Singapore WDA Launches New Productivity And Innovation Course
Productivity and Innovation Course is aimed at grooming ‘productivity champions’ at Small To Medium Businesses.
The Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation and the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) have announced a new productivity and innovation course for managers called the Workforce Skills Qualification Certified Productivity and Innovation Manager (WSQ CPIM) programme.
The 5-month programme is aimed at developing productivity and innovation managers at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who can drive and raise the level of organisational productivity and innovation.
This will in turn lower operating costs, boost competitiveness and increase real wage growth. This comes as part of an overall strategy to boost productivity and sustain long-term economic growth.
The pioneer batch of students will be coached by Japanese consultants and mentored by larger, more successful companies.
WDA will fund up to 90% of course fees.
Productivity-driven Manufacturing Growth
Apart from deepening our manufacturing capability, it is also equally important that our manufacturing sector remains competitive. Even as our economy has grown steadily and our manufacturing sector has moved up the value chain, Singapore’s productivity has declined over the last decade. This downward trend in productivity growth needs to be checked to ensure that we remain competitive in the global business environment, and in turn ensure sustainable growth for our people. At the basic level, productivity is a measure of how much output you get for a given unit of input. Increasing your productivity means that you are producing more for what you put in, making you more competitive, and giving you more resources to grow your businesses and share with your employees. Hence, whether you are an SME or MNC, an employer or employee, increasing productivity makes you more competitive and enables real wage growth.
In the 1980s, we focused on increasing levels of efficiency through training and education. But since then, many of our competitors have caught up or have even exceeded our levels of efficiency. So, even as we continue to keep a keen eye on efficiency, we must also focus on creating more value through innovation. More value comes from creating better value products and services, and from entering new markets. We need to do this across the economy on a sustained national basis.
The Government is prepared to provide all the necessary support to facilitate this shift. We have set up a National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC), which I chair, to look at improving productivity across 12 priority sectors. Working Groups for each of these sectors have been formed made up of representatives from Government agencies, industry and the unions. They will study these sectors in detail and propose initiatives to raise productivity at the sector, enterprise and worker level. Four out of these 12 priority sectors, namely electronics, precision engineering, transport engineering and general manufacturing, fall squarely within the ‘Manufacturing’ sector and constitute nearly 14% of the GDP share, and 18% of employment share in Singapore. Apart from individual firms taking the initiative to make productivity improvements, trade and business associations such as the Singapore Manufacturer’s Federation, will also play an important role. In partnership with the government, they will help formulate robust and effective productivity plans for your sectors. This could include helping to study productivity gaps of industry, identify common indicators for benchmarking and share best practices within the industry.
In this regard, the SMa is already taking on a crucial role in helping our manufacturing industry to achieve higher productivity and move onto the next level of growth. I understand SMa has been working with the Workforce Development Agency and the Association for Operations Management to develop corporate training programmes that will help boost productivity outcomes. For example, the Workforce Skills Qualification (or WSQ) Certified Productivity and Innovations Manager (CPIM) programme aims to develop change agents within companies to achieve measurable productivity outcomes. Japanese professional consultants will be engaged to mentor the pioneer batch of participants in specific areas, such as the re-engineering of specific business or manufacturing processes.
SMa is also working with SPRING Singapore to make such training more mobile and accessible. They aim to nurture a pool of roaming productivity managers to help SMEs upgrade their processes, especially those with fewer than 10 employees. At the same time, SMa is collaborating with A*Star’s commercialisation arm, Exploit Technologies, to roll out angel investment management initiatives. These initiatives aim to support promising start-ups and SMa member companies in creating innovative products by providing better access to angel investors and technology developments.
Topics: 2010, Asia, business, clean energy, consumers, economic development, economic growth, Economy, education, employment, energy, environment, exports, Governance, government, green manufacturing, innovation, jobs, low carbon economy, materials, moniter, monitor, news, Pacific, productivity, productivity champions, renewable energy, SEC, Singapore, SMA, SMEs, South East Asia, students, trade, WDA, Workforce Development Agency, Workforce Skills Qualification, Workforce Skills Qualification Certified Productivity and Innovation Manager programme, WSQ, WSQ CPIM
Print This Article in Plain Text
|
|
Latest Headlines
- Osama Bin Laden Dead?
- Florida To Share $1 Billion For Gulf Coast Restoration Efforts
- Texas Prays For Rain During Extreme Drought Conditions
- Governor Christie Takes Action To Reduce Diesel Emissions, Improve Air Quality
- Governor McDonnell Outlines Draft Transportation Improvement Program
- Alaska Energy Bill Passes Legislature
- Illinois State Building Receives ENERGY STAR Award
- Homeland Security Begins Using National Terrorism Advisory System
- U.S. Outlines New Health Insurance Options For Graduating College Students
- Electrolux Expands In North Carolina, To Create 200 Jobs In Charlotte
- Virginia Storm Victims To Receive Tax Extension
- U.S. Expands Broadband Investment For Rural Areas To Accelerate Job Creation
- U.S. To Invest $130 Million For Advanced Energy Research
- Michigan Passes “I’m Sorry” Bill
- Kentucky Sells Two State Aircraft To Save Taxpayer Dollars
