Published: 14th October, 2019

Tata International Africa has developed a learning and development work related skills training course for technical students, which it plans to roll out across 13 African countries over the next year.

“We firmly believe that learning and development is essential for people to gain skills in order to progress in their career and even in life. Importantly, it helps build successful communities and thriving economies – all underpinning Tata’s ethos of the upliftment of people and communities,” says Len Brand, CEO of Tata International Africa.

A skills and development training course to uplift skill levels of the technical workforce was set in motion. The training team at Tata International Africa created a framework of questionnaires on the needs and competency levels of technicians, for both theory and practical modules. During the creation of the framework, inputs were taken from various stakeholders such as workshop managers, country aftersales heads and training managers. The framework was finally reviewed by the various business unit heads of Aftersales, Human Resources and Business Excellence (Distribution).

A pilot project on Skills Assessment and Gap Analysis for workshop technicians was recently conducted at the Tata International Africa Lagos, Nigeria workshop. A total of 37 technicians (including contract staff) were taken through the assessment tests. Competency was defined in six categories in both theory and practical tests. Both tests were mapped in accordance with a truck model sold in that particular country. The categories are:

1. Electrical / Electronic Diagnostics
2. Clutch and Braking system
3. Transmission and Axles
4. Engine
5. Analysis
6. General Servicing

“We received very positive feedback from all the participants who were eager to enhance their skills and to put their learnings from the sessions into practice.

“The training modules are currently being fine-tuned. We will also be creating new ones during the course of 2020, which will be customised for all 13 African countries Tata International Africa operates in. We look forward to rolling out the competency assessment test and training modules to all countries in the next 12 months,” concludes Brand.