ST Engineering's Aerospace Sector has been working with the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) to prepare its workers for the future industry.
In fact, the company and union were one of the first to form a company training committee (CTC) in September last year.
The goal – to ensure all its employees are digitally-skilled to move together with the company towards becoming a more technologically advanced and SMART Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) provider.
Some 388 staff have attended a customised SkillsFuture Digital Workplace course provided by NTUC LearningHub, with 600 expected to complete the course by the end of this year. Meanwhile, 60 staff have attended a Personal Effectiveness in the Digital Workplace course.
The training committee has also been hard at work to review and redesign jobs to ensure training plans align with the company’s SMART MRO initiatives.
We recently met up with three workers who have attended the SFDW course and are currently using new technology at ST Engineering.
When Hoo Soon first joined the company, he didn’t know much about aerospace.
He spent the next 28 years learning as much as he could to do his job well. Today, he takes care of the repair and services for aircraft components such as aircraft cockpit display units.
As a team leader, part of his job is to ensure his team meets deadlines to return components to clients in time.
His department has implemented two systems that help him and his team be more efficient and productive – the E-HIRA and E-eval. Both of which Hoo Soon has learnt to use with in-house training.
The E-HIRA, which stands for Electronic Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, allows him to submit reports annually to a system for approval by the workshop manager and the quality assurance engineer via email.
Meanwhile, he uses the E-eval to do online quotations for job orders and log the findings of his evaluations on work done.
Both the systems have helped Hoo Soon eliminate the need to submit physical copies to the workshop manager for approvals.
“I believe training is good for workers. The industry is becoming more and more digitised. We can see it happening already. I hope I’ll be able to attend more digital training courses that can help me with my job,” said Hoo Soon.
Aziz oversees a team of 40 technicians and ensures the output and servicing of engines on the shop floor runs smoothly.
In his 41 years with the company, Aziz has seen technology change in leaps and bounds. Currently, his department uses robotics in place of the manual tasks technicians and mechanics had to do years ago.
“Over the years, the company has sent me for courses every time they implement new technology. Every year, I attend a few courses to keep up. I am also doing my own learning with the help of the internet,” said Aziz.
The latest technology he learnt to use is called the Engines’ Visual Information Systems (ENVIS), a system that captures all worksheets and relevant reference documents in a digital format.
“ENVIS replaces the paper format. Previously, everything had to be handwritten. We had to print the worksheets and write. Now we just go to the system and log in what we need to do, and it is captured digitally with a click of a button. The information then can be shared with others,” said Aziz.
Many mature workers are afraid that technology will replace them, said Aziz.
“I don’t think they need to be scared. Since we can't run away from technology, I always tell my team to think positive. New technology will always be there and it can help us do our jobs better. We need to accept it and learn how to work differently. We need to work smart,” he said.
Bee Hong started work at the company as a production operator in 1987. Today, she supervises a team of 42 workers.
In the past, Bee Hong had to update work schedules, and progress reports manually.
“We had to draw out the charts by hand. When we had to prepare several hard copies, we had to use a lot of paper. I think it was a waste of paper. It is much better today,” she said.
Today Bee Hong uses a computer programme called Systems, Applications and Products (SAP) to track and report work processes as well as record the overtime work for the workers in her department. She had to attend training to use the programme.
“Logging in any information from the start of the workday to end is now easy. We don’t have to run around checking with workers to get information anymore,” said Bee Hong.
She has also started to use Excel to update monthly target charts, instead of the hand-drawn charts previously.
With the technology, Bee Hong believes it has made her more efficient in carrying out her role as a supervisor, and she now hopes to go for more IT training.
