Avoiding skills disruption through human resource capacity building should be an integral part of supply chain and logistics service providers’ planning for the future, independent industry analyst Charles Dey has told the Transport Forum.
In addition, training facilities should speed up output of skilled people as demand accelerates ahead of supply, creating a gap that affects service levels.
Comparing time spans between South Africa and Rwanda, Dey said it took roughly four years for a student in South Africa to be equipped with the necessary freight industry skills, whereas in Rwanda it took only two.
However, even so, a fast-growing and progressive country such as Rwanda may find itself on the losing end, with skills demand racing ahead of supply.
“Skills development needs to keep pace with demand from industry,” Dey said.
He added that a finer focus should be developed on individual attention, or, exactly what it takes to equip a person with the necessary capability to fill a certain capacity.
Looking at the current Covid continuum, Dey emphasised that the world had become fraught with vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, interdependency, and people preferring to stay at home – a “nesting” trend that has gained popularity during the pandemic.
Considering all of this together, it meant the bar of consumer expectations had been set high, Dey said.
“People don’t accept second best. They want higher service levels.”
For freight concerns to prosper in this challenging environment, Dey stressed, they would have to display a resilient and resourceful ability to be flexible and predict customer behaviour.
They would have to be able to analyse, process and interpret data - and adapt to ever-changing markets in which e-commerce dynamics and constantly shifting regulatory parameters are persistently asking more of service providers.
“The skills of today are probably not the skills of tomorrow.”
Quoting Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla founder and billionaire, Dey said: “If you’re not skilled, you are not going to have a job.”
