Hands at work

World over, the manufacturing sector has been hammered during the economic crisis. No country has been spared from the falling demand, with factories in Germany, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, China, Singapore and many other countries shutting down production, some temporarily, others permanently.

It’s something that has had a significant impact on Singapore in particular. Manufacturing has long been the backbone of the island-state’s economy, creating spin-off demand for a range of linked services – from logistics and ports, to finance and information technology (IT). This in turn creates opportunities and jobs in other industry sectors.

While things may be in relative decline at the moment, the country is certainly not giving up. Indeed, by 2018, Singapore aims to double its annual manufacturing output to S$300 billion worth, creating some 15,000 jobs in the process.

Minister for State, Lee Yi Shyan, is leading this charge. But he says it’s not as much about doing more as it is about doing better. He stresses the need for the local sector to evolve from lower-end manufacturing to more sophisticated products and technology. “We need more people in terms of design, product development (and) knowledge content,” he said in May. “That is where Singapore’s manufacturing should be heading.”

There are similar pushes taking place in Singapore’s other traditional powerhouse sectors. Stakeholders in the engineering and construction industries are also looking for more sophisticated, multi-skilled and creative workforces. The way forward for all three sectors is through modern training initiatives.

Able and available training

Technical training, be it in the manufacturing, construction or engineering sectors, has one aim, say HR experts. It works to support and facilitate skills development to enhance the workforce, leading to an increase in the industry’s overall competitiveness and productivity.

The Workforce Development Agency (WDA), for example, offers a Workforce Skills Qualification certificate in Generic (Process) Manufacturing Skills. This has been developed to help workers enter the manufacturing industry by providing a set of generic skills based on competency-based training across most manufacturing industries. WDA believes that by training workers in these skills, the certificate course helps to raise professionalism throughout the workforce. It also creates and maintains a supply of trained and qualified workers to meet manpower needs and promote mobility across the industry.

For workers who are already in the manufacturing industry and already boast that basic skills set, the WDA offers direct assessment without the need for new classes. This pathway is designed especially for those workers that want to certify their current skills with national qualifications.

The National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Sciences (NUS ISS) also provides technical training across the industry. It says some 62,000 workers have already participated in its IT training courses – representing a major proportion of the IT workforce in Singapore.

“We cater to all kinds of industry as long as they have an IT department or IT staff,” the training centre says. “We target industries from banking, healthcare, information communication, electronics, logistics, manufacturing and many more.”

NUS ISS has a similarly broad list of courses available. It provides training on IT management, project management, information security and Java technology. The courses can be taken in both short-classroom delivery or through e-learning modules. Post-graduate level courses including a Master of Technology or Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis are also available.

“Our training programmes focus on imparting principles, methodologies and best practices in applied situations,” the school says.

NTUC LearningHub, meanwhile, offers a dedicated “Manufacturing Training and Assessment Centre” for all its technical training. It says more than 6600 workers have benefitted from these courses in the last two years, enabling them to upskill for increased productivity and cost efficiency.

While NUS ISS focuses almost solely on the IT aspects of the technical trades, NTUC LearningHub caters largely to operational-level workers. Technicians and backroom administrative staff in the electronics industry are just two examples of its client pool.

Candidates are taught and assessed on basic teamwork building, manufacturing techniques, planning and carrying out daily work schedules, improving work quality, usage of basic hand tools as well as electrical measuring equipment.

Suresh Punjabi, General Manager, Industry Skills at NTUC LearningHub, says the institute also offers a new course on “Following Good Manufacturing Practices”. This is a WDA-recognised qualification that aims to equip workers with the skills and knowledge for standard operational and contamination control procedures.

“Reporting and recording abnormalities when carrying out tasks in a manufacturing or process environment is important,” says Punjabi. “By offering this course, we hope to achieve a level playing field and professional standards across the industry.”

Real life examples

Manufacturers and construction companies have been among the most fervent respondents to the Singapore Government’s push for further training and skills development during the economic downturn.

To date, around 30% of the 1300 companies and about 55% of the 56,000 company-sponsored workers participating in the Skills Programme for Upskilling and Resilience (SPUR) are from the manufacturing sector, for example.

Several of these students were sponsored by Murata Electronics Singapore, one of the first companies to come onboard SPUR. One example is Abdul Hamid bin Naina Mohamed. A storekeeper earning $1500 a month, he underwent training for a (WSQ-recognised) Certificate in Generic Manufacturing Skills (Logistics) last year.

The training helped Naina Mohamed to secure a new job within Murata, even before the course was completed. He is now working as an Assistant Warehouse Supervisor, with a salary of $1700 a month. He has also been given wider reporting responsibilities, with six to 10 safety representative officers under his supervision.

ComfortDelgro Engineering has also taken advantage of the SPUR programme. It has sent 75 of its staff (11% of the full workforce) for training under the Certified Operations Specialist course.