New Skills Framework for Logistics covers a total of 85 competencies

As part of the government's push to accelerate transformation across the logistics sector, a new Skills Framework for Logistics has been launched by SkillsFuture Singapore at the grand opening of Supply Chain City last Friday.

The skills framework for logistics will help employers recognise these skills and invest in training their employees for career development and skills upgrading.

The framework contains information on employment, career pathways, occupations/job roles, skills and competencies, and training programmes. The key components include:

• Sector information which provides information on key statistics, trends and workforce profiles in the sector.
• Career pathways which depicts the pathways for vertical and lateral progression for advancement and growth in six areas - warehouse management and operations; transportation management and operations; freight forwarding and operations; sales and customer service; logistics solutioning and programme management; and logistics process improvement and information system.
• Occupations and job roles which covers a total of 85 existing and emerging technical skills and competencies, 18 generic skills and competencies, and their respective descriptions. Some emerging skills identified include data and statistical analytics, automation design and cloud computing application.
• Training programmes for skills upgrading and mastery which provides information on training programmes to help aspiring individuals and in-service employees acquire skills necessary for various jobs.

The announcement comes on the back of the Logistics Industry Transformation Map (ITM), and are results of collective efforts across agencies such as International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), SPRING Singapore (SPRING) and Workforce Singapore (WSG).

Speaking at the opening, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "If this ITM is successful, and we must make it succeed, by 2020, the logistics industry should achieve a value-add of S$8.3 billion and create 2,000 new PMET jobs. Some of these will demand different and deeper skills from today, because new technologies and new ways of work become mainstream. Therefore, our companies must also invest in people, to develop talent, retrain their staff and nurture deep knowledge and soft skills."

Photo / 123RF