By Shukry Rashid
The Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Employees’ Union (SMEEU), Sembcorp Marine and the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute (OTCi) co-organised an NTUC Learning Journey to Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard on 29 September 2015.
More than 40 union leaders, including NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing, President Diana Chia and Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How, learned how the new facility leverages on modern production processes to increase output and how layout optimisation improves productivity.
The facility houses electrical and mechanical workshops, a dry dock – the biggest in Asia – and a dormitory with its ‘In-Yard Living’ concept.
Added Productivity
Sembcorp Marine has been investing over the years to innovate its processes and upgrade its equipment in a bid to increase productivity amid the labour crunch and tightened foreign manpower policies.
Its electrical workshop, for example, is teeming with advanced equipment such as the two new Baking Ovens with an incorporated timer. Compared to the old oven which took three hours to heat up to 130°C and had limited capacity, the new ovens now only need half the time to heat up and have a bigger capacity for drying components. In addition, the incorporated timer allows the operator to carry out other duties as manual intervention is now minimal.
The Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard will consolidate all of Sembcorp Marine’s other yards in Singapore into a single 206-hectare facility by 2024 to boost productivity. Currently in its first of three phases, the present 73.3-hectare yard sits on reclaimed land.
Employees Benefit Most
One employee who is seeing the benefits of the productivity improvements is 61-year-old Machinery Technical Engineer Nalappan Mariappan who supervises a team of 25 workers that perform a wide variety of tasks.
“For example, the removal of a propeller was previously performed manually by a team of eight to 10 men, and it took them eight to 10 hours. With the implementation of automated machinery and hydraulic tools, the same task now only requires four men and four to six hours.”
Mr Mariappan, who is also SMEEU’s Vice-President, started working in 1975 as a trainee and rose through the ranks with the help of skills upgrading opportunities provided by the company.
The ‘In-Yard-Living’ Concept
The facility, with its ‘In-Yard Living’ concept, is equipped with dormitories that can accommodate more than 9,000 foreign workers and has an array of amenities like an Automated Teller Machine, a centralised kitchen that prepares meals at a subsidised rate, and even laundry services for uniforms to free up workers’ time.
While the facilities seem commendable, SMEEU is constantly trying to deliver the best to the workers. The union is still working on one such request from workers – the possibility of having remittance services within the dormitory.
Having an in-house remittance service would mean the workers will save on their free time as they will not have to travel a long way to Boon Lay, which is the nearest remittance service available.
Source: NTUC This Week
