Sembcorp Marine Wins HR Award for SWAT Staff Transport Solution

Singapore - Sembcorp Marine, our client, won the Silver award for the category “Excellence in HR Innovation” at the HR Excellence Award held on 11 October 2019. The award was to recognise their improvement in employee transport, implemented with SWAT’s technology.

Earlier this year, Sembcorp Marine reached out to SWAT with a problem to solve. They were moving a plant from a remote location, to an even more remote location in Tuas. The company was concerned with employee retention, and felt that one way to circumvent this would be to improve the staff transport provided.

Before SWAT,  numerous buses were deployed to 9 MRT stations around the island to pick up employees in fixed routes. They were looking for a more efficient transport service that provides employees with greater convenience and shorter travelling time, along with better bus utilisation to reduce costs. 

With SWAT, pickup points expanded to over 200 locations near 80 MRT stations close to employees’ homes, without increasing the number of buses. With 1500+ commuters located all around the island, the possible permutations of routes are exceedingly large. SWAT’s optimisation algorithm breaks up the locations into zones and computes the optimal solution to meet client requirements. SWAT also provided a backend system for Sembcorp Marine and the bus operators to manage their transport operations, allowing them to have greater visibility and control over their resources. 

“I am confident their routing technology and easy-to-use passenger apps will continue to help improve work commute for our employees, making it convenient, affordable and comfortable.”

Yee Lok Yeen, VP, HR Centre of Excellence, Sembcorp Marine Ltd, was happy to share.

Today, the staff need only to walk a few minutes to board the bus, and is guaranteed a seat all the way to work. For many of the staff, it is no longer necessary to transfer to get to one of 9 pick up points. In addition, SWAT reduced the total vehicle miles travelled (VMT) by approximately 30%, a confirmation that this new form of transport is the more environmentally friendly option. 

For SWAT, it heartens us when we hear feedback that even senior management who used to drive now take the shuttle, as it is more convenient.