BY GWENDOLYN NG

EMPLOYERS such as Makino Asia president Moh Chong Tau are committed to sending their employees for training, even though the government training subsidy that has been defraying its cost is being reduced.

The Manpower Ministry and Singapore Workforce Development Agency's Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) will end its run in November.

But Dr Moh, whose company makes advanced machine tools and who has sent about 200 of his employees for Spur training, said yesterday: "We will still continue to send our employees for training...it's important to keep up with the times."

Also yesterday, Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong explained that "with the economy stabilising, it is timely to phase out Spur and adopt more targeted measures to support economic restructuring and enhance productivity".

The two-year Spur scheme was started in 2008 as a "temporary measure to address the economic downturn", he said at the Precision Engineering Workforce Skills Qualification diploma graduation ceremony at Singapore Polytechnic.

Mr Gan said the Government will invest about $2.5 billion to grow the Continuing Education and Training (CET) system over the next five years.

The next major priority for CET will be expanding coverage for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET), he added. One move will be increasing the number of funded courses for PMETs from the 300 currently available.

Another measure, which will also support the national push to raise productivity, is the Productivity Initiatives in Services and Manufacturing (Prism), whose launch Mr Gan announced yesterday.

Prism will offer a series of productivity- related programmes, such as master classes, seminars and training courses.

Over the next two years, it is hoped that the $3-million initiative will equip 1,000 managerial- and supervisory-level staff with the tools and know-how to help drive productivity.

This will include teaching the use of such well-known techniques as Six Sigma, Lean Management and business process re-engineering.

nggwen@sph.com.sg

For more my paper stories click here.