15/06/2021
Sheng Siong Partners SkillsFuture Singapore To Enable Its SME Suppliers Build Capabilities To Accelerate Digitalisation
Sheng Siong, one of Singapore’s largest supermarket chains, has
partnered SkillsFuture Singapore under the SkillsFuture Queen Bee
programme to support its Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
suppliers build up capabilities to accelerate digitalisation. Through
this partnership, participating SMEs will be able to identify their
skills gaps and benefit from a customised training plan to address these
skills gaps.
Sheng Siong understands the challenges faced by its suppliers,
particularly the smaller and traditional SMEs. They require more support
in transforming their business operations and coping with new
technologies in marketing, sales, payment, inventory management and
logistics. The SkillsFuture Queen Bee initiative provides Sheng Siong
with the platform to assist its suppliers to deepen capabilities to
accelerate digitalisation.
As the first SkillsFuture Queen Bee partner to be appointed for the
retail sector, Sheng Siong will share valuable lessons from its own
digitalisation journey and the importance of having the right skillsets
to sustain a company’s digital transformation. SMEs that participate in
the SkillsFuture Queen Bee programme will be supported by a Skills
Manager from Sheng Siong who will engage the companies to understand
their business needs, and identify skills gaps and training programmes
to address these needs. To date, more than 30 SMEs have joined Sheng
Siong’s SkillsFuture Queen Bee programme.
Mr Lim Hock Chee, CEO of Sheng Siong: “As we grow as a company, we are
keen to help our partners to grow. Much have been done for our
digitalisation journey and we realise everyone in the ecosystem have to
keep abreast of the latest developments in order to have significant
improvements made to the whole supply chain. We are open and
enthusiastic in sharing our knowledge and practices with our suppliers,
so that everyone can improve their capabilities with new digital
technologies and skill sets for the win-win situation we are working
towards.”
Mr Ong Tze-Ch’in, Chief Executive of SSG said: “We are pleased to
partner Sheng Siong as our first SkillsFuture Queen Bee company in the
retail sector. The rate of technological change in this sector is fast
and the needs of the companies in this sector are great. Through this
partnership with Sheng Siong, we hope to expand and deepen the reach of
the SkillsFuture movement to SMEs in this sector.”
Sheng Siong’s SkillsFuture Queen Bee programme will focus on the following four aspects:
a) People
- SMEs will learn how to create a conducive workplace learning environment to support employees’ skills development and help them to achieve their full potential.
b) Process
- SMEs will learn Sheng Siong’s best practices in process optimisation and productivity improvements through Communities of Practice.
c) Technology
- SMEs will learn how to enable employees to build confidence to work in a technologically-rich environment through the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace programme and other curated training programmes to acquire relevant digital skills. This will enable them to operate more effectively in integrated supply chain systems.
d) Data
- SMEs will learn how to manage and process operational data to increase efficiency and optimise processes in areas such as inventory management and logistics.
Mr. Ng Chin Nyan, CEO of Sing Long Foodstuff said: “Through this partnership, we are able to learn about Sheng Siong’s best practices in how they conduct their operations and work processes, which will be beneficial for Sing Long Foodstuff. We also hope to help our employees benefit from utilising advanced technology to enhance productivity and minimise errors. The programme will improve our capabilities and competitiveness, reduce costs, and on the whole help us achieve resilience and grow our business.”