Of late, the industry has realised the importance of workforce training and its impact on efficiency and productivity of a plant. SkillSonics is a Knowledge Partner to the cement industry. It has focused on developing industry-specific content for workforce training.
Increasing plant and machinery uptime is critical in any industry. In a process industry, like cement, the impact of machinery downtime on the bottom line is direct by productivity calculations. Further, preventive maintenance and ongoing maintenance practices determine plant uptime. The philosophy of preventive maintenance, personnel safety and safety practices when addressed early and on a continuous basis, increases morale and has a direct impact on plant uptime and profitability.
As manufacturing processes become more complex, it is imperative that investment made in equipment must be matched by investments in training of the workforce on a continuous basis. The impact of a trained workforce in the industry cannot be overestimated. While organisations focus on capacity building, it is preventive maintenance and up-to-date maintenance practices with an emphasis on safety and workforce well-being that keep plants running smoothly.
Background
India is the second largest producer of cement in the world. The industry provides employment to over 1 million people directly or indirectly. The top 20 cement companies account for 70 per cent of the cement production in India, and 188 large cement plants account for 97 per cent of the total installed capacity in the country. With infrastructure and housing requirements set to grow and large projects being encouraged by the government, the demand for cement is set to rise significantly. To meet the rise in demand, cement companies are expected to add 56 million tonnes (MT) capacity over the next three years, and cement capacity is projected to grow at 8 per cent by next year, to reach a total of 421 MT by the end of 2017.
With the role of cement in the government?s growth plan being so critical, training of manpower in the cement industry takes on serious dimensions. This training of existing manpower to world class manufacturing standards by upgrading their skills will have a direct impact on productivity and safety in the industry.
How SkillSonics was formed
In Sep 2011, SkillSonics was formed in continuity to the pilot project of the Swiss-Indian Vocational Education and Training Initiative, as a private company to create a self-sustainable model for spreading the Swiss Vocational Education and Training model in India. SkillSonics entered into exclusive cooperation agreements with SFIVET and Swissmem, government and industry bodies in this field, for India and Sri Lanka.
SkillSonics has equity participation from the Indian Government-promoted National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) and a long-term loan for scaling up the model in India, which was approved in Sep 2013. SkillSonics has also tied up with Industry Associations CII and FICCI to promote Skills Development in India.
Skills Development for the Cement Industry
SkillSonics India Private Limited is a Knowledge Partner to the Cement Industry. Recognising the importance of a workforce trained to international standards and the impact this would have on the efficiency and productivity of a cement plant, SkillSonics focused on developing industry-specific content for the Cement Industry.
It provides services in 4 main areas:
1.Skills Consulting
- SkillSonics assists cement companies by offering specially tailored courses for skills up-gradation, with industry-specific course content.
- SkillSonics has designed courses for the cement industry covering the areas of maintenance and safety.
- It conducts a skills gap analysis for individual plants and workforce in order to identify needs.
- It undertakes quality audits to ensure that the standards set are being met.
- It ensures course management and monitoring on a continuous basis to ensure the training programs are run as per schedule and quality of training is at the desired levels.
2.Content Licensing
- SkillSonics licenses the content it has developed to companies for training purposes.
- Courses for the cement industry are available as basic modules and advanced modules.
- They consist of an emphasis on practical work backed with appropriate theory.
- These can be short term courses allowing organisations to train their workforce in batches.
- These courses have been designed by SkillSonics to ensure the existing workforce in an organization has enhanced knowledge and are abreast with the latest equipment and tools that are used in the specific industry.
3.?Train the Trainer? Workshops
- SkillSonics training methodology is based on Swiss pedagogy and didactics by a team of quality master trainers who have been trained by SFIVET-Switzerland.
- SkillSonics conducts ?Train the Trainers? programs allowing organidations to use their existing trainers or domain specialists after they have been trained in imparting the course content.
4.Assessment and Certification
SkillSonics has an assessment and certification team and SkillSonics certificates are given to persons who complete the training successfully.A comprehensive approach
SkillSonics focused on two main areas: Cement Plant Maintenance and Safety. These key aspects were found to have a direct impact on plant operations, output, and personal well being.
SkillSonics? courses are designed in such a way as to impart comprehensive training on specific skills that are required on a production floor in a particular industry, with a combination of theory with practical work.
The Classroom work includes lectures, group work, classroom demos, and classroom exercises using various audio-visual and other tools, while practical sessions include demos at the site, practical exercises, and field demonstrations.
With plant automation the focus area of managements, and productivity criteria assuming greater significance, upgrading the skills of the existing workforce in the Cement Industry becomes of increasing importance. SkillSonics? courses have been designed by experts to meet this growing need.
For further information contact:
raghu.rao@skillsonics.com
(Communication by the management of the company)