 | |
Penang Skills Development Centre - Malaysia
Source: Penang Skills Development Centre
A joint effort of government, academia and industry, the Penang Skills development Centre (PSDC) is unquestionably unique. Although initiated by the State Government through Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and aided by academia, management, expertise and administration is left to the industry.
The centre operates as a non-profit organisation and invites membership from the industry. Participating companies pool their resources together to help plan, design and conduct an extensive range of training programs directly relevant to immediate and forecasted needs. This enables the PSDC to offer the most cost-effective training for the industry and at the same time bridge the gap between skills taught in public institutions and skills required on the job.During the early 80s, Penang and the Northern Region of Malaysia experienced exponential growth, thanks largely to the rapid industrialisation and resulting value-added products and services created by the manufacturing sector. At that time, priority was to welcome foreign investments to help take care of the State's industrialisation.Thousands of youths were employed for their manual dexterity - educational backgrounds and skills were secondary. Today Penang has been transformed into a producer of some of the most sophisticated microchips and electronic equipment in the world. However as the local manpower market began to shrink, multinational corporations were compelled to transform their workforce. Steps were immediately taken to provide a venue to spearhead the transformation.
Through the ingenious effort to attract more engineers and higher-level technicians, the then Chief Minister of Penang, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, through the Penang Development Corporation brought together MNCs to create the Penang Skills Development Centre in May 1989.
The Centre of Excellence (CoE) was setup to facilitate effective utilisation of resources amongst manufacturing and service industries. CoE promotes training and educational programs to support the operational requirements of the manufacturing industry.
The Global Supplier Program(GSP) managed by the CoE iscurrentlythe de facto SMI development program in Malaysia and is endorsed by SMI Development Corporation.
Introduction
Manufacturing has been the main engine of growth in Malaysia, and Penang in particular. The initial success of this sector driven by direct foreign investment and the MNCs has resulted in the emergence of local companies. As a result, many SMIs now play a very important role in ensuring that MNCs remain competitive globally. The ability and capacity of SMIs to provide world-class products and services in the supply chain will help reduce the cost and dependency of MNCs to import these materials. Thus, as corporations strive to reduce cost and cycle time in the ever competitive global economy, large corporations are compelled to assist in the development of their local suppliers to grow in tandem with their business.
It is with this objective that the Global Supplier Program or better known as GSP and the Services Suppliers Program, or SSP, was conceived and developed. The GSP and SSP is based on a strategic partnership between PSDC and the MNCs aimed at upgrading the capability of local companies to be world-class suppliers of services and materials, not only to the MNCs in Malaysia but globally.Vision
Local companies to be world-classsupplier of services and materials.
Mission
To develop and upgrade capability of local companies through training and smart partnerships with MNCs. The GSP involves two initiatives:
The First Initiative
consists oftraining in critical skills and competencies to adopt and use new technologies. The focus is on quality and productivity. There are three levels of trainin : CoreCom 1, IS 2 and AS 3.
In the spirit of "Shared Learning of Best Practices", the training modules are contributed by the following MNCs:
- Agilent Technology
- Astec
- Eng Teknologi
- Robert Bosch
- Fairchild Semiconductor
- Komag
- Intel
- Motorola
- Penang Seagate
For ease of understanding, case studies and examples shown during training sessions are actual cases within the various MNCs.
To ensure that there is a linkage between training and supplier development, all trainers come from participating MNCs. The trainers selected are technical personnel with many years of "hands-on" experience. In this way, the MNC trainers can then audit the work done by their suppliers as well as evaluate the effectiveness of the training they conduct.
Participants are expected to go through the CoreCom 1 before embarking on IS 2. Case studies and examples shown are actual industrial practices.
The focus on this third level is more on design and simulation. To develop these modules, PSDC would work with researchers, designers from the MNCs as well as the academia.
The Second Initiative
This is the linkage program where MNCs adopt local companies and guide them for upgrading in leadership skills and technology.
The selection criteria for this program will be dependent on the "conditions" agreed upon between the MNC and the identified local supplier. It would be a long-term commitment of up to 2 years with regular reviews between the MNCs and the SMIs to ensure deliverables are met.This initiative calls for investment of time and commitment of both the large corporations and SMIs. The success of this linkage would be apparent when suppliers have attained the level of competency and become global players themselves.
Todate, nine (9) MNCs have agreed to adopt one or two SMIs. On 7th April 2000, an MoU was signed between the eight (8) MNCs and nine (SMIs) on the GSP Linkage. This MoU was witnessed by YB Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry Malaysia and YAB Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the Chief Minister of Penang. The following companies were involved:
|
MNCs |
SMIs |
|
|
GSP has been endorsed by the Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (SMIDEC) as a workable model to develop and nurture new potential suppliers. SMIDEC is a specialised agency set up under the Ministry of International Trade & Industry to enhance SME productivity and efficiency through HR development and other services. The training programs under GSP are subsidised by SMIDEC's skills upgrading grant.
Local companies with 51% Malaysian equity with a full-time Malaysian workforce of 150 employees and below and with a sales turnover of not more than RM25 million per year is entitled to an automatic 50% reduction in course fees. Companies participating in SMIDEC approved programs for the first time are eligible for free training for 5 employees.
[Top]