Sincobile Lukhele is an IL6S (Integrated Lean Six Sigma) Engineer at Mondelez International in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), currently based at the Gqeberha manufacturing plant.
She obtained her Bachelor’s in Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Beihang University in Mainland China as well as holds qualifications in PREP Pre Eng.-Programme from Howon University, South Korea; she further advanced her education in Operations Management from the University of Cape Town. With her interest in traveling and languages, Sincobile is fluent in Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish with little knowledge in French and holds a level A2 in Spanish from the University of Cordoba, Spain, TOPIK Level 3 in Korean and Intermediate Level in Mandarin from the University of Cordoba, Spain. She also has ambitions to further her studies and pursue a MBA degree.
Within Mondelez, Sincobile has fulfilled various roles of implementing continuous improvement from starting off as a Business Development Engineering Intern, to BD Engineer, Process engineer and Line Lead. In her current position as an IL6S Engineer, she has a bird’s eye view of the overall operation of the plant, including machinery performance, operational performance with a special eye for continuous improvement initiatives for loss elimination.
Her day-to-day activities vary according to daily and weekly targets, guided by the tools and systems in place on IL6S. Her day will begin with a Daily Management Systems (DMS) meeting where the team will report back on the previous day’s performance and challenges. This will then set the tone for the day as well as include:
- Drive productivity initiatives to eliminate losses and optimize efficiency
- Focus on capability building of core team
- Working on a project to digitize the plant
- Implementation of IL6S tools for continuous improvement
• Ensuring that all machines are operating correctly and at the highest standard
• Constantly creating methods and approaches to ensure that daily KPIs are met
• Occasionally walking the line to monitor operational performance
Sincobile has worked part-time simultaneously in three major countries internationally, which has taught her two critical skills in her career. The first is her ability to deal with pressure and complexity by being innovative. Secondly is the skill of leadership and being able to foster a diverse and inclusive mentality when working with other people. Sincobile is driven by the values of family and respect for others. A teacher at heart, she always strives to make a positive impact in the lives of others and loves to share a smile wherever she goes. She is a determined, motivated, resilient, assertive, and hardworking young woman. She is an eager learner and welcomes all feedback to help her grow and advance her career.
