are actively involved in process improvement and in a role where you can support others to improve. As an apprentice you and your business will need to commit 20% of your working week to building your skills in addition to attending formal training.

If you would like to develop your own skills or those of one of your team then please get in touch with sixsigma@unipart.com