11,000 more Singaporeans to get government training

The “SME Quality Initiatives to Assist, Nurture and Grow” or SME Qiang aims to boost productivity by 10% over a year.

The program will come under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications system.

According to a release, the customised productivity and innovation training programme was developed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency or WDA and the Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation or SMa.

The landmark new programme for SMEs was launched by Minister of State for Trade & Industry and National Development, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, at the 2nd Singapore Productivity and Innovation Conference held at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

SME Qiang is a suite of WSQ modules bundled with a Productivity Improvement Project, and its training modules are tailored specifically to address the needs of SMEs who needed more customized and contextualized training to address their specific challenges of optimising output despite having small workforce and infrastructure capacities.

Senior management will be able to acquire productivity concepts and knowledge, while workers identified to be productivity agents within the SMEs will learn about implementing Lean Six Sigma concepts through a Productivity Improvement Project under the guidance of Black Belt Consultants. These productivity change agents will also learn to sustain the companies’ productivity drive by setting up a productivity framework within each company.

SMa Secretary-General Mr Gwee Seng Kwong said, “Among the companies that have completed the WSQ CPI Manager programme, we have noted an average productivity growth of 15 per cent. Based on this result, we are confident that SME Qiang can help SMEs raise their productivity by an average of 10 per cent over a year. This is about five times the national productivity target of 2-3% per year. Given that SMEs make up 99 per cent of the local enterprise population, SMa believes that this programme will have a far-reaching effect on the local productivity level.”

Besides productivity WSQ training, WDA and SMa have also collaborated with the Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC) to include a module on bizSAFE in SME Qiang, which educates companies on how workplace safety and health can increase productivity and make good business sense. This module will also prepare companies for the Workplace Safety and Health Act when it is enforced on all organisations in September 2011.

Photo credit: Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation