CHALLENGESManufacturing is one of the cornerstones of the South African economy and provides consumers with virtually all products that they use in everyday life – from cellphones and pacemakers to motor cars. In order to produce high quality products at affordable prices, manufacturers rely on advanced technology and highly trained people provided by the Tool, Die and Mouldmaking (TDM) Manufacturing Industry.

South Africa is currently experiencing a critical shortage of technically skilled people in the Advanced Manufacturing Industry. This has important implications for the manufacturing industry and continued growth in the country.

Thefollowingspecificchallengeshavebeenidentified: • The diminishing participation of the private and public sector in advanced manufacturing skills development. •Theabnormallylowthroughputrateandpassrateforqualifications supporting the manufacturing industry, • The continuous decline in quality and misalignment of qualificationsfortheadvancedmanufacturingindustry. • The decline in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. • The high cost of advanced skills development.

Talent-driveninnovationhasbeenidentified as the most important driver of a country’s ability to compete. Based on this, the Intsimbi National Tooling Initiative (NTI)Programmehasdefinedthe following roadmap to achieve this within the TDM sector as a pilot solution for further expansion to the broader manu- facturing sector.

The Master Toolmaker Pilot Programme was presented for thefirsttimein2014andtheapplicationhasbeenlodgedwith the QCTO for registration by SAQA.

The Masters in Tooling Engineering Pilot Programme will bepresentedforthefirsttimeduring2016.

Partnership capacity building resulted in the presentation of the new qualifications at 20 training institutions in sixprovinces including the establishment of two Tooling Centres of Excellence (TCOE) in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

THE TDM POWERED PROGRAMME

FormoreinformationpleasecontacttheTDMPoweredOfficeon:Tel:0713023793lFax:0864022619lEmail:info@tdmpowered.co.zalWebsite:www.tdmpowered.co.za

Successful partnerships have also been established with National Government, five Provincial Governments, oneMetro Municipality, the National Institute for Metalworking Skills(NIMS),HaasandtheWBAAachenerWerkzeugbauAkademie GmbH (WBA Institute).

Funding has been secured through National, Provincial and Municipal Governments, the National Skills Fund (NSF) supported by industry funding for on-the-job training.Morethan300companiesareinvolvedinthedeploymentof newly skilled resources.

QUALIFICATIONThefollowingqualificationscanbeobtainedthroughtheTDMPoweredProgramme:• TheTDMPoweredFoundationcertificateissuedbyToolmakingAssociationofSouthAfrica(TASA);• Partqualifications:(from17credentials)• NIMSCertifiedMachinistaccreditedbytheNationalInstituteofMetalworkingSkills(NIMS)basedintheUSA• TheOccupationalCertificate:ToolmakerregisteredwiththeSouthAfricanQualificationsAuthority(SAQA)• Master Toolmaker (application lodged with QCTO for registration by SAQA in progress)• Expert in Tooling (WBA)• MastersinTooling(qualificationdevelopmentinprogress)

THE INTERVENTIONTheinterventionisbasedonthefollowingguidingprinciples:

• Dedicated career guidance, assessment and selection processesCareer guidance, assessment and selection processes have been developed to ensure that suitable candidates are accepted into the programme (selected for success).

• Specialised student support servicesSpecialised students services are provided to help students to overcome possible barriers to success. Added to this a system has been developed through which students take responsibility for their own development with the support of a social worker. A dedicated life skills curriculum has been developed as part of support services.

• Strengthening of students entry into the ProgrammeThe Foundation Programme was implemented as a feeder for the Apprenticeship Programme with a focus on remedial Mathematics, Science and English. This Foundation Programme therefore caters to upskill students who would otherwisenothavequalifiedforthebasicskillstrainingforentryintonewtoolingsectorqualifications.

• The new qualification structure

• New qualification design principlesThe following Industry mandates guided the design principlesofthenewTDMsectorqualifications:• International standards • Competencycertification,employableskills• Articulation• Modularityandpartqualification• Technology alignment• Teaching capacity alignment• Integration of theory, practical and workplace training

• Capacity building through partnershipsCapacity building and partnership creation at various levels,including:• TVET colleges• Private colleges• UniversitiesofTechnology• AcademicUniversities• Centres of Excellence• Regional Cluster Formation

ACHIEVEMENTSTheFoundationPilotProgrammestarted in2010withaninitial intakeof 175studentsandmostof thesestudentstogether with another intake of students, continued with the ApprenticeshipProgramme,whichstartedin2011.

The TDM Powered Foundation Programme was successfully implemented.

The TDM Powered Apprenticeship Programme. The Programme succeeded in the implementation of the Apprenticeship Programme and the qualification: TheOccupational Certificate: Toolmaker (NQF Level 05) –SAQAID91796wasregisteredinDecember2013.

The above prompted the TDM sector to engage with government via the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) to develop a sector-specific intervention to addressthe large gap in the Skills Development system for the sector. This intervention is based on the concept of a new “Competency-Based System” developed by industry in collaboration with international partners and local skills development stakeholders, aligned to industry needs and standards providing a completely integrated solution to close the skills gap from entry level to artisan and engineeringlevelqualificationsforthesector.

The Intsimbi NTI Programme, as the partnership pilot project between industry and government, thus set out to fillthegapwithphasedpilotinterventionprojects.

The purpose of the TDM Sector Skills Development Programme is to counter the skills erosion and job losses hampering the TDM sector by addressing the challenges identified. To this end, it was decided to introduce acomprehensive articulated skills delivery system in South Africa to provide the basic and advanced skills required by the TDM sector.

The main long-term objective of the Intsimbi NTI’s Skills Development Programme is the incubation of new technical skills training capacity from Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college level through to academic universities in support of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) new Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and new qualificationdevelopment process.

Classification Field of Qualification Qualification

Advanced Post Graduate EngineeringMasters in ToolingExpertinTooling(partqualification)

Core Master ArtisansMaster ToolmakerExpertinTooling(partqualification)

Basic

Artisans Toolmaker

Specialised Factory Workers and Operators

CertifiedMachinistEmployableskills,partqualifications(modules)

EntryLevelandBridging EntryLevelFactoryWorkersandOther TDM Powered Foundation

• International linkages• Teacher training• Industry• Government (National, Provincial and Municipal)• Funding

• Deployment of newly skilled resourcesSuccessful deployment of newly skilled resources in the industryincludes:• Relationship building and mobilisation• Workplace training and rotation• Placement facilitation• Redeployment

• SustainabilityDevelopmentofasustainablesystemincludes:• Capacity requirement planning• Funding• Continuous development