The award of the new Manufacturing Technology (Smelting) Certificate Program aims to develop and upskill local talent pools in Sarawak 

 

11 February 2022 - OM Holdings Limited (“OMH” or the “Company”), a manganese and silicon smelting company, with vertical exposure in mining and trading, is pleased to announce that the Company’s 75% owned subsidiary (“OM Sarawak”) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) today with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (“UNIMAS”) for the award of the Certificate in Manufacturing Technology (Smelting) Program (“Program”).

 

The Certificate in Manufacturing Technology (Smelting) Program, to be delivered by the Faculty of Engineering of UNIMAS, comprises of 9 subject module components. The theoretical part of the Program consists of 8 modules conducted over a period of 4 weeks, and will be organised, managed, and conducted by the Faculty of Engineering, UNIMAS at OM Sarawak’s plant in Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Sarawak. The 9th module of the Program, Industrial Training, will be undertaken over a 6-month period, and will be organised, managed, and taught by skilled professionals of OM Sarawak at the plant. The final module will also be endorsed by UNIMAS.

 

 “The Program aims to develop a pool of skilled smelting talent in Sarawak to reduce the dependency on foreign skilled manpower as key skilled smelting roles within the industrial park are currently largely dependent on foreign expertise. The Program is part of OM Sarawak’s initiative to upskill and elevate competencies of local employees, enhancing career and income growth opportunities of local operators” shared Lisa Chee, General Manager, Human Resources and Administration, OM Sarawak.

 

The Program marks another milestone in the efforts undertaken by OM Sarawak to provide upskilling support for its local Sarawakian workforce. Besides this Program, other ongoing efforts have been conducted to develop local smelting talent, such as allocating dedicated technicians and engineers for curriculum design and mapping, career development, and training. All local trainees are assigned experienced mentors to facilitate training and skills development in a safe manner. Local trainees undergoing full-time training receive full remuneration.

 

As OMH embarks on its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives, this Program aligns well with the Company’s sustainability target to gradually localise its workforce with an emphasis on core positions in production and maintenance. As smelting is a relatively new industry in Sarawak, OM Sarawak has been continuously working on its localisation program, and has almost doubled the number of local workers since 2014. Time, dedicated mentors, and adequate investments in training programs are essential to ensure a pool of skilled workers are available locally for sustainable and inclusive growth. Skilled core positions generally require more than 10 years of on-site experience to acquire requisite levels of competency. Since 2017, various in-house training programs have been successfully rolled out. To date, OM Sarawak has recorded 785 instances of upskilling through the programs, promoting workers to skilled/technical roles.

 

The signing ceremony was attended by YB Dr. Annuar Bin Rapaee (Assistant Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development I, Sarawak), Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Bin Suaidi, (UNIMAS Vice Chancellor), Mr Chen Xiao Dong (Managing Director of OM Sarawak), Professor Dr. Ahmad Hata Rasit, (UNIMAS Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic & International), Professor Datu Mohd Fadzil bin Abd Rahman (UNIMAS Assistant Vice Chancellor- Leadership & Development), Professor IR Dr. Siti Noor Linda Taib, (Dean, Faculty of Engineering), Professor Dr. Phua Chin Hong (CEO, UNIMAS Business School).