Sending employees for skills training and upgrading is one of the key strategies recommended in the Tripartite Guidelines for Managing Excess Manpower.

To help companies with this strategy, the tripartite partners comprising the government, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) rolled out the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) on 1 December 2008.

SPUR, a two-year programme leveraging on the extensive Continuing Education and Training (CET) system built over the years, helps employers and workers cope with manpower and employment challenges during the downturn. It encourages employers like you to send your employees for training and upgrade their skills. That way, when the economy recovers, you will have a more capable and competitive workforce better able to seize new opportunities.

Lean Manufacturing Systems

Lean manufacturing systems are aimed towards attaining the shortest cycle time by eliminating waste. Instead of allotting resources that would be required for future production, lean manufacturing systems focus on decreasing system response time so that the production system is able to immediately change and adapt to market demands. Lean systems are customer driven, as products are produced only for a specific customer instead of being added to inventory. This is done using One Piece Flow. In One Piece Flow, a part is put through the first process and immediately handed off to the second process. The second process is completed on the part and it is given to the third process, which is then completed and so on. The goal of this type of process is that there is no batch or build-up of parts at any given stage in the process.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aligns business operations with social values. CSR integrates the interests of stakeholders—all of those affected by a company’s conduct—into the company’s business policies and actions. CSR focuses on the social, environmental, and financial success of a company—the triple bottom line, with the goal being to positively impact society while achieving business success.

In the past, a company’s merit was solely based on its financial performance. Stakeholders are now beginning to better understand how corporate behavior affects social, political, and natural environments. With this increase in understanding comes an increased pressure from investors, consumers, and employees for companies to consider social and environmental criteria when making business decisions.