Press release
Largest cohort of over 900 mid-careerists graduate with emerging skills in advanced manufacturing
24 November 2021
Eight new Continuing Education and Training programmes set to be launched, following good placement outcomes from existing programmes.
A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) held their 10th SIMTech-SSG Graduation Ceremony on 24 November, marking their largest-ever cohort of more than 900 Continuing Education and Training (CET) graduands. This includes over 170 SGUnited Skills Programme (SGUS) trainees. Guest-of-honour Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education and Manpower, also announced that eight new CET training programmes are set to be launched by SIMTech, providing Singaporeans with more pathways to equip themselves with in-demand emerging skills in Advanced Manufacturing.
This year’s graduands come from 28 training courses and seven SGUnited Skills Programmes (SGUS) in Advanced Manufacturing. Among the training programmes are the Digital Transformation & Innovation (DTI) Programme, and SGUnited Skills Programme for Additive Manufacturing, which allow mid-career individuals to pick up emerging skills such as digital roadmapping and 3D additive manufacturing respectively. These skills will prepare Singaporeans for opportunities in the age of Industry 4.0, and to build a globally competitive workforce that allows Singapore to position itself as an Advanced Manufacturing base in Asia, for the world.
Besides the ‘Most Inspiring Trainee’ and ‘Best Industry Partner’ awards, one new award category was added this year - the ‘Most Resilient SGUnited Skills Trainee’. The awards were given out to nine recipients, to recognise their efforts and performance throughout the training period, and their companies’ dedication in upskilling their staff and uplifting the competitiveness of the wider Advanced Manufacturing workforce. More information on these award recipients can be found in Annex A.
Mr Noor Muhammad bin Noor Khalid, one of the award recipients for Most Resilient SGUnited Skills Trainee, shared, “I had left my previous job in search of better learning opportunities. Now I’ve secured a job in robotics system development, which is an exciting growth area in Manufacturing”.
New CET programmes to further develop Advanced Manufacturing workforce
As of July 2021, SSG and SIMTech’s SGUnited Skills Programmes have enabled close to 60 percent of their enrolled trainees to secure employment. With guidance from the Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA), SIMTech will be introducing eight new CET programmes, to better equip Singaporeans for growing opportunities in roles related to areas such as Industrial Sustainability, and Micro-services for Next Generation Software Development, supporting Singapore’s aim to grow its manufacturing sector by 50 percent over the next 10 years. These SkillsFuture Credit-eligible programmes will provide opportunities for mid-careerists to deepen industry-relevant skills in Advanced Manufacturing. Details will be available at a later date.
Dr David Low, Executive Director of A*STAR’s SIMTech, said, “The manufacturing industry’s transformation is only going to accelerate as new technologies become more pervasive across the value chain. That is why we must continue to upskill and reskill our manufacturing workforce to prepare Singaporeans for new opportunities. We will continue to collaborate with SSG and the rest of the local ecosystem to help Singaporeans strengthen their Industry 4.0 capabilities to boost their competitiveness and add more value to businesses in the manufacturing sector.”
Mr Tan Kok Yam, Chief Executive of SSG, said, “I am heartened that our partnerships with training providers such as SIMTech delivers impactful and industry-relevant training to benefit Singaporeans and the manufacturing industry. We will continue to encourage and support continuous learning, to enable our workforce to thrive in the future economy.”
Annex A
Details of some of the award recipients at 10th SIMTech-SSG Graduation Ceremony
Table caption
Recipient Name | Award Category | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mr Simon Wong | Winner - Most Resilient SGUnited Skills Trainee | Simon joined the SGUnited Skills Programme for Advanced Welding Technologies Robotised Processes to enhance his welding related knowledge. He gained vast knowledge from it and was successfully employed by Cutech Quality and Solutions Pte Ltd as a welding engineer responsible for teaching welding related courses such as the American Welding Society’s (AWS) Certified Welding Inspector Course (CWI®), which is a popular course for Oil & Gas, Marine and Petrochemical industries. |
2 | Mr Poon Chiang-Ee, Shaun | 1st runner up - Most Resilient SGUnited Skills Trainee | Shaun joined the SGUS Additive Manufacturing programme. The course deepened his understanding in 3D printing technologies, and helped fulfil his keen interest in simulation studies. He is now a full-time employee in Bralco Advanced Materials. In this new job, he develops and optimises powder-bed AM processing parameters for different industrial use cases. |
3 | Mr Noor Muhammad bin Noor Khalid | 2nd runner up - Most Resilient SGUnited Skills Trainee | Noor Muhammad found employment in robotics systems development with the industry partner during the project module of his SGUnited Skills Programme for Industrial Automation. He had left his previous role as quality and reliability engineer in search of better opportunities and decided to take up the SGUnited Skills Programme. |
4 | Mr Ajay Jain | Winner - Most Inspiring Trainee | Ajay saw his potential as a driver of change as the Finance Director of HP Singapore. Upon completion of courses such as Digital Transformation and Innovation, he now advocates digital transformation within the organisation, and actively transfers the knowledge he has learnt to other colleagues. |
5 | Mr Hamid Sukendro | 1st runner up - Most Inspiring Trainee | Hamid joined the WSQ Graduate Diploma programme. He foundthe course to be very comprehensive, and particularly enjoyed the hands-on practices whereby he was exposed to the various Additive Manufacturing processes and characterisation equipment. The alternative manufacturing solutions and new digitalised manufacturing processing technologies helped him to stay relevant and competitive in this new day and age. |
6 | Mr Leong Yew Wing Mervin | 2ndrunner up - Most Inspiring Trainee | Mervin joined the welding Graduate Diploma programme.He picked up state-of-the-art techniques and learnt from useful real-world case studies during the course. He implemented concepts and techniques gained from the course to make improvements in work processes. He is currently leading a team to assess and evaluate Robotic Laser Cladding for his company to improve quality, reduce waste and increase accuracy in welding. The company is also planning to collaborate with SIMTech and a local company to implement the laser cladding process in their production line. |
7 | Collins Aerospace | Winner - Best Industry Training Partner (One of three winners in this category) | Collins Aerospace provides aircraft nacelle components maintenance, repair, and overhaul to commercial airlines customers in the Asia Pacific region. The company has sent a total of 76 trainees, including senior management and directors, to attend SIMTech’s Data Mining training programme. The programme provides a good understanding of the essentials of data analytics and data mining techniques for different manufacturing applications to improve product quality and manufacturing productivity. In one of the five key projects initiated after the training programme, the company was able to achieve an estimated 80 percent reduction of Design of Experiment costs through the application of data mining for peel strength. |
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