Artisan Training Institute partners with SA’s equipment export council to strengthen local manufacturing and skills development

[JOHANNESBURG]

The Artisan Training Institute (ATI) and the South African Capital Equipment Export Council (SACEEC) have secured a partnership that cements their mutual goal of fighting unemployment in South Africa.

This month, the two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would see them working closely together on overlapping issues, of which the most pressing is equipping South Africa’s unemployed youth with job-ready skills.

ATI is one of the biggest private engineering training providers in South Africa, while SACEEC has established itself as a major export council in the SADC region, promoting the exports of South African capital equipment, machinery, general engineering and agriculture equipment. The Council has exported to 87 countries globally, from Patagonia to Mongolia and New Zealand to Alaska.

“The partnership with ATI is a strategic fit for SACEEC,” says Eric Bruggeman, its managing director. “The growth of South Africa’s export market is intrinsically linked with the availability of South African skills to grow local manufacturing.”

SACEEC has embarked on an aggressive localisation drive, partly through its collaboration with the Gauteng Growth & Development Agency. In this capacity, the Council visits South African municipalities, supports them to buy locally-produced engineering equipment, and finds South African alternatives to global brands.

“We believe that amongst the municipalities alone, there is approximately R3-billion per year in capital equipment that could be supplied from South Africa. If you translate this figure to job creation, it is significant,” says Hugh Saunders, chief financial officer of SACEEC.

“For every R1-million South Africa spends locally, we create up to 10 jobs. R3-billion therefore equates to roughly 30,000 jobs per year,” Saunders continues.

To enable local uptake in South African capital equipment and other products, municipalities require a surge in the availability of engineering skills.

This is where SACEEC’s partnership with ATI is critical. The Institute trains on average 1,200 artisans per year, aiming to grow its output of skilled artisans through on-going engagement with industry, donors and government.

Through the MoU between the two parties, SACEEC will address its member organisations’ skills needs by matching it with ATI’s service offering. SACEEC will be sending over 30 learner artisans to ATI’s Roodepoort campus over the next eight to twelve months.

SACEEC visited ATI’s campus on 5 November to explore the details of the partnership. During the visit, Bruggeman said he has been impressed with ATI’s training facilities and staffing. “I’ve been to all the training centres on the East Rand and none of them compare to what we saw today,” he said during the meeting.

As an export Council, capital equipment exhibitions form an integral part of SACEEC’s strategy to grow local manufacturers’ business footprints. Currently, it participates in over 30 tradeshows per year.

One of the newest in its arsenal of tradeshows is the inaugural Local Southern African Manufacturing Expo (LME), set to take place from 21-23 May 2019 at Nasrec in Johannesburg. The exhibition is endorsed by David Makhura, the Premier of Gauteng and organised by SACEEC in partnership with Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery.

“The expo will be the first exhibition to showcase locally-manufactured equipment only to the international and local community. We have already secured the participation of 35 countries,” says Bruggeman.

According to Sean Jones, managing director of ATI, the show presents an excellent opportunity to expose the market to the high standard of engineering equipment, services and skills Southern Africa has to offer.

ATI will be participating at LME, in partnership with SACEEC, by displaying its full technical skills offering in an interactive workshop setting. Skills such as fitting and turning, fabrication, welding, boilermaking, electrical & instrumentation skills, and pneumatics, hydraulics & electro-pneumatics will be exhibited.

A similar approach between the two organisations were followed at the Electra Mining Africa tradeshow that took place at Nasrec in September. For the first time in Electra’s 46-year history, the show dedicated the five-day event to specific themes, of which the first day focussed solely on skills development.

A section of the Nasrec centre was earmarked as a skills development centre, run by SACEEC in partnership with ATI. It comprised a fully functional workshop where learners demonstrated the technical skills they learnt at ATI.

According to Gerhardt van der Merwe, ATI’s marketing and sales manager, the intention of the exhibition was to demonstrate the different training options available to the mining and construction industry and encourage youngsters to consider artisan training as an exciting career development opportunity.

Future trade exhibitions in partnership with SACEEC and Specialised Exhibitions will include similar skills development areas and promotion strategies.

“ATI is excited to be associated with a trade council of SACEEC’s calibre,” says Jones. “A focus on local manufacturing, coupled with skills development, are key ingredients to reignite South Africa’s struggling economy and fight growing numbers of unemployment”.

_____________

For interviews, please contact:

Sean Jones
MD, ATI
+27 83 777 2892

Eric Bruggeman
CEO, SACEEC
+27 83 459 3073

Charlene Hefer
Portfolio Director
Specialised Exhibitions
+27 84 401 2158

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The centralising of functions within the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) will help to address the challenges within the diluted entities. However, Sean Jones, managing director from the Artisan Training Institute (ATI), says the management and allocation of funds would be critical to guarantee the SETAs sustainability beyond 2020.

Reform of the SETAs has been on the cards since 2015 in a bid to implement the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS). Former education minister Blade Nzimande has been a vocal critic of the management and administration of the SETAs, followed by many attempts by the Department of Higher Education and Training to restructure them.

In August, the Department again called for public comment on the long-proposed ‘new landscape’ of the SETAs. In the call Minister Naledi Pandor gave stakeholders 21 days to respond with comment.

In December 2016, the SETAs were re-established for two years from 2018 to 2020. Published in the Government Gazette, Pandor’s most recent proposal stipulates four guiding principles for the new life of the SETAs post 2020.

One, that skills development strategies should be aligned with national priorities and an industrial policy framework. Two, that the SETAs should comprehensively cover all economic sectors. Three, that the financial sustainability and operational viability of the SETAs are pivotal. And four, that specific SETA functions are grouped together (the proposal suggests that the current 21 SETAs would be clustered in 15 groups).

Various spheres of society have expressed concerns about the third principle, specifically where it relates to the effectiveness of the SETAs and its spending of the skills development levy.

According to Jones, merely reducing SETA numbers will not necessarily result in improved performance. Performance of these bodies should be linked to job creation in the sectors they serve. In addition, industry should measure SETA performance based on the levels of engagement and professionalism of these bodies.

“The sustainability of the SETAs relies heavily on funding allocations. Centralised funding will not redress youth unemployment, especially if industry isn’t benefitting from the efforts they put into training,” he says.

Earlier this year, former minister, Hlengiwe Buhle Mkhize’s proposed changes to the Skills Development Act referring to a new policy to restore the SETAs. Consulting with the National Skills Authority (NSA), the sector had time to respond to this proposal until 31 January 2018.

As part of the amendments, the Department highlighted the removal of the regional SETA offices to create one central office. This will translate into shared operational resources such as HR and information technology.

“A tighter, more streamlined alignment of the SETAs is a key step in strengthening them,” says Jones. “This proposal will be able to predict scare skills more easily, but only if industry is properly consulted; and that’s been a concern for private sector training providers in the past,” says Jones.

According to Jones, the Department must delve deep into the consultative process and engage training providers and employers across different industry bodies, including small and medium enterprises, as the needs are very different. “Consultation is critical. It drives straight into the creation of jobs. If you’re misaligning your focus on skills development, it affects the ability of youth to be absorbed into gainful employment,” he concludes.

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Leading explosives manufacturer BME calls on companies to train for the future as they enrol seven employees for artisan training

When the economy slows down, businesses have a tendenchy to cut spending on skills development.

According to Mr Ngqabutho Ncube, training manager at BME’s underground mining operations, the cutting of training budgets is counterintuitive to business sustainability. With the cyclic nature of economic activities, a slowdown in economic activities affords companies an opportunity to develop its skills capacity. 

The World Bank is of the view that South Africa needs skilled jobs for the poor to reduce inequality more than ever. An economic report released by the organisation earlier this year, states that poverty could be halved, dropping to 4.1million people by 2030 from 10.5million in 2017 if South Africa invests in skills development now.

Against this backdrop, BME has recently enrolled seven employees on an artisan learnership training programme at the Artisan Training Institute (ATI). This is in line with BME’s ethos of staying competitive as a specialised business in the mining sector and utilising the excess time available from an economic downturn.

The candidates will undergo a recognition of prior learning (RPL) process in September to benchmark their current competencies and level of on-the-job skills, then complete the programme later this year. “Our aim is to make sure that we train as many millwrights as we can, but this will be determined by the trainees’ ability to qualify during the pre-test selection criteria”.

Skills versatility is important, says Ncube. “BME is not following a one-dimensional approach to training and development”. The objective is to have a multiskilled artisan knowledgeable in electrical, mechanical and hydraulic skills.

According to Sean Jones from ATI, it is encouraging to see specialised organisations such as BME invest in skills development. “Naturally, we, as a training provider see the value, but we also note the trend of hesitating to spend on training in a downturn”. In South Africa, training and development is even more important, because of structural unemployment and present inequalities. “As the population ages, we are likely to see a situation where unemployment increases even further while the job market remains with an unskilled labour force. We have to prevent that at all costs,” Ncube concludes.

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The Oxford Dictionary gave life to an old phrase when it announced its 2017 word of the year: youthquake. Flamboyant Vogue editor Diana Vreeland first coined the phrase in 1965 during the rise of counterculture in a time that the marginalised were claiming back their voices. Oxford defines the phrase as, ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people’.

In staying with the Zeitgeist, President Cyril Ramaphosa, took quick action to address one of South Africa’s most pressing socio-economic challenges shortly after he took the reins – the issue of youth unemployment.

The launch of the Youth Employment Service (YES) in March 2018, signifies major progress towards helping South Africa’s youth obtain work placement. The revolutionary YES campaign promises to create between 300,000 and half a million jobs for young people each year.

YES – an incentive for the private sector to place youth

According to Sean Jones, managing director of the Artisan Training Institute (ATI), YES is one of the first employment programmes in South Africa to proactively incentivise businesses to employ young people.

“The youth are the most vulnerable in the skills economy. Most are willing to work, but their opportunities for employment are limited. Basic education does not adequately prepare young people for workplaces. Employers need fundamental skills that bring about workplace readiness,” he says.

“The YES initiative creates opportunities for businesses to respond to this challenge through a programme that has been smartly designed to everyone’s advantage”.

One of the most encouraging elements of the YES initiative is the possibility of partnership, says Jones. It calls for government, labour, civil society and young people to work together to fight South Africa’s unemployment crisis.

The initiative introduces new youth employment B-BBEE recognition and allows businesses that meet YES targets to improve their B-BBEE scorecard. To encourage the demand-side of job creation, companies qualify for tax incentives when they employ black youth aged 18-29.

Businesses that participate in the project should establish one-year paid positions for youngsters. Those businesses that cannot employ young people internally, have the option of sponsoring their salary for a year in a small- to medium enterprise.

Quality training equals better chances of placement

A young person increases his or her chance of future employment threefold with only one year of work experience, a CV and an employment letter, says Tashmia Ismail-Saville, CEO of YES. Therefore, the private sector can contribute significantly to the South African economy by placing youth through the YES programme.

“However, companies do take a risk when they employ a young person without any previous work experience or skills,” says Jones. Having workplace exposure coupled with quality technical training reduces this exposure for companies.

According to Linda Kromjong, the secretary general of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), degree apprenticeships, a new education approach, are becoming increasingly relevant in dealing with youth unemployment, combining skills development with job placement.

Jones reiterates, “Degree programmes are becoming apprenticeship-based. The status quo is no longer that your kids rush to university and simply step into a job. Practical skills are critical in ensuring job readiness”.

Degree apprenticeships are making waves in the United Kingdom. Employers, universities and professional bodies work together to ensure the youth’s employability through a programme that combine university studies with part-time employment.

Although degree apprenticeships have not reached the South African shores, the YES initiative offers a similar opportunity albeit at a more basic level. In a time of a bellowing youthquake in South Africa, businesses are being offered a chance to make a difference. Training our youth and providing them with on-the-job experience to increase their employability makes commercial sense and will lead to positive social change for South Africa.

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ATI has 35 plus years of experience offering quality technical training in South Africa with the institute training around 1, 200 to 1, 400 learners per annum. 

Executive director… Foundation

Working with the private sector, ATI has already graduated 5,174 young learners through these programmes. An impressive 90% of these donor-funded learners have obtained employment by the end of their apprenticeships. 

Could you give me a bit of background about yourself? How and why did you get involved in skills development?

I qualified in education psychology and before and joined the Artisan Training Institute (ATI) in 2007 as a 66% shareholder in the business. Training and the development of people has always been an interest but not necessarily in the technical sphere. Previously I worked in the corporate sector, also related to training but more on human development.

My passion is developing people and improving lives. When I started studying I was always seeing the development from a young age, I didn’t get a gist of what I want to do, so how you do allow a child to thrive in a way that will fall into a career that is suitable for them. So instead of saying we were brought up in a time when there were limited career paths, if you couldn’t be lawyer or a doctor or at least a nurse or teacher, but when it was time for varsity I wasn’t sure what I was good at – where do you go… as I started working I realised, it’s more than just that, I enjoy people develop and thriving and you’re happy to wake up.

What current legislative issues affect the training landscape?

The Minister of Higher Education and Training has announced changes to the ARPL (Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning) process, the first of which are for Motor and Diesel Mechanics. These changes will come into effect on 19 October so the AA is offering MIWA members a 50% discount on standard rates for ARPL candidates before this date.

Why is skills development so important in South Africa?

Skills development is vital in South Africa in that it enables us in creating upward mobility for young people in their careers. It allows us to broaden the talent pool and create value for our economy and address youth unemployment by creating sustainable employment.

What is your hopes & dreams for South African artisan skills in the next 10 years? Where is skills development heading?

My hopes and dreams for South African artisan skills is that it is not looked at as the second option but instead as a first option for school leavers.

For schools to see it as a viable career regardless of what the students’ grades are. Skills development is moving with the emerging technologies that drive the trades to high levels and moving into more advanced technologies. These technologies we are beginning to witness in fault finding and diagnostics. We also will see more sophisticated electronics emerging. Some of the medium to small businesses will probably begin to narrow their focus on their skills training cost as well.

I believe as long as skills development is seen as a significant contributor to the economy, this will bring the pride of being an artisan back to the human race.

What are the biggest skills shortages in the building, construction & quarrying sector?

It varies, you would find that in one year from the next we churn out certain numbers that mining would need, but then all of a sudden another train
It varies on the needs of the economy.

I noticed, electrical and motor-diesel skills seemed to be jampacked – but that’s not a reflection of the economy.

We might say there’s a shortage of riggers this year, people are holding back and they’ve acquired that skills.

How many artisans do you train annually that could support the building, construction & quarrying sector? 

Looking at the work of ATI, how do you prepare young artisans to enter the building, construction & quarrying sector?

Quarrying specifically present opportunities for skills growth & development - what are the biggest challenges faced by quarry operators to supply the industry of building materials?

Are there any new initiatives that you are busy with at ATI that drives skills development in the industry?

Together with Harambee and the National Tooling Initiative we are forging a partnership to drive pathways for job creation relating to installation, repair and maintenance (IRM). We believe that industry, private and public infrastructure requires these skills on a perpetual basis. This initiative will also further the objectives relating to the development of the township economy; a relatively new concept.

ARPL?? Artisanal recognised prior learning programme – wetenskap en wiskunde; entry requirements – ATI minimum requirements for a trade; if you have enough work experience dan kompenseer die werkservaring daarvoor – experience counteract that you don’t meet the admission requirements. Nuwe proses; SETA; portfolio of evidence geevalueer – panel approves, and then can you study this trade; blameer die training institute omdat dit so lank neem;

The process for the trade is taking long – the hold up is not on their side; they have to

SETA has changed the process and it now requires to submit a portfolio of evidence and the process takes 3-6 months…

Relearning…

We don’t work in those sectors. We train mainly for mining sector and manufacturing. The wet trades we don’t train in…  With that it’s monkey see is monkey do; getting a qualified person, the qualified person would show you how to do it and then you become an expert.

Mechanical and engineering trades – diesel mechanics, earthmoving mechanics, rigging, welders, electricians,

You would need a rigger

We haven’t explored that sector for training but when you build are still artisans, but you need those people…

In terms of infrastructure you need… Ons doen elektries en nie staal… Watse probleme?

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This is according to Sean Jones, CEO of black empowered training institute, Artisan Training Institute (ATI).

“The South African gender pay gap is estimated, on average, to be between 15 to 17%.”

Jones said ATI is moving to tackle gender inequality in the workplace by pushing to train more woman artisans, thereby, broadening the potential talent pool in South Africa.

“One would think that women would not really want to train as electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers or millwrights, but we are training an increasing number of women.”

He said about 30% of trainees at ATI were women. The problem is that the number of “trade tested” women artisans – those that move on to finish their courses – is far less than 30%. There are a number of reasons for the drop-off, including pregnancies and financial difficulties.

In 2013, 41% of ATI’s trade tested electrical trainees were women. This trend was sustained at 41% in 2014 and increased to 55% in 2015.

In the last three years, in fitting and turning up to 22% of trade tested graduates are women, welding is hovering between 2% and 15%, while the millwright discipline reflects a lower number with the highest at 6% in 2015.

When it comes to tractor technicians, ATI notes that 2% of graduates are women – a figure they believe will grow in time.

“Ultimately, what these statistics point to is the possibility that, in the future, we will see more women artisans out there in the employment field plying their trade.”

But Jones pointed out that, while more female artisans might be deployed in the workplace, “the pay gap” might remain an issue for the foreseeable future. Steps have been taken in South Africa to remedy this situation. The Employment Equity Act sets out the principle of equal pay for equal value. An Act is all good and well, but, at the end of the day, it is fundamentally up to human resource management practitioners to uncover potential cases of pay inequity and to address these.

Among the reasons for pay disparity is that employers frequently feel that women are often seen to be less loyal to the company and more likely to exit the workplace in their childbearing years.

Employers perceive the long-term value that a woman would add to an organisation as less than that of a man who generally does not have child care duties.

Men are paid more than women to safeguard the investment made in the development of an individual with regards to his career and so that employers can retain talent, and cut down on staff churn.

Women do have a tough time compared to their male counterparts. Not only do they experience discrimination when they enter traditionally segregated occupations such as the artisan trades, but they also have to contend with “women’s work” at home.

These issues are often overlooked by companies. Although these challenges are still being grappled with, even in first world economies, there is a need for further research in order to enable better corporate practices.

According to the latest reports, on average services industries are seemingly more in tune with the needs of women. These sectors reportedly have a high percentage of women employees – with pay between male and females often being more equal.

Mining and other heavy industries lag behind in terms of gender pay equity. Salaries in government are, on average, better for both men and women than similar comparable jobs in the private sector.

● Evans is a former journalist who graduated from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, in 1983

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Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mduduzi Manana this week advised school children to obtain artisan qualifications instead of “useless” degrees from universities, saying that the government was forced to import 1,000 artisans from Thailand due to a shortage of skilled workers locally.

South Africa has a well-documented skills shortage – particularly in maths and science. While these skills are highly sought after in fields such as engineering and IT, there is also a growing lack of technical skills in the country, such as electricians, welders, mechanics and other manufacturing fields.

South Africa’s unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high at over 25% of the population – and looking at youth unemployment, the situation is even worse, with over 52% of the country’s youth unable to find work.

According to Human Resource industry reports, however, there are approximately half a million jobs in South Africa that simply cannot be filled due to a lack of necessary skills.

Solidarity-affiliated technikon, Sol-Tech said that one of the reasons why there is a shortage of artisans, or suitable candidates for vocational training, is the fact that learners choose the wrong subjects.

Sol-Tech MD Paul van Deventer said that learners need to take the appropriate subjects, including maths and science, to improve their chances of admission to a vocational course.

According to Van Deventer, 95% of students who graduate from Sol-Tech’s vocational training are successfully employed – a fifth of which are self-employed.

This highlights the huge demand for these skills.

“We are training young people in those scarce fields precisely because we know that upon completion of their training they will find good jobs and we know that vocational training thus offers them a future in South Africa,” he said.

Published originally on BusinessTech

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There needs to be a mindshift in South Africa about artisans, both by educational institutions and the broader population, according to Sean Jones, CEO of the Artisan Training Institute (ATI).

Currently the failure rate at universities is sitting around 50%, with many students not suitably prepared for tertiary education.

The solution to this dilemma, in his view, is for youth to consider a career as an artisan, as there is quicker access to full-time employment – with apprentices often getting an apprenticeship with a company in their first year. This means they can also start earning money far sooner.

“A 50% failure rate at university is far too high, meaning many students are out of their depth. If they opt, instead, to enrol for artisan training they will get an apprentice placement with an employer literally from the time of enrolment and earn a stipend, from the employer, from their first year of training," said Jones.

He said frequently, students will study at university for three to four years and, upon graduation, many struggle to obtain gainful employment.

"Graduates in most cases earn rock bottom salaries as there is an oversupply of their skill and knowledge offering. Many, with degrees who are not absorbed into large corporate companies, end up working as waiters or waitresses, or other semi-skilled jobs such as sales assistants or in security for example," he explained.

"Artisans, however, are almost guaranteed formal employment and, upon graduation can earn R20 000 to R25 000 per month. That’s more than most university graduates will earn."

He pointed out that the economy desperately needs these mid-level skills and, therefore, artisans are a vital cog of the economy.

Additionally, becoming an artisan – whether it is as a nurse, baker, electrician, diesel mechanic or tractor technician for example - is a springboard, in his view, to other careers in engineering, sales, training, management or entrepreneurship.

Jones said it is a pity that many families eschew the vocational training option, as there is a far greater need for artisans than university graduates.

"The irony is that many jobs in the corporate world will simply disappear in the very near future. But there will always be jobs for artisans," said Jones.

“Mechanisation coupled with smart production technologies is on the increase. This will lead to a plunge in semi-skilled jobs. It goes deeper than that as innovators are constantly coming out with disruptive technologies including aps, 3D printing solutions, robotics, and nanotechnology as examples, eliminating many occupations."

He gave Uber as an example of how the market place can be disrupted the marketplace. Many 3D printing companies have also disrupted or enhanced traditional manufacturing companies.

“In the near future many occupations will no longer exist – but artisans are the bedrock of the economy and will always be needed," he said.

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“Be passionate about who you are, passionate about what you do and passionate about the lives you will change as well.” This was the message of Richard Lewis, Head of Corporate Strategy at ATI when he addressed clients, learners, management and staff at the ATI Annual Learner Awards 2015.

 During the awards ceremony, ATI recognized those learners who rated the highest in each of their respective categories. Adhering to a mindset of Excellence, the award winners were a testimony to the fact that ATI truly provides the finest quality technical skills training in southern Africa

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