Press Release - Strong Partnership between ITE and Industry for Workplace Learning and Workforce Training

ITE Industry Partnership Forum 2021 highlights importance of industry partnership for raising workforce capability and fuelling business transformation

ITE’s training for a skilled workforce has gone beyond its classrooms and into the workplace.  ITE has been partnering companies to level up the skills of their existing employees, while training current ITE trainees with industry-relevant skills via workplace learning. Today, ITE held the ITE Industry Partnership Forum, bringing together thought leaders, industry partners and ITE COJTC (Certified On-the-Job Training Centre) companies to share their workplace training experiences and to seek fresh opportunities to work together on training and innovative projects. The Forum is a platform where ITE engages the industry, providing them with a comprehensive view of ITE’s capabilities, collaboration opportunities and workforce development schemes. 

Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Culture, Community and Youth, was the Guest-of-Honour at the hybrid event that saw over 400 participants. 

Enhancements to ITE COJTC Scheme

Since 1994, ITE has been working with industry partners to establish in-house on-the-job (OJT) training systems. The ITE COJTC scheme provides companies with a structured framework for training, which includes identifying skills gaps and mapping out training objectives and desired employees' competencies. Through the ITE COJTC Scheme, ITE has partnered industry to train an average of 35,000 workers annually, and some 350 companies have currently been accorded the COJTC status.  

ITE announced enhancements to its COJTC framework at the Forum. Firstly, ITE will support companies in developing an OJT blueprint that provides a streamlined view of work processes and lists the tasks required for the various job roles. Secondly, ITE will place stronger emphasis on equipping company trainers in pedagogic skills through ITE’s Train-the-Trainer (TTT) programme. ITE will also be issuing digitalised certificates to employees who have completed their OJT training. With these enhancements, the ITE COJTC Scheme can better meet the needs of industry and support workplace learning for companies. 

Role Models for Company Trainers

Every year, ITE trains more than 1,200 company trainers through the ITE TTT programme. Some went on to attain the ITE Certified Industry Trainer certificate, while a select few received the ITE Advanced Certified Industry Trainer (ACIT) certificate. These qualified trainers will undertake key training, coaching and assessing of workplace learners at their organisations. 

At the Forum, three company trainers were recognised for their abilities to develop and implement training systems in a holistic and integrated manner for their companies. These following trainers were awarded the ITE ACIT certificate at the Forum:

• Mr Mohamad Ghazali, Operations Executive, Performance Rotors Pte Ltd

• Ms Sephora Chua, Operations Executive, Performance Rotors Pte Ltd

• Ms Rajamony Sumathi, Staff Nurse, St. Joseph’s Home

In order to achieve the ACIT, these recipients would have met the requirements of having both academic and professional qualifications, relevant experience in conducting OJT training after completion of the TTT programme, and passed an interview assessment by a panel comprising an industry representative, an associate trainer and key representatives from ITE.

Industry Collaboration to Build Skilled Workforce

As a demonstration of ITE’s drive to partner industry in training a skilled workforce, ITE signed six Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with industry partners from the aerospace, manufacturing, logistics and energy sectors. These partners are:

• GlobalFoundries Inc Singapore

• Katoen Natie Singapore (Jurong) Pte Ltd

• Micron Semiconductor Asia Operations Pte Ltd

• Omron Electronics Pte Ltd

• Sunseap Group Pte Ltd

• Volocopter Asia Holding Pte Ltd 

Through these new partnerships, ITE will continue to equip students with relevant skills, and keep its staff and training programmes up-to-date. The MOUs will also provide opportunities for ITE students to learn at the workplace and gain career opportunities through internships, industry projects and workplace training. 

Supporting Industry to Leverage on Technology

ITE also engages in workplace innovations with industry to boost company performance. For example, the Technology Development Centre at ITE College Central worked with Markono Print Media Pte Ltd to digitalise the outputs of their legacy machines, by tapping data from various sensors of a range of high-speed machines. With the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies, data such as temperature, humidity, and utilisation rate are collated for data analysis, leading to increased productivity. 

Through such collaborations, companies can take steps towards digitalisation and use new technology to enhance productivity and efficiency. Six of such industry projects (as listed in the Annex) were on display at the Forum, where industry partners could get a sense of ITE’s capabilities in supporting their companies in the use of technology for productivity. 

Sharing of Experiences on Workplace Training

Participants gained an insight into workplace training through a keynote presentation by Mr Xavier Nietlisbach, Head of Education, FREI Connect, Switzerland, on Apprenticeship-based Learning and Workplace Training in Switzerland. The audience also learned more about the ITE COJTC Scheme, as ITE’s industry partners, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd and dnata Singapore (Emirates Group) shared their COJTC experiences, and how their companies had benefited from the Scheme. 

Annex

List of Industry Projects Showcased

at ITE Industry Partnership Forum 2021

Project 1: Digitalisation of Legacy Machines for Industry 4.0 Application and Productivity

Project Team: Technology Development Centre, ITE College Central

Partner Company: Markono Print Media Pte Ltd

Most legacy machines are not web-based and monitoring of the process parameters and outputs of these machines are very difficult as technical service support is not easily available. As such, this hinders productivity as well as Industry 4.0 implementation. ITE’s Technology Development Centre assisted the local printing company to digitalise the outputs of their legacy machines, by tapping data from various sensors of a range of high-speed machines. These data were then collated to their dashboard where data analysis were made leading to productivity enhancement and for the Industry 4.0 transformation of their processes.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

This plug and play system, fully developed by ITE’s Technology Development Centre eases digitalisation of legacy equipment for data analysis at the manufacturing floor.

Project 2: IoT Enabled Contactless Door System with Auto Disinfection

Project Team: School of Electronics & Info-comm Technology and School of Engineering, ITE College Central

Partner Company: EcoPlus Manufacturing Pte Ltd

During the COVID-19 pandemic, EcoPlus was tasked by customers to look into innovative solutions to reduce the spread of virus, especially in toilets where there are many touch point areas. Two ITE lecturers worked on the consultancy project with Ecoplus. The system is designed and built with touch-free features to reduce virus spread through a contactless and automatic sanitary door open and close mechanism for the toilet. In addition, the safety features are built in to automatically detect the door jamming during the opening and closing process. The system will trigger the disinfection of the door using UV light after a pre-set duration. The system is also integrated with an IoT dashboard to keep track of the door frequency usage and alerts the supervisor whenever abnormal operation is detected (e.g. User is in the washroom for a prolonged duration). The design is compact and aesthetically appealing compared to existing solutions in the market.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

• A new IoT enabled autonomous contactless sanitary door driving mechanism.

• Built-in auto UV disinfect mechanism that is triggered after a certain frequency of use.

• Real Time Dashboard for facility manager to understand and analyse the toilet usage at glance.

• Alerts system to send alerts for abnormal situation like toilet lock for more than 30 minutes, for attention of facility manager.

Project 3: Autonomous Vehicle Assisted Stock Taking System @VAST

Project Team: Technology Development Centre, ITE College East

Partner Company: Sankyu (Singapore) Pte Ltd

A warehouse physical inventory is a common requirement for a periodic inventory system, and may be required as part of a company's annual audit. This tedious and manpower intensive job which must be performed annually, can be done by an Autonomous Drone. The drone can do the counting remotely with an on-board camera and can also reach shelves at greater heights faster and safer. This improves the productivity of warehouse crew by reducing the downtime of a company, and saves cost in recruiting manpower during an annual physical inventory. With the support of Enterprise Singapore and Sankyu (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the project team embarked on the development of a DJI M100 Drone to navigate autonomously in warehouse environment while collecting data with the on-board camera.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

• To improve speed and accuracy of stock taking in a warehouse, drone was used to assist warehouse operations team during inventory taking.

• With the DJI matrice 100 Drone as the technology base, a SICK LMS7xx LiDar was integrated for its navigation control, a pair of 915MHz and 488MHz radio transceivers for communications and feedback control, an Intel Upboard for its onboard processing unit. A proof of concept application was designed, built and piloted at our industry partner’s location.

Project 4: Cognition Assessment by Virtual Reality (CAVIRE)

Project Team: Technology Development Centre, ITE College West

The project team worked with a healthcare organisation for this innovation. The current method of assessment on cognitive-impaired patients is rigorous and monotonous. Using Virtual Reality technology, CAVIRE can automate the scoring and assessment of the six cognitive domains (complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual-motor function and social cognition) based on task-performances in suspected cognitive-impaired patients. It will improve productivity and encourage more elderly people to take part in an assessment from a questionnaire-based system, or in a gamified assessment with simulated 3D scenario, which provides a more immersive experience.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

Employing Virtual Reality technology to deliver realistic and immersive experience together with Voice Control for interaction.

Project 5: Lyophilization Technology for Flower Preservation

Project Team: Technology Development Centre & College Services, ITE College West

Partner Company: Woon Leng Nursery

This project is done in collaboration with an industry partner, Woon Leng Nursery to recycle the orchids by growing them at a controlled temperature and use of carbon dioxide for faster yield of flower blooming from 9 months to 4.5 months. This project uses Lyophilization technology to preserve cultivated orchids.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

Lyophilization technology is used to preserve cultivated orchids. It works by freezing the material, then reducing the pressure and adding heat to allow the frozen water in the material to sublimate. Such a technology is especially useful for preserving orchids or flowers which are rare or do not bloom often.

Project 6: Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS)

Project Team: School of Engineering, School of Applied Health & Sciences, and School of Electronics & Info-comm Technology / ITE College East

Partner Company: BOAT (Blue Ocean Aquaculture Technology)

In collaboration with industry partner, the schools in ITE College East are jointly setting up a High-Tech Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS) for intensive aquaculture, primarily farming Jade Perch. RAS is a system for fish production where water exchange is limited and biofiltration is required to maintain clean water that provides a suitable habitat for the fish. The main benefit of RAS is the ability to reduce the need for fresh, clean water while still maintaining a healthy environment for fish.

Unique Innovation/Technology:

The RAS will deploy IoT monitoring system for remote monitoring, leverage on data to monitor growth & yield of fish. Innovation in the following areas will be deployed:

• Enhancing Omega 3 oil yield from the fish through optimisation of the feed

• Solution to automate segregation of fish fry according to its size.

• Artificial Intelligence of Things (A-IoT) monitoring and fish feeding