Compliance with government empowerment codes and the cost of it remain two of the biggest obstacles for skills investment. According to Juliette Fourie, CEO of Metro Minds, one of the biggest challenges underpinning the drive to invest in skills is the heavy burden of compliance with the new BEE codes, an expensive and labourintensive undertaking that often results in companies shying away from investing in skills. Fourie told FTW that companies needed to invest in well-defined areas of talent as the lack of skills and the need for increased training remained high priorities in the South African logistics landscape. She said the trend was often to assume that anyone with a logistics degree was ready to perform well in the industry. “Unfortunately, the practical part of specialised areas such as fast-moving consumer goods, for example, is best taught in practice,” said Fourie. “Most academic degrees cater for a broad scope of the logistics environment and while that in itself is not wrong, as it gives graduates the necessary overview of the industry, there are few solutions for practising the skills before entering the workplace and being successful – which is why workplace simulation was a growing trend,” said Fourie. “Our research suggests that workplace simulators are a drive towards a more professional and specialised workplace and aim to demonstrate that the stressful and unpredictable environment graduates operate in, will be managed better through workplace simulation.”
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The practical part of specialised areas such as fast-moving consumer goods, for example, is best taught in practice. – Juliette Fourie
