The practice of skills development within South African companies has been taken to new heights, following the ongoing implementation of a comprehensive employee training programme by Daimler Chrysler over the past two years.
Johan Englebrecht, logistics manager at Daimler Chrysler and the man behind this, wanted to develop a comprehensive personal development programme which could encompass all staff members.
He selected the internationally accredited SAPICS education programme as the set of qualifications most likely to benefit both Daimler Chrysler and its individual employees. The SAPICS training is being provided by Tshumisano, the empowerment partner of JSE-listed CS Holdings` CS Education Solutions division.
Daimler Chrysler considers this to be a success story in the making, with some advanced participants already reading towards the European Senior Logistician Degree offered by Pretoria University as an outcome of the training.
The programme is ongoing, with 50 courses still booked to run within the company. "Daimler Chrysler is now actively encouraging their suppliers to implement a similar `career path` of qualifications within their companies, as they are already seeing results in the service levels of their employees, and in employee loyalty," says Reuben Badana, MD of Tshumisano and a director of CS Education Solutions. "Employees not only feel valued by the company, but now that they have a comprehensive understanding of the importance of their role within the company, they feel pride in their work and perform accordingly. This is a win-win situation."
Following the success of this programme within Daimler Chrysler, other members of the Motor Industry Cluster (MIC) are considering the implementation of the same programme within their companies.
"Once other members of the service, retail and manufacturing industries see the results of this programme within the motor trade, we expect many more to emulate their example. This service education is now being recognised as being of high quality and international standards. SA still has a long way to go with its skills development, but we anticipate other large forward-looking companies will follow similar structured programmes to their benefit," concludes Badana.
Approximately 170 Daimler Chrysler staff members are currently earmarked to go through the SAPICS programme, according to their management level within the company. Those on a supervisory level are doing the Introductory Level Certificate, for which students study the basics of production and inventory management, store and stock control, fundamentals of materials management and basic skills in numeracy.
Lower middle management takes it a step further by completing the SAPICS Certificate, which covers supply chain management, principles of production inventory management, warehousing, inventory management in practice, finance for non-financial managers and purchasing and transport, equipping the qualified student at this level to deal with the entire logistical side of the business.
Those holding a middle-management position complete the SAPICS Diploma. This covers five subjects, including master planning of resources; sales and operation plans; demand management; master production schedules, including rough cut capacity planning, and lastly, strategic management of resources, which explores a spectrum ranging from the relationship of existing and emerging processes and technologies, through to manufacturing strategy and supply chain related functions, such as aligning resources with the strategic plan, configuring and integrating operating processes for a strategic plan, and implementing change.
Graduates of the diploma are immediately in a position to write the internationally recognised CPIM (Certificate in Production and Inventory Management) through APICS. This examination is currently written in approximately 40 countries and has been attained by around 100 000 people worldwide, of which approximately 1 050 are in SA. Upper middle management is then awarded credits towards the European Senior Logistician Degree offered by Pretoria University, and top management is expected to complete an MBA.
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