New Sapics course will help close skills gap

“The shortage of knowledge and skills in supply chain management is increasing globally and South Africa is also being severely affected,” says Liezl Smith, the Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa (Sapics) director responsible for education. Sapics recently issued a request for proposals to education and training providers to supply material for a proposed Introduction to Operations course in order to close the most significant gaps in the training currently available to the profession. Smith explains that this new, basic-level offering will target NQF Level 3 and is intended to form the basis of a Sapics learnership programme in operations and supply chain management. “Lower-level operations training is one area that requires particular attention and it’s at this level that the course will be aimed. The five specialisation areas will be: inventory control; planning; manufacturing control; operations; and materials handling and warehousing. The programme will be aligned to unit standards and offer 120 credits. “The new Introduction to Operations will really round off the association’s education offering,” Smith concludes.