Revolutionizing Workforce Development: NTUC, ST Engineering, and SkillsFuture Singapore Unite to Enhance Skills in Precision Engineering
Pioneering tripartite alliance harmonizing SSG’s SkillsFuture Queen Bee Initiative and NTUC’s Company Training Committee (CTC) to bolster ST Engineering’s SME suppliers and their workforce
Singapore, 13 January 2025 – The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), ST Engineering, and SkillsFuture Singapore have today formalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signifying a groundbreaking tripartite alliance. This collaboration melds NTUC’s Company Training Committee (CTC) initiative with the SkillsFuture Queen Bee framework, drawing synergies among all three entities to provide holistic support and improve resource accessibility for involved ST Engineering suppliers and their employees. The MOU signing also signaled the designation of ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd as the newest SkillsFuture Queen Bee, dedicated to advancing the Precision Engineering (PE) sector. The event, held at the e2i Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability, was attended by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng; Chief Executive of SSG Tan Kok Yam; and Group Chief Financial Officer of ST Engineering Cedric Foo.
In promoting the tripartite alliance, NTUC Secretary-General Mr Ng Chee Meng remarked, “We are enthusiastic to initiate our inaugural tripartite collaboration with SkillsFuture Singapore and ST Engineering. This partnership aims to enhance skills for at least 1,000 employees across approximately 40 SMEs within ST Engineering Land Systems’ Precision Engineering supplier network. We aspire to continuously partner with both public and private sectors via our Company Training Committees to foster business and workforce evolution. This will empower our employees to secure higher-value roles, improved compensation, and job prospects, while enabling companies to flourish in a progressively competitive and changing market.”
Mr Cedric Foo, Group Chief Financial Officer of ST Engineering, who supervises the Group’s procurement operations, stated, “Our SME suppliers must consistently adhere to rigorous standards for our products and solutions. For instance, in the precision engineering domain, even minor deviations from specifications can affect quality and functionality. As a significant enterprise equipped with greater scale and resources, we aim to uplift numerous suppliers. Within the Land Systems sector, we collaborate with over 100 suppliers, many of which are SMEs. By partnering with NTUC and SSG, we are intensifying our commitment to upskill these suppliers, creating a thriving ecosystem that offers extensive and profound technology and engineering capabilities. This guarantees the ongoing enhancement of our products and solutions, while maintaining excellence standards that propel mutual success.”
Mr Tan Kok Yam, Chief Executive of SSG, expressed, “This is an ambitious alliance seeking to merge business transformation, workforce education, and SME outreach, maximizing impact for both enterprises and their employees. Our goal is to deliver comprehensive assistance to ST Engineering’s supplier network and their workforce, enhancing their capabilities to drive growth in the Precision Engineering sector. We look forward to collaborating closely with NTUC to extend such a tripartite partnership model to further our SkillsFuture Queen Bee allies.”
Revolutionizing Supplier Ecosystem through Tripartite Alliance
Over the next two years, this tripartite collaboration will see ST Engineering take the lead in elevating and upgrading the skills of its value-chain workers from key suppliers spanning all its business sectors, starting initially with those affiliated with the Land Systems unit. Most of these suppliers are SMEs within the PE domain. As the sector is anticipated to experience a stronger-than-expected recovery in semiconductor sales globally and locally[1], a better-skilled workforce will be well-prepared to satisfy the projected increasing requirement.
To facilitate this, ST Engineering will collaborate with SSG and NTUC to assist SME suppliers in equipping their employees with new skills, enabling them to remain competitive in a swiftly changing industry landscape. Initially, ST Engineering aims to provide training to workers from at least 40 suppliers from its Land Systems division, eventually extending this effort to encompass suppliers throughout the Group’s other business divisions.
ST Engineering will designate a dedicated Skills Manager to engage with and assess the training needs of its suppliers, offering personalized guidance on pertinent training programs and SkillsFuture initiatives addressing recognized skills shortages. The Skills Manager will also coordinate masterclasses and training sessions in areas such as precision engineering, digital additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, enhancing the skills pool of its suppliers’ workforce and helping them keep pace with changing industry demands aligned with the national SkillsFuture agenda.
Enhancing Suppliers’ Workforce and Business Capabilities via NTUC CTC
As part of this collaboration, NTUC will furthermore assist ST Engineering’s suppliers using the CTC and CTC Grant to enact business and workforce transformation strategies. Participating suppliers can embark on NTUC’s Operation and Technology Roadmap to uncover avenues for business transformation and growth. These initiatives aim to bolster their core capabilities and productivity while elevating worker compensation and career progression opportunities, thereby achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.
Since its inception in 2019, NTUC’s CTCs have played a crucial role in fostering business success by transforming and enhancing employee skills across diverse industries. The Government allocated NTUC $100 million to expand this initiative in 2022. The CTC Grant, managed by NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), co-funds up to 70 percent of eligible costs for companies’ transformation endeavors or training associated with the transformation project. By December 31, 2024, more than 7,400 employees across over 330 companies with approved CTC Grants are projected to benefit from an average salary increase of five percent above annual increments, along with Career Development Plans and/or skills allowances.
ST Engineering’s suppliers and workforce will also gain from collaborative workshops, training needs evaluations, skills enhancement initiatives, and advisory solutions provided by NTUC. This partnership aims to enhance the skills of around 1,000 employees within ST Engineering’s supplier network, equipping them with future-ready competencies to boost their productivity and career trajectories.
Case Study: ST Engineering’s CTC Journey
ST Engineering is among numerous companies exemplifying NTUC’s commitment to supporting workers, particularly PMEs, via CTC and CTC Grant initiatives. In partnership with NTUC and ST Engineering Staff Union (STESU), ST Engineering established a CTC in July 2021. Since its launch, the company has initiated 26 CTC Grant projects across its Land Systems, Aerospace, Digital Systems & Cyber, Marine, and Urban Solutions sectors, benefitting over 300 employees[2].
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