Sendok Group of Companies and the Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran (JPK), an agency of the Ministry of Human Resources, recently announced the launch of a training programme, through the JPK Sistem Latihan Dual Nasional (SLDN) to provide automotive training to young Malaysians under the ‘Learning By Doing’ approach. This two-year initiative, which would train more than 150 young automotive technicians, would guarantee employment for them under the 30-plus subsidiary and associate companies of the Sendok Group.
Sendok Group Advances in Automotive Technicians’ Training
Under the SLDN programme, 70 per cent of the trainees’ time would be on-the-job basis at the various subsidiary or associate companies of the Group, supported by 30 per cent of theoretical classroom training. The latter is managed by the Sendok Global Academy, a newly formed company that specialises in automotive training.
The Academy is a new subsidiary of the group that would focus on all aspects of automotive training. Besides providing full-time vocational training, the Academy would also conduct short courses to upskill existing automotive technicians with the current EEV technologies such as hybrid and electrical vehicles. Also in the pipeline are training programmes for vehicle body and paint repairs to meet current market requirements like aluminium repairs, composite fibre parts and water base painting.
For the current SLDN programme, trainees joining the Sendok-JPK SLDN Programme are offered 6 fields of training – Commercial Vehicle Repairs & Maintenance, Motor Vehicles Sales, Vehicle Assembly, End-Of-Life Vehicles Processing, Automotive Parts Remanufacturing, and Mobile Business-On-Wheels (Food Truck).
An interesting feature of the Commercial Vehicle Repairs & Maintenance programme is that trainees who achieve good grades during their first level of SLDN training, and subject to them passing the Japanese Language test, would be offered an option to further their training for Level 2 and 3 in Japan under the Japanese Government Overseas Trainee Programme.
The Director of the SLDN Department of JPK, Mohammed Yaacob, and his team of senior officers witnessed the launch. He also handed out certificates to some 60-plus employees of the Sendok Group who recently completed the JPK-conducted SLDN Induction Training. These employees would eventually serve as coordinators and coaches in the Group’s SLDN Programme.
Also at the launch was the Group Chairman, Dato’ Haji Emran Haji Kadir, who witnessed the handing of the Memorandum of Cooperation to Mohammed Yaacob by the Group CEO, Gwee Bok Wee, and senior management team members.
The Sendok Group says it would conduct a nationwide recruitment for these SLDN trainees through its nationwide truck dealership network in January 2018. Those who are interested in participating in this programme could send their resume to this email address: sldnprogram@sendok.com.my.
With the SLDN programme, the Group adds that it is focusing on developing requisite skills and competencies of Malaysians for a wide spectrum of job roles and career progression pathways offered by the automotive industry. With the adoption of advanced technologies, rank-and-file jobs are becoming less laborious and more skilled, while new professional roles would also be created. The Group says this is one of its many CSR initiatives in helping the government to build the necessary talent capabilities to support these shifts of technological advancement for the betterment of the economy.
