At food supply company Beng Hup Seng, older workers had to manually carry 50 to 70 cartons of dehydrated garlic that weighed 26 kilogrammes each.
They had to do this when loading the cartons on to trucks to be sent to various food establishments on a regular basis.
The company located at the FoodXchange @ Admiralty has seven older workers who process and distribute food ingredients. In fact, older workers form the majority of its workforce of ten staff.
Workplace Improvements
Things are better for the older workers now with WorkPro, a scheme for employers to foster progressive and age-friendly workplaces and jobs.
Beng Hup Seng’s Managing Director Vincent Cheam heard about WorkPro at a business event and ended up working with NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employment Institute) to make workplace improvements.
e2i CEO Gilbert Tan recently visited the company to check on their progress.
Instead of manual carrying, workers now use a reach truck to push the dehydrated garlic from the loading bay to the chilled storage. This reduces the workers’ physical exertion and minimises the risk of workplace accidents.
The company is also investing in an automated 200 litres cooking stirrer to prepare the garlic and chilli paste.
Currently, the mixing and stirring of the soup base and chilli paste is intensive and laborious and the automated machine will cut down the fatigue amongst workers and speed up the preparation.
Good Example
Mr Tan noted that Beng Hup Seng is a good example of a small and medium enterprise (SME) that is tapping on older workers to overcome manpower challenges and taking advantage of WorkPro.
“The company is chancing on the sweet spot of automation to attract, utilise and deploy older workers. In this way, the business can grow and succeed. My call to SMEs is to use WorkPro as a tool to redesign their processes to enhance competitiveness and profitability,” he added.
Source: NTUC This Week
