Meeting the Demand for SIPs Scarce Skills
Industrial Engineering
Occupational Team Feedback Report 2
March 2014
Executive Summary
Industrial Engineering (IE) is one of the younger and faster growing engineering
disciplines. It is also one of the 5 largest engineering disciplines in terms of graduate
output. It is a field of engineering operating at an integrating level – optimising the
productivity of complex man / machine systems and processes, and aiming to make such
systems operate better. . Our discipline is applicable to virtually all industries in the
primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy
Generally, and more specifically in the realm of IE, the issues around Skills Scarcity should
be considered from both a skills and a roles perspective. Whereas the problem statement
on skills scarcity is largely defined in terms of the actual skills scarcity, new insight could
be gained on scarcity in our Profession when looking at skills and roles separately.
1.
The top LH quadrant represents the roles traditionally fulfilled of IE, where there
has traditionally been a shortage of qualified IEs.
2.
The top RH quadrant represents a significant portion of the new growth in demand
for IEs, much of which coincides with the requirements of the SIPs. IEs are
equipped to fulfil roles in industries that have not been traditional areas of
employment for us, and roles that are not (yet) definitively specified in terms of
their skills base.
3.
The bottom LH quadrant typically represents roles which, given their content,
should be fulfilled by IE practitioners. The scarcity of IEs, or ignorance of role
requirements and specifications have resulted in the appointment of individuals
less-than-ideally suited to these roles.
4.
The IE Occupational Task Team believes that the most significant shortfall lies in the
bottom RH quadrant, which is currently populated by those having no IE training,
fulfilling roles where IE skills are required.
Scarcity in industrial engineering lies in both the supply and demand for our Profession.
Simply put, there is an insufficient number of experienced professionals, and of IE
specialists, both in South Africa, and elsewhere.

The supply of IE Practitioners has not been able to match the significant demand side
growth in roles requiring IE skillsets, whether or not they are defined as such.

From a demand side perspective, the full spectrum of roles that IEs could perform on
complex projects, eg. SIPs, is not yet appreciated. The number of IEs needed in both
project and operations environments is therefore most often significantly underspecified. (See questions 1e below).
We have had no data or means to estimate the number of and economically active IEs
currently practicing their profession in South Africa. It has also not been possible to
quantify the current actual shortage of qualified and experienced IE practitioners.
The present average supply of industrial engineers is approximately 200 qualified IE
graduates per annum across all Schools of IE in South Africa. Taking into account that the
scarcity stems from both the supply and (ill-defined) demand side, it is envisaged that the
number of graduates should increase on the mid to long term.
It is however estimated that 100 Industrial Engineers, and 900 Industrial Technicians and
Technologists would be required per annum to meet the bulk of direct and downstream
needs related to the Design, Build, Operate and Maintain phases of the 18 SIPS.
In the short term, the following could be done to address the scarcity :

International recruiting of senior IEs

Incentivise retirees to act as external mentors to IE candidates

Recruit experienced South African IE consultants for short term contracts
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
Reduce Employment Equity requirements applicable to the recruitment of scarce
skills
We believe that short term measures could be steered to address deeper and underlying
problems in the following manner :

Making skills transfer a pre-requisite for short, medium and long term employment
contracts, as well as permanent employment

Significantly increase the number of SETA grants offered to IE Candidates.

Increase CPD rewards for mentoring

The funding, development and roll-out of various short courses at post graduate level,
that are aligned to the common skills gaps. Various examples of relevant short
courses are given, in various parts of the report

The realignment of the Technical undergraduate courses to address specific skills
shortages in the broader field of IE, and in some instances, where IE overlaps with
other engineering disciplines

Redefining IE, as captured in the Organising Framework for Occupations

Finalising and implementing legislation related to the Identification of Engineering
Work
Short term measures could be steered towards addressing the deeper problems. The
better definition of the need for industrial engineers on complex (SIP) projects should be
strongly integrated with the drive to draw more bright young individuals into industrial
engineering.
We urge for caution in not increasing red tape, and hidden cost to business, in the
introduction of policies and other instruments to develop scarce skills
The following suggestions are made to address the problems identified in the longer term:

The restructuring of the Technical curricula in IE to better align with actual skills
scarcity, and to allow technologists and technicians to specialise in narrow fields
where shortages exist

The introduction of various short courses, at post graduate levels, aimed at other
engineering disciplines, and offering foundation and applied skills in those areas
where scarcity is prevalent.

Offering bridging courses towards the higher occupations, for those students who do
not qualify for either B Tech, or B Eng courses.
In terms of priority areas where work should begin to address skills scarcity in our
Profession, the following recommendations are made :
1) Increased funding of workplace skills development through the applicable SETAs,
proportionate to grants made available to other engineering disciplines, on the basis
of graduation output.
2) Funding to be made available as follows :
a.
For conducting more detailed investigations into the requirements for
restructuring of IE Curricula, to support the introduction / restructuring /
development of new / existing courses that would address the need for
specialist and scarce skills
b.
To proceed with course development, in line with the outcome of requested
investigations
c.
For career guidance on (Industrial) Engineering to be more comprehensive, and
to reach a broader audience
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d.
Remuneration of ad hoc task teams and specialists, involved with front end
planning to participate in subsequent Initiatives to identify and address Skills
Scarcity
e.
To promote and create linkages to related jobs in the workplace through
specific input into vocational education mechanisms.
3) Address underlying reasons behind the general reluctance of Professionals to work in
Government
4) Reconsider criteria for funding allocated to Universities align with support intake, as
opposed to output in terms of graduation numbers
Contributors

Carien Botha Pr. Eng. (Convener)

Dino Petrarolo Pr. Eng.

Elias Willemse

Henk van Tonder Pr. Eng.

Michelle Cilliers Pr. Eng.

Mohsin Seedat Pr. Eng.

Ralph Gunn Pr. Eng.

Roland Rohrs Pr. Eng.
Pr. Eng.
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Table of Contents
0
Industrial Engineering in Context .................................................................................. 1
1
What is the nature of the scarcity ? .............................................................................. 5
2
Can you quantify the problem? .................................................................................. 12
3
In the short term, what can be done to address the scarcity ? .................................. 16
4
Are there any ways in which even these short term measures can be steered to
address the deeper problems ? .................................................................................. 18
5
In the longer term, what should be done and where should we start to address the
problems that have been identified ? ......................................................................... 20
Report 1 – Further Comments ............................................................................................. 25
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0
Industrial Engineering in Context
0.a
Industrial Engineering is a
field of engineering
operating at an integrating
level – industrial
engineering optimises the
productivity of complex
man / machine systems and
processes. The aim of IE is
to make such systems
operate better.
Industrial Engineering defined
Industrial Engineering (IE) is one of the younger and faster growing engineering disciplines
in South Africa. It is also one of the 5 largest disciplines in terms of graduate output.
Notwithstanding the growth in both the supply and demand for IE Practitioners, the
discipline remains poorly understood - even amongst Engineers.
Simply put :
“IEs make things work better”
The underlying concept behind “making things work better” is integration and
optimisation - neither of which terms are unique to our profession. What makes us unique
is our ability to optimise the inputs, processes and outputs of complex systems (eg :
organisation or supply chain) where:

Methodical, quantitative and scientific approaches are required to develop cohesive
strategies, structures, systems, applications and mechanisms to drive efficiency and
effectiveness

Sustainable improvement of output and impact as expressed in economic, social and /
or environmental terms is sought

The simultaneous consideration of all relevant inputs / resources (eg : human,
materials, equipment, capital, time), as well as conversion and support processes,
which form the interdependent dynamics of a complex system
Given our understanding of the financial, social and managerial sciences, in addition to the
engineering sciences, IEs are equally comfortable conversing with members of other
engineering disciplines, as they are with those of other professions. As specialists in the
art and science of systemic optimisation and integration, IEs tend to take a leading role in
multi-disciplinary teams consisting of engineers and professionals.
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0.b
Industrial Engineering is
applicable to virtually all
industries in the primary,
secondary and tertiary
sectors of the economy
IE Foundation Skills
Our discipline is not associated with any one particular industry or sector of the economy,
eg : aeronautical engineering (aviation), agricultural and mining engineering (primary
sector) or even civil engineering (construction and engineering contracting). Neither is it
defined by input materials, or range of conversion processes, eg : chemical, electrical,
mechanical or metallurgical engineering.
IE Practitioners are found in virtually all industries where the dynamic of adding value
resembles that of a complex system.
Given its broad applicability, and being one of the younger engineering disciplines, the
question is often asked as to whether there are building blocks (eg : methodologies,
principles, techniques, etcetera) that are unique to an IE skills foundation.
What makes an Industrial Engineer unique amongst the engineering disciplines? For
example - what equips an IE working in the banking sector to be more effective at
assessing the viability of a new chemical industrial plant, or new road network, than for
example a chemical and civil engineer, or a B Comm. graduate?
What equips an IE to look at municipal service delivery in a manner that not only focuses
on infrastructure, but rather on the management thereof throughout the engineering life
cycle, as one of various components of a complex and open system, of which the dynamics
would change over time?
In answer to these questions :

The curricula to which IE graduates are exposed draws from the engineering,
financial, human, management, organisational, behaviour and legal sciences. This
broad reference base not only equips the individual to view problems from a wider
angle, but, given the discipline specific thought processes to which the IE is exposed,
does so in a holistic and systemic manner.

There are a large number of building blocks that are specific, and unique to the IE
skills foundation, most of which are listed below
Business Process Re-engineering
Process Design and Implementation
Computer aided manufacturing
Reliability Engineering
Engineering economics
Robotics + Production Automation &
Control
Ergonomics
Facilities design
Inventory optimisation, Forecasting +
Demand Management
Operations (Production / Mass-Production
/ Fabrication / Assembly) management
philosophies
Maintenance Management, incl Total
Preventative Maintenance
Manufacturing methods and techniques
Scheduling techniques and tools
Simulation, incl stochastic + deterministic
modelling techniques
Supply Chain Engineering, incl inbound +
outbound logistics
Systems Analysis + Design Methods
Systems Implementation Management
Systems Engineering
Method and Works aka Time + Motion
Study
Total Quality Management, incl Quality
Assurance, Six Sigma, Statistical Process
Control
Network Optimisation
Value Engineering
Operations Research
The combination of foundation skills, or building blocks - both those that are specific, and
complementary, to our Profession - equips IEs to play unique, and highly sought-after,
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roles in various industries, in various spheres of organisations, and across virtually all
levels of seniority.
Generally, both the unique and other building blocks are covered in either under- or postgraduate academic (B Eng, or BSc Eng) courses offered by The University of Pretoria,
Stellenbosch and WITS Universities, with integration and optimisation forming a
consistent theme in all academic courses.
B Tech courses, on the other hand, are less focused on integration, and tend to specialise
in the optimisation of problems that are well-defined (as opposed to the ill-defined
problems and higher levels of complexity to which engineers are exposed).
0.c
Areas of Specialisation in IE
Similar to our Civil Engineering colleagues, IE Practitioners tend to specialise early in their
careers.
Considering the OFO framework as a reference for specialisation, the following themes
(which are not mutually exclusive) apply to our profession :
0.c.i

Typical Fields of Knowledge
Industry, industry-associated goods and services, and industry - associated input
materials and resources :
o eg : Mining, Agri-processing, Defense, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Automotive,
Financial Sector

Business and Engineering Management
o eg : Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, Quality Management,
Maintenance Management and Financial Management

Skills associated with phases in the life cycles of businesses, programmes or projects,
products or services
o eg : Asset and Maintenance Management, Project and Programme Management,
Feasibility Analysis, Bid Management, Change Management and Transformation,
System Design, System Implementation, Fabrication Engineering, Production
Engineering, and Process Design Engineering
0.c.ii
Problem Solving Techniques & Methodologies and Tools & Equipment
applicable to specific IE sub-disciplines eg :

Supply Chain Management, including procurement, inventory and materials
management, warehouse and logistics management, manufacturing management,
production and process control, and sales and distribution management

Total Quality Management, Six Sigma and other approaches to Quality Assurance and
Quality Management

Simulation and stochastic processes, statistical analysis, and operations research

Systems design, systems engineering, and systems support

Project Management

Manufacturing, processing and fabrication techniques

ERP / Business / Project Management Systems implementation & support

Design, implementation and support of Information and Telecommunication (ITC)
applications
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
System Analysis and Techniques

Operations Research and Optimisation Techniques

Philosophies, (eg : Just-in-Time, Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma)

Various other structured methodologies & techniques in support of the improvement
of productivity and in the optimisation of complex systems
0.c.iii Industries, materials worked on and kinds of goods and services
produced

Primary industries and their downstream beneficiating industries, including mining,
fisheries, forestry and agriculture

Manufacturing industries, ranging from highly specialized capital and goods
manufactured on order, to mass-produced and fast-moving consumer goods

Chemical, petrochemical, agriculture, food, cosmetics and other processing industries

Construction and engineering contracting

Logistics, transport and warehousing

Medical and health industries

Services industries, including banking, insurance and public sector

Engineering and management consulting

Information and Communication Technology, including business management
systems, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, simulation, and other decision support
mechanisms and transactional systems
The materials worked on, or with, which typically are closely-related to Industry - eg :

Agri-produce and Agri-processing

Petrochemical and Processing industries

Mining, Extraction and Beneficiation, Foundries, Smelters, Metal Works, Precision
Manufacturing, and Steel Fabrication
The kinds of goods and services produced - eg :

Manufacturing, Processing, Assembly

Fabrication, Erection, Construction and Engineering Contracting

Complex Systems – eg : Military Equipment

Service Industries

Professional and Management Consulting Services

Banking / Financial Sector Services
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0.d
Skills vs. Roles Perspective
The sections above offer insight into the broad foundation skills in IE, and the various roles
it enables IE Practitioners to fill.
Generally, and more specifically in the realm of IE, the issues around Skills Scarcity should
be considered from both a skills and a roles perspective. Whereas the problem statement
on skills scarcity is largely defined in terms of the actual skills scarcity, new insight could
be gained on scarcity in our Profession when examining skills and roles separately.
1.
The top LH quadrant represents the roles traditionally fulfilled of IE, where there has
traditionally been a shortage of qualified IEs.
2.
The top RH quadrant represents a significant portion of the new growth in demand
for IEs, much of which coincides with the requirements of the SIPs. Given our broad
foundation skills, IEs are equipped to fulfil roles in industries that have not been
traditional areas of employment for us, and roles that are not definitively specified in
terms of their skills base. The performance of IEs in such roles has gradually led to a
widening of the playing field for our Profession, and to role specifications reflecting
the requirement for an IE background.
3.
The bottom LH quadrant typically represents roles which, given their content, should
be fulfilled by IE practitioners. The scarcity of IEs, or ignorance of role requirements
and specifications, has resulted in the appointment of individuals less-than-ideally
suited to these roles.
4.
The IE Occupational Task Team believes that the most significant shortfall lies in the
bottom RH quadrant, which is currently populated by those having no IE training yet
fulfilling roles where IE skills are required.
The adaptability of IE practitioners has been our biggest strength, and has propelled the
discipline towards unprecedented growth on both the side of demand and of supply. It
has however also been our biggest downfall. In professions such as civil engineering,
where the coupling between roles and skills is tight, supply side growth normally matches
– albeit with a time lag – the demand side growth.
The supply of IE Practitioners has not been able to match the significant demand side
growth in roles requiring IE skillsets, whether they are defined as such or not.
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1
Scarcity in industrial
engineering lies in both the
supply and demand for our
Profession
What is the nature of the scarcity ?
In the context of the SIPs, the scarcity of IE manifests itself on both the supply and the
demand side :

Supply side : There is a general shortage of qualified and experienced IEs. Although
the throughput of IEs over the last decade has been one of the fastest growing of all
engineering disciplines, with virtually all graduates being employed by industry –
leaving an ongoing shortage. There are just too few of them. (See questions 1.d
below).

Demand side : The full spectrum of roles that IEs could perform on complex projects,
eg : SIPs, is not yet appreciated. The number of IEs needed in both project and
operations environments is therefore, most often, significantly under-specified. (See
questions 1.e below).
In terms of Industrial Technologists and Technicians, the problem of ill-defined
requirements is even more acute and will require an industry wide approach so as to
better define such roles in support of the functioning of IE in industry and specifically on
the SIPs.
1.a
Are there just too few people with this skill in total in the
country / or in the world?
The shortage in Industrial
Engineers lies primarily in
an insufficient number of
experienced professionals,
and in that of specialists.
The current demand for IE graduates from South African Schools of IE exceeds the current
supply, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that students find work easily.
Demand for IE employees is also bolstered by employment equity considerations. Other
than in Chemical Engineering, IE has the largest contingent of female graduates of all
engineering disciplines.
There is limited knowledge of the potential value-add of our Profession beyond those
industries that traditionally employ IEs (eg : manufacturing, supply chain, processing,
mining). There is an underlying scarcity, which could only be addressed with systemic
interventions in the medium to longer term. As the value adding potential of IEs is
increasingly better understood, we anticipate that both the demand for, and supply of, IE
Practitioners will grow.
Examples of sectors of the economy / industries where IEs are, and could be, playing
increasingly more significant roles include :

Built Environment and Construction and Engineering Contracting

Provision of Human Settlement

Roll out of Schools, Clinics and Hospitals Programmes

Public Transport – design, build, operate and maintain phases

Public Health Sector – most notably the supply chain management of medical supplies

Public Sector, ie : National, Provincial and Local Authorities

Large scale provision of Communication Technology

Generation of clean energy
In many of these sectors, the potential contribution of IEs is poorly understood. Roles are
specified, and filled by individuals who we believe would have a more beneficial impact,
were they to have had the required experience and background in IE.
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We therefore believe that the requirement for specific skills may be met by individuals
who could be skilled more appropriately, through new and existing courses in IE, or those
which combine the principles of IE with those of other disciplines.
Examples of the above would be newly developed courses in :

OFO 441903 - Stores Management (currently a scarce skill), which needs to combine
the principles of inventory management, a key skillset of IE, with those of
construction management.

OFO 833402 - Project and Programme Administration (also a scarce skill), which draws
on the principles of project accounting / costing, process management, planning and
scheduling, and performance management – all of which are focused on in IE
curricula.
1.b
Or is it because the skills are locally (not nationally) scarce
where the products are to be rolled out and where local
communities wish to be first in line for the jobs?
There is a significant extent of local scarcity, coupled with – in some instances - the
perceived unattractiveness of living in “remote” areas, and with regional remuneration
practice. This holds true, especially if one were to attract IE Practitioners to Public Sector
investment programmes, eg : New Build Electricity Programmes, Municipal Service
Delivery, etcetera.
The current and anticipated skills scarcity in our Profession falls in the upper tiers of NQF,
and expectations around short to medium term job creation at a local community level is
therefore both unrealistic and unfeasible.
A further reality is that of skills localisation. Many first generation students cannot afford
to study away from home. They have no alternative but to choose from courses available
from nearby Institutions. After graduation, students often settle in their home towns,
where they are absorbed by local industry.
1.c
Is it that the people don’t want to work for the organisations
where they are needed (e.g. Government)? If so, why?
Whilst IEs could make significant contributions in the Public Sector, the scarcity of IEs
leads to competition for resources from the Private Sector. Potential roles for IEs in the
public sector are, furthermore, not well defined yet.
Given that IEs tend to specialise in specific industries, it becomes difficult to switch to
industries where the value of IE is relatively unknown. Realistically, the supply pipeline of
IEs to new industries would need to be built upwards from graduate level. It may
therefore take several years to develop IE type industry specialists in new sectors of the
economy.
1.d
Is it because the people who are available do not meet the
need in some way? If so, in what way do they not meet the need?
As suggested above, IEs are able to fulfil roles across a variety of industries, in all phases of
an asset life cycle (Feasibility, Design, Build, Operate, Maintain), and at levels ranging from
strategic to operational.
Demand, and specification of roles are most often badly framed, resulting in roles filled
with individuals equipped with ill-suited qualifications.
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1.d.i
Is it because they lack the requisite experience to execute the work that
needs to be done?
No - the building blocks of an IE education equip individuals to fulfil a variety of roles.
In many instances, the building blocks of IE form part of the foundation skills required for
the implementation of most of the 18 SIPs. Because of ill-specified roles, individuals lack
the requisite background, and experience, to fulfil such roles to the full.
1.d.ii Is it because their qualifications are out-of-date or do not adequately
cover the knowledge and skills required by those at work? What are the key
gaps or problems?
Generally, industry specific roles are defined by the professions dominating those
industries, from the perspective of known and available skills, and not always from the
requisite insight as to what other professions / engineering disciplines could offer. An
example is a Site Planner, in the Construction and Engineering Contracting Environment.
The core skills requirement, as defined in the role profile, would be that of experience in
the use of Primavera (scheduling tool). In many instances, what is overlooked is the need
for foundation skills in the principles of planning and of scheduling, which are standard
building blocks of the IE Profession.
There are varying opinions amongst senior IEs as to whether the current curricula
effectively match the requirements of industry. Notwithstanding this, the degree of
adjustment required might be less than 20%. It is therefore fair to say that academically
qualified IEs generally have appropriate qualifications to meet roles that are both welldefined and ill-defined in terms of the underlying IE skillset required.
There is a significant opportunity to redefine the technical qualifications for IE to better
meet the criteria for roles applicable to SIPs, and to meet the needs of industry in general.
In certain instances, inputs from other disciplines may be required. We believe that
further investigation is required to define courses along the following focus areas
(engineering problems that are well-defined, or that could be solves using proven
techniques) which could ultimately replace, or complement, the existing technical
qualifications :

Operations, production, cost, variance, quality and maintenance management

Manufacturing techniques

Supply chain and logistics management

Project & program administration and management

Process management and systems implementation

Systems analysis, design and optimisation

Business process optimisation
1.d.iii Is it because the institutions that deliver them are viewed as providing
poor quality programmes?
The root of the problem lies in demand that is badly framed in terms of role specification,
and which, ultimately, leads to a supply side response in terms of curricula that are not
designed to meet industry and ultimately SIPs requirements.
The context of large scale infrastructure delivery is generally poorly understood by
educational institutions. Other than the period leading up to 2010, contemporary South
Africa has had no collective experience of infrastructure development being a sustained
contributor to GDP.
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Our learning institutions often do not have the requisite collective knowledge or insight to
define skills requirements, based on their often limited / narrow exposure to industry. In
many instances, Universities do not have the capacity or the means to develop and to
expand their curricula beyond their current skills and experience base.
In certain instances, a multi-disciplinary approach needs to be adopted in the
development of learning programmes for specific and specialist skills required.
1.d.iv Is it because there is no nationally recognised qualification for the skill
that is required?
Recognised qualifications do exist for the skills required, albeit that :

National productivity could be dramatically enhanced if curricula were to be reframed
in terms of actual skills requirements

Skills requirements for roles defined as being scarce were to be better defined

Capacity of learning institutions need to bolstered to allow them to cater for broader
specialisation aligned with industry requirements, rather than curricula that are
generic in terms of discipline
Please refer to 1.d.ii for suggested framework for Industrial Technician and Technology
curricula that are aligned to scarce skills requirements.
1.d.v Is it because there is limited practical training capacity at the
institutions where they were trained because equipment is not available or
because the lecturers lacked practical skills?
Practical training at Academic Universities is constrained by limited funding to maintain,
grow and staff work centres and laboratories.
Furthermore, in many instances, lecturers lack relevant, and sufficient, width and depth in
industry and in practical experience.
Opportunities to complete workplace-based practical learning that forms part of the
curricula of both B. Tech and N Dip courses, are becoming increasingly scarce. The reasons
are varied :

Student enrolment has been growing at disproportionate levels relative to the
number of in-training positions available in Industry

Economic realities have prevented organisations from increasing the number of
learnerships on offer

Insufficient funding is available to support learnerships
1.d.vi Is it because the majority of people have only a sub-set of the skills
required and are not fully qualified? If so, why does this problem persist?
Correct – see answers to 1.d.i, 1.d.ii, 1.d.iii and 1.d.iv above
The problem persists, given :

Lack of funding allocated to Universities to :
– Attract individuals to lecturing positions having the required industry experience
and able to create the required critical mass of awareness of demand side
requirements
– Introduce and to implement the required changes to curricula
– Support a broader variety of courses aligned with industry specific requirements

Ignorance on the side of those specifying roles and the success criteria of roles
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Notwithstanding these issues, the magnitude of scarcity is such that IE graduates are
effectively absorbed in industry
1.e
Is the problem on the other side?
1.e.i
Is it because the current job descriptions are inadequate and so the
wrong people are attracted into these posts? How should these be changed?
Please be specific
Correct. It is a matter of the wrong skills foundation specified for various roles, including
those found in various spheres of Government
Examples, applicable to both identified, and yet-to-be identified, scarce skills in the
context of the SIPs include :

Operations Management & Continuous Improvement
– IE curricula include various foundation skills in operations management, which is
the science of integrating resources and processes into cohesive strategies,
structures and systems for the effective and efficient delivery of quality goods and
services.
– There is however no one specific qualification for the role of Operations Manager,
with people from various backgrounds ultimately found in these roles.

Supply Chain Management, including Procurement, Warehousing & Inventory
Management Inbound & Outbound Logistics Management, Sales & Operations
Planning
– Various paths exist to the Supply Chain Professions, where clerical workers are
promoted, without an understanding of the principles of value chain dynamics,
technical procurement, warehouse and inventory management, transport
optimisation, etcetera

Operations Research & Strategic Decision Support
– The field of Operations Research presents a multitude of analytical and qualitative
decision support techniques that are seldom applied in the context of strategic
decision support. Examples include :
o
Network optimisation
o
Resource optimisation
o
Scheduling
o
Financial modelling
o
Process flow simulation
– Decisions, often having costly implications, are made by individuals who are
unaware of discipline specific techniques enabling decision making on a scientific
basis

Manufacturing, Production & Maintenance Management
– Often fulfilled by Mechanical or Process / Chemical / Electrical Engineers, without
prerequisite formal training in Operations Management, and optimisation across
diverse range of considerations, eg : human dynamics, financial considerations,
material and equipment, health, environment and safety, etcetera

Plant, Facilities & Warehouse layout & design
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– Often fulfilled by other built environment professions, without consideration of the
impact of production, manufacturing, assembly principles and systems on the
workflow and, ultimately, considerations of layout and of design

Business, Project, Engineering & Construction Management Systems Implementation
– Often attempted from an IT, and discipline specific approach, without formal
education in process and system design

Fabrication Management, Fabrication & Erection Planning & Logistics
– Often approached from a mechanical engineering perspective, without an
understanding of the differences between one-off manufacturing, and the
principles of operational management that apply to a fabrication shop and the
systemic complexities of delivering many of a kind or many of different kinds.
– Planning and Control approached from the perspective of mastery of the software
applications supporting these functions, without any foundation skills in planning
and control in complex environments

Document Management, Engineering Change Control & Configuration Management
– These roles are seldom approached from a perspective of understanding the
principles of an integrated document and change control value chain. In most
instances, information from different parties, different information systems, and
different phases need to be integrated
The principles governing the change required are :

to ensure that the roles are defined with consideration of the correct combination of
skills

curricula that need to be defined from the perspective of industry specific skills
requirements

training institutions that need to be empowered to attract the required skills
necessary to develop and to offer appropriate courses
1.e.ii Is it because insufficient project spending is taking place to allow people
to be trained? What are the reasons? How can they be addressed?
Sustainable skills pipelines can only be developed in the context of sustainable demand for
such skills, and with the confidence of industry in the creation of a continuous pipeline of
public sector work awarded in a transparent and equitable manner.
It is a chicken-egg situation, precipitated by unwillingness of training institutions, and of
the private sector, to benefit directly from training and to invest in skills development in
the face of uncertainty.
The situation can only be addressed by Government, through clear signals relating to their
investment in SIPS, that will result in a turnaround toward a virtuous spiral. It is one of
Government’s most significant roles to de-risk private sector investment through the
creation of the infrastructure, the means and the platforms for private sector to
participate in and in which to further invest.
In the short term, the number of SETA funded learnerships available to IEs could be
aligned proportionately with the graduate output of IE relative to other engineering
disciplines with those available to other engineering disciplines.
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1.f
Other reasons? A mix of the above reasons? Unknown
reasons? eg : Is it a geographically defined problem, eg : people
with the requisite skills are reluctant to work in rural or underdeveloped areas? Are the working conditions not conducive eg :
professional judgement is not respected?
No other reasons than those listed above.
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2
Can you quantify the problem?
It is estimated that 100
Industrial Engineers, and 900
Industrial Technicians and
Technologists would be
required per annum to meet
the needs related to the Design,
Build, Operate and Maintain
phases of the 18 SIPS.
We have had no data or means to estimate the number of and economically active IEs
currently practicing their profession in South Africa. For reasons explained further above,
it has also not been possible to quantify the current actual shortage of qualified and
experienced IE practitioners.
Career opportunities for individuals
with an industrial engineering
degree continue to grow at an
astounding rate. In a recent report
by the United States Bureau of
Labor Statistics, there are over 1.5
million engineers in the United
States. Industrial engineering is the
third most popular area of
engineering, with approximately
200,000 engineers.
A typical megaproject has between 5-10% of staff employed in the project management
organisation. As an example, Eskom’s Medupi project has a project management
organisation of close to 1,000 staff (total on site construction staff of 18,000). These roles
span from project directors through to integration managers, planners, quality controllers,
cost controllers, schedule, inventory and logistics managers, etcetera. This can be
assumed to be a reasonable proxy for some of the large SIPS projects.
The broad field of engineering is
expected to grow at a rate of 11%
over the next several years. Due in
part to the complexity of the field
and the recognition of the
importance of the industrial
engineer, the need for qualified
industrial engineers is expected to
grow at about 20%
http://www.degree.com/engineerin
g/industrial-engineering-degree
The present average supply of industrial engineers is approximately 200 qualified IE
graduates per annum across all Schools of IE in South Africa. Taking into account that the
scarcity stems from both the supply and (ill-defined) demand side, it is envisaged that the
number of graduates should increase on the mid to long term.
When using Medupi as a basis, projects of say R100bn could easily have a project
management office consisting of 1000 individuals, 50% of which we believe fulfil roles
which have an IE skills component. The number of graduate Industrial Engineers required
would ideally be about 10% (+-50) whereas the remaining 90% (450) would be spread
between B.Tech and N.Dip graduates in a related IE field.
At present most of these roles are being filled by graduates from other fields of
engineering and also other professional groupings eg commerce and law. Training towards
specific IE skills in the roles required for a PMO may be highly beneficial to many of the
SIPS. Due to the current shortage of IE practitioners, these roles are being filled by other
professions locally, and also with foreign IE and other engineering discipline professionals.
Considering the Design Build phases 18 SIPS, the additional demand for Industrial
Engineers, could be in excess of 500 individuals, whilst the demand for B.Tech and N.Dip
type IE skills could exceed 4500, on a similar basis. Given the pipeline and duration of the
SiPs projects it seems likely that the above numbers of persons would be meaningfully
employed for at least the next decade. This translates into a conservative estimation of an
additional annual requirement to support the SIPs of approximately 50 graduate IEs and
450 qualified B.Tech and N.Dip IE skills.
For the Operate and Maintain phases, most of the SIP projects will directly employ
approximately 5~10% of their construction staff complement, whereas related and
supporting industries would employ a further 5~10%. Thus it is envisaged that 50~100
graduate IEs and approximately 500~1000 B.Tech and N.Dip IE skills would be required in
the operational phase of SIP projects.
Further to this, in supporting the SIPS, there will be demand for IE skills for upstream
service providers from manufacturing, logistics, banking, management consulting and
assurance. To qualify this:

Manufacturing - supply chain localisation is one of the key driver’s entrenched in the
procurement of goods and services for the SIPs, which would imply growth in local
manufacturing. The IE curriculum is strongly geared towards supporting
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manufacturing entities in process and systems design as well as techniques of
optimisation and quality management.

Logistics – The SIPs projects pose some of the most exciting logistics challenges due to
their scale and geographic locations. IE’s are trained on logistics and inventory
management and simulation which is key to supporting the SIPs

Finance – Banks are increasingly employing IEs to support in interpreting project
information memoranda in terms of risk and financing structuring to ensure that
banks can finance these projects at competitive rates and with managed risks. Banks
have been traditionally averse to first of a kind and mega projects due to the inherent
risk associated with these. They look to engineers with an understanding of finance as
well as systems integration, value and risk to support on decision making on these
mega projects

Management Consulting – One of the key advantages of IE is that its members are at
an age profile which is quite healthy. The youngest of the engineering disciplines, its
members are agile, versatile and highly regarded. This has also resulted in a healthy
demand for IEs from the management consulting firms which would also be employed
on the SIPS projects from strategy to execution and significantly into operations
where lean/six sigma, total quality management and business process re-engineering
services are typical service offerings and squarely in the domain of IEs

Assurance – The big four audit firms have also looked to IEs to support on assurance
of mega projects as IEs have a combination of engineering and finance skills required
for assurance and forensic reviews on capital project budgeting and capital project
spend. Into operations the provision of assurance on production and productivity
metrics is of increasing importance.
From the above, it can be estimated that to support the SIPs, the above upstream and
supporting industries will require at least as many IEs as the projects themselves,
Thus the estimation is that in supporting the SIPS, a conservative estimate of 100 graduate
Industrial Engineers and 900 B.Tech and N.Dip IEs will be required per annum. Looking
forward to a vision of 2050 with South Africa as a leading developed country and using the
SIPS as a catalyst for such growth towards a developed country, based on the above
calculations, the requirement for graduate IEs would number approximately 15,000 by
2050 (0.03% of the current population).
We have benchmarked the above to data from the United States Bureau of Labor statistics
which currently has on record 1,500,000 Engineers in the USA of which 200,000 are IEs
(0.06% of the current total USA population). Our estimates are therefore relatively
conservative. We believe the above to be a reasonable estimate of IE skills requirements
and would thus recommend that in support of the SIPs there is a move towards increasing
the number of IE graduates by 100 per annum and likewise for IE related B.Tech and N.Dip
skills by 900 per annum.
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2.a
What sectoral projects will particularly require this
occupation? What information is available about timing and
location of demand?
All SIP projects will require IEs at all levels, and in all phases in life cycle. The requirement
also goes beyond project implementation level, to include pre-feasibility (bankability and
financing phases), as well as the requirement at a portfolio management level, i.e. within
the PICC, from where the project roll-out and management would be coordinated.
2.b
Does this information help to qualify the problem for
planning purposes? Kindly provide specific suggestions, including
reference to other available data bases where available.
At the time of writing, no information / data has been made available on the portal
relating to supply and demand.
Suggestions are :

Further work to be initiated and undertaken by DHET in order to :
o
Assess demand profiles in the context of SIPs timeframes, and a more detailed
level of project scope and consequent work breakdown in terms of the generic
roles that would be required
o
Identify respective role profiles, and numbers required in time frames of 2 to 5
year buckets. This would facilitate planning at a national level, and across the
various stakeholder groups.
o
Link identified roles to current / Proposed learning pathways for the respective
roles, in order to assess whether learning institutions and other stakeholders in
the skills development pipeline :

Have the capacity to deliver graduates at the required throughput rate

Should introduce other pathways to the IE profession, eg : short courses,
post graduate diploma course, etcetera

Offer curricula which align with national skills development imperatives

More pro-active coordination of focused task teams and respective stakeholders.
(Smaller groups with the right stakeholders on board generally achieve more)

Convene academic and industry task teams to improve the quality of assessment on
additional courses required to address the need for specialist skills development. It
may imply that the introduction of the new curricula for universities of technology be
put on hold for such purposes

Provide the required funding for upfront planning to be outsourced to the
appropriate professionals. Upfront planning is the most significant driver of success.
Yet it is left to individuals who offer volunteer time, at no compensation for time
and effort invested.
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2.c
How might this data be nuanced to take account of the
problem analysis above?
Please refer to the above suggestions.
The outcome would enable Task Teams to assist in the identification of :

Courses and course content that need to be developed

Effective promotion to industry of available courses

Accelerating throughput and the channelling of financial aid to ensure that skills
bottlenecks are alleviated through a combination of the funding of academic
institutions, grants for work place skills development, and other methods of
incentivising the development of specialised and scarce skills
2.d
Please provide as accurate a quantitative description of the
problem as possible. If this is not possible, provide a method
whereby this issue might be addressed.
SAIIE does not have access to the data required to quantify the problem around net
demand for IE Professionals.
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3
In the short term, what can be done to address the
scarcity?
International recruiting of senior
IEs would be the main short term
solution. Active recruitment and
encouragement of school leavers,
especially also young women, to
study IE should be the medium
term solution
The roll-out of the SIPs often requires immediate attention to be paid to this scarcity.
What can be done in the short term? Here are some options, there may be others :
3.a
Scan the local labour market for the skills that are needed
by referencing the DoL Employment Services South Africa (ESSA)
database. Do you know of other data bases which might help to
find available skills? Specify these.
None other than working with selected recruitment agencies.
3.b
Encourage the return of retirees
Retirees should be incentivised to act as external mentors to support Candidate
development, through companies that offer Registration support. This should include a
formalised mentorship programme to equip retirees / consultants with the correct blend
of skills required.
3.c
Explore the possibility of recruiting people on a short term
contract basis to fill the gaps eg. across the public sector or from
the private to the public sector to get projects going. From where
might these individuals be recruited? Give specific examples.
There are numerous experienced independent consultants in the IE space, which could be
contracted to fill these gaps, should Employment Equity not be applied as the key
selection criteria. The SAIIE website will soon post details on IE service providers.
Skills development will require significant investment. Such investment must however be
seen in light of the hugely beneficial returns to be made by the country in the process.
Wherever experienced skills – retirees, consultants, lecturers etcetera – exist, and
wherever they are used, the possibility of skills transfer should be considered. Within the
confines of pragmatism, the SIPs could be seen as a large classroom in training. The key
importance here is that the correct (as opposed to any) skills are transferred.
Those best qualified need to be driving the work to ensure that the projects come in on
time and in budget, and these are the types of skills that need to be imparted, including
technical, commercial and leadership skills. The costs of not bringing in projects on time
are so prohibitive as to wipe out the benefits of skills investment envisaged.
3.d
International recruitment
Applied in the same way as above; see 3.a re special arrangements.
3.d.i
Recruit international experts for short term contracts
See points above
3.d.ii Suggest skills which should be invited to enter the country on a
permanent basis
We discourage the practice of importing skills, albeit scarce, prior to a full investigation on
the local availability of such skills. SAIIE would assist with such investigations.
16 | P a g e
All those who enter, on the basis of such skills not available locally, should be providing
value-adding skills otherwise they should not be part of the process. It should also be
remembered that those entering will have the means of contributing to the country’s
economy e.g : in the employment of domestic assistance, in tourism, in the exercising
their purchasing power etcetera.
3.d.iii
Encourage those who have left to return
The importance of their contributions must be focused upon, and they need to be
encouraged to return for the right reasons.
3.d.iv
Other ideas
Often, Employment Equity requirements limit the pool from which experienced
practitioners could be sourced. Given the dire shortages of skills this should not be a
consideration - everyone who is capable will be needed!
3.e
Recognition of prior learning (RPL) – assess and recognise
skills of those who are doing similar work currently – where a
qualification is a condition for employment. How should this be
done, by whom, for your specific occupation? Where and how
should preparations be made for this? Give specific guidelines for
those requiring the skills to follow. See SAQA NAMB and other
guidelines to this matter.
Many problems outlined above stem from RPL without due consideration of the
foundation skills required. These need to be managed on a case by case basis as prior
learning differs markedly – 10 years’ experience of one year repeated ten times over is
vastly different from ten years of diverse experience. A comprehensive competency
based interview process needs to be one of the avenues of assessing competence if this is
to be seriously considered.
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4
Are there any ways in which even these short term
measures can be steered to address the deeper
problems?
Yes, the better definition of the
need for industrial engineers on
complex (SIP) projects should be
strongly integrated with the drive
to draw more bright young
individuals into industrial
engineering.
4.a
Require those brought in on short term contracts to train
others as part of their contracts. Perhaps they should themselves
be trained on how best to do this? In government, should those
who are brought in be trained in the systems of government which
need to be strengthened, eg. Infrastructure Delivery Management
System?
Yes - Training and skills transfer should receive more attention
A fine balance needs to be struck however in terms of introducing additional bureaucracy,
and allowing industry to employ whomsoever, and from wherever they believe to be most
appropriate to the task at hand.
Instead of burdening small companies by making them each replicate training processes,
there is a strong business case to be made for State Owned Enterprises, or Institutions of
Government to provide – through its academic and training institutions - or to incentivise
private sector to do this training.
It is important to bear in mind that the additional costs which small companies will incur
through many different requirements imposed upon them will see these being passed on.
As these requirements are not executed on a large scale they are expensive, versus what
can be provided on a central scale. Cost and efficiency benefits will be realised by
government facilitating many of these requirements.
4.b
Should work permits include conditionalities? Specify what
conditionalities might work best for your occupation eg.
immigrants should be required to train local people? Or train local
lecturers? Send South Africans to their home country for training?
Build local training facilities and equip them to provide
programmes to South African learners to international standards?
Etcetera
A carrot, as opposed to a stick approach, would work better.
There are too many complexities around inclusion of conditionalities for work permits,
which will ultimately result in the skills just not coming. There needs to be a clear
understanding upfront that the work in SA will require a measure of skills transfer - this
can be built into work contracts.
Strategic partnerships between learning institutions would play a significant role in skills
development in countries that have successfully implemented strategic infrastructure
delivery programmes.
Offset programmes could be leveraged more effectively to ensure skills transfer, and
larger scale development of scarce skills.
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4.c
Short courses developed to address common skills gaps be
inputs into longer terms programme improvements?
Agreed. Public sector learning institutions are currently not effectively geared and
empowered to implement short courses as alternative pathways to scarce skills
professions.
4.d
Other? Specify

Increase recognition / accreditation of / partnerships with private sector learning
institutions geared to address the demand for selected short courses.

Use Professional Bodies to accredit such training courses for CPD

Reposition Engineering as a Profession of Choice (ECSA Key Accountability)
Ultimately the long term solution has to be the development of more engineers in
South Africa.
A key issue is the attraction of scholars into the engineering profession. In India
engineering is considered the most sought after degree! In South Africa, engineering
as a career choice for school leavers excelling in Mathematics and Science languishes
some way behind the so-called ‘glamour professions’ of medicine, accountancy and
architecture and law.
ECSA needs to embark upon a significant marketing exercise to reposition engineering
as a profession of choice – interviews in the “glossies” aimed at teenagers with
(preferably young) role models in the profession, adverts on TV and radio, billboards
expounding the virtues of engineers and engineering in contributing to the country’s
economy and helping create a better life for all. This will necessitate investment with
accomplished and reputable marketing organisations.
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5
In the longer term, what should be done and where
should we start to address the problems that have been
identified?
The shorter term measures described above will naturally evolve into deeper and broader
measures in the long-term, as well as into the resolution of some of the issues raised in
the questions below. Furthermore, it is envisaged that specific jobs and roles in industry
will naturally have their foundations in industrial engineering related topics (eg : inventory
management). It is recommended that the IE discipline attempt to make these linkages
more explicit so as to enhance the profession’s relevance more appropriately.
5.a
Is there a clear pathway for someone to follow from entry to
expertise? Please evaluate the pathway descriptions provided in
the SIP Skills Portal and indicate if changes are needed
The significant extent of theoretical training required in IE prohibits the introduction of
new pathways to the profession, other than those currently offered by Academic
Universities, and Universities of Technology.
However, the introduction of specific courses, at post graduate level, should be
considered, as alternative pathways to the development of specialised skills.
There are, nevertheless, opportunities for Industrial Engineering to be a foundation for
vocational education. Vocationally-oriented secondary education exposes school leavers
to engineering, technological, electrical, building related, and other occupations, but they
need further post-school training before they can enter the labour market. Vocationallyoriented education (through specialist ‘focus schools’ or through general secondary
schools) could be a much more attractive option within a system of diversified education
provision.
5.a.i
Step One: What is the entry requirement from the schooling system? (Is
it correctly captured on the Portal?)
We have assumed this to be correct and similar to other disciplines in engineering.
5.a.ii Step Two: What qualification should they complete to get the necessary
theoretical foundation?
IEs : BSc Eng, B Eng, or B Ing
Industrial Technologists : B Tech
Industrial Technicians : N Dip
5.a.iii Step Three: Is there a requirement for simulated practice of the
occupation before entering the workplace?
Practical workplace training and/or projects, forming part of the undergraduate
curriculum in the B. Tech and N Dip courses provides some valuable exposure.
For Industrial Engineers, dissertation projects may, or may not, be of value before entering
the workplace. These are often supplemented, or incorporated, into vacation work to
increase their relevance.
Due to the breadth of the IE discipline and the universal applicability of methodologies,
simulated practice is not seen as an impediment to successful workplace readiness.
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5.a.iv Step Four: Is there a requirement for structured workplace learning? If
so, is it separately structured?
Practical workplace training, forming part of the undergraduate curriculum in the B. Tech
and N Dip courses are foundational. For industrial engineers, other requirements (eg : Pr.
Eng.) are optional but recommended.
Again, due to the breadth of the IE discipline and the universal applicability of
methodologies, for graduate IEs it is not seen as an impediment to successful workplace
readiness.
5.a.v Step Five: Is there a final assessment of occupational competence? If so,
who is responsible for this?
Professional Registration, assessed by the Committees of ECSA
5.a.vi Step Six: Are there programmes to follow after final assessment that
would better prepare people for specific applications required for the SIP rollout (in government or in the private sector)? Could some of these be integrated
into earlier steps more efficiently?
No, there are currently no programmes offered through Academic Institutions related to
Industrial Engineering aligned with the SIP roll-out.
Please refer to Section 1 d ii) for proposed re-alignment of technical courses in Industrial
Engineering towards SIPs and industry needs
If there is more than one pathway, the above questions need to be answered for each
pathway. If there is more than one pathway, is this array of pathways desirable or just
confusing? Is there a preferred pathway? Or is there a need for change? Please explain
The recent introduction of new curricula by the Universities of Technology is poorly
understood (and potentially also poorly received) by various stakeholders, both in terms
of what has necessitated the change, and in terms of how it would enhance relevant
theoretical training, as required by industry. It is therefore recommended that further
efforts to introduce new curricula be paused, for due consideration of the alignment with
a broader effort to address the requirement for developing scarce skills.
Also, as indicated above, it is envisaged that specific vocational jobs in industry will
naturally have their foundations in industrial engineering related topics (e.g : inventory
management) and it is recommended that the IE discipline attempt to make these linkages
more explicit so as to enhance the profession’s relevance more appropriately in the longrun.
It is believed that the introduction of alternative pathways to the profession would have
significant longer term benefit, both in terms of offering appropriate skills towards the
successful implementation of the SIPs and, ultimately, also towards national productivity.
A combination of short courses at post-graduate level, and an investigation into the
possible re-alignment of the Technology courses in Industrial Engineering are to be
considered in a process led by SAIIE, to ensure that individuals are appropriately skilled for
roles with an industrial engineering content.
5.b
For this occupation, is there a clear progression pathway to
“higher” occupations? Kindly explain and evaluate how effective
these are. If not, how might these pathways be created?
Considering the migration path of Technician to Technologist to Engineer, many students
are frustrated by the fact that they are unable to do so, as a result of not fulfilling
minimum admission criteria for maths and science, applicable to Bachelor degrees in IE
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Engineering faculties should introduce extra-curricular bridging courses, which would
enable students to migrate with relative ease.
Please also refer to the comments around vocational education as a precursor to the
migration path described above.
5.c
At what stage along the pathway do the key problems occur?
Specify for each step what the key quantitative and qualitative
problems are and recommend one or more solutions for each
problem:
The problems identified, and solutions proposed in the supplementary hand-out
(untitled) captures the challenges faced in pathways to the IE professions
5.c.i
Step One: Key problems, proposed solutions;
5.c.ii
Step Two: Key problems, proposed solutions;
5.c.iii
Step Three: Key problems, proposed solutions;
5.c.iv
Step Four: Key problems, proposed solutions;
5.c.v
Step Five: Key problems, proposed solutions;
5.c.vi
Step Six: Key problems, proposed solutions;
It is recommended that the full range of possible solutions be investigated including
those supported by the State eg. NARYSEC, EPWP, Department of Public Works, DPSA
internship and learnership Programmes, National Treasury Infrastructure Skills
Development and Grant Programmes, Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency,
etcetera. Also support CIDB Training Standard. Details can / will be found on the SIP
Skills Portal
The problems identified, and the solutions proposed in the supplementary hand-out
(untitled) capture the challenges faced in pathways to the Industrial Engineering
professions.
For any large scale intervention, the correlation between ultimate success and effective
front end planning and investment has been proven time and again. This holds true for
skills development, both as a precursor to the ultimate success of the NDP, but also as a
key outcome of the NDP.
It is therefore strongly recommended that sufficient budget, focus and attention is
directed towards addressing the challenges identified.
5.d
Arrange the solutions in order of priority, allowing for the
possibility that more than one solution could fall into a single
priority classification
See 5.e
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5.e
Identify, if possible, priority areas where work should begin
(as precisely as possible) or, if this is not possible, determine the
criteria for prioritisation
1.
Increased funding of workplace skills development through the applicable SETAs,
proportionate to grants made available to other engineering disciplines, on the basis
of graduation output.
2.
Funding to be made available as follows :
a.
For conducting more detailed investigations into the requirements for
restructuring of IE curricula, to support the introduction / restructuring /
development of new / existing courses that would address the need for
specialist and scarce skills
b.
To proceed with course development, in line with the outcome of requested
investigations
c.
For career guidance on (Industrial) Engineering to be more comprehensive,
and to reach a broader audience
d.
Remuneration of ad hoc task teams and specialists, involved with front end
planning to participate in subsequent Initiatives to identify and address Skills
Scarcity
e.
To promote and to create linkages to related jobs in the workplace through
specific input into vocational education mechanisms.
3.
Address underlying reasons behind the general reluctance of Professionals to work in
Government
4.
Reconsider criteria for funding allocated to Universities to be based on student intake,
as opposed to graduate output
5.f
Evaluate the capacity of implementing partners, namely
those universities, FET colleges, Universities of Technology,
private training providers and workplaces as well as industry
training centres that deliver your programmes. How can these
improve their training provision eg. partnerships between
stronger and weaker institutions, local and international partners,
lecturer upgrading programmes etcetera.
It is proposed that the curricula of B. Tech Industrial and N Dip Industrial qualifications be
reconsidered and aligned with current, and anticipated industry requirements.
The B. Tech and N Dip qualification has become a watered down version of the academic
qualification in IE, instead of equipping graduates with specialised skills in a narrow field,
as is the case in other engineering disciplines.
It may be possible for Universities of Technology to agree upfront on selected areas of
specialisation, in light of local industries served, and considering the availability of skills
and practical limitations faced.
The capacity of Universities of Technology is particularly limited, given that funding
models do not support the significant growth in intake, and the subsequent drop-out
being experienced recently.
It is not foreseen that the challenges faced in tertiary education could be addressed
effectively if remuneration of academic staff is not brought on par with Industry.
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5.g
Measure proposed interventions against the PICC terms of
Reference and SIP Skills Plan (see reverse side of the Occupational
Task Teams Membership sheet)
The proposed interventions are on par with the PICCs Terms of Reference.
Systemic solutions to constraints in the entire skills development pipeline need to be
introduced for the NDP to achieve its objectives in a sustainable manner.
5.h
Develop an implementation plan to address identified
priorities. Identify who should drive this work and how it should
be funded
Please refer to 5e) for suggestions on addressing identified priorities.
SAIIE has, subsequent to the launch of this Initiative on addressing skills scarcity,
embarked on various interventions to systemically, and holistically address skills scarcity in
our Profession. Examples are :

Various efforts to better promote the profession amongst school goers, other
disciplines, and various other stakeholders

The launch of a Training Support programme, in partnership with the SAICE Candidacy
Academy

Promotion of various short courses, aligned to skills scarcity

Fostering closer ties with Academics, in view to a forum to address concerns related
to the current curricula

Closer ties with potential stakeholders, service providers and suppliers to our
Profession, in order to address the prevailing shortage of funds to implement the
above, and various other measures.
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Report 1 – Further Comments
In the Report 1 submission, various references were made to further investigation
required on some of the matters which inputs were asked on. The section below provides
a revised opinion, after further thought and deliberation.
Defined pathways from Entry to Expertise in Industrial Engineering, and its many subdisciplines are currently limited to structured tertiary education in our Discipline, offered
by the listed Academic Universities, and Universities of Technology.
In terms of entry requirements, a direct correlation could be drawn between intake (and
subsequently also drop-out) rates and admission standards, which vary from one school to
another – Lower admission standards result in increased quantum of intake.
Considering the question about whether to expand the number of structured workplace
training grants, it is believed that an immediate increase in structured workplace grants
would have significant benefit in terms of alleviating the scarcity of IE skills in the short,
medium and longer term.
There are various practitioners who work in what could be defined as Industrial
Engineering sub-disciplines, entered through pathways other than what is offered as part
of the formal education system . In many instances, they are ill-equipped, and uninformed
in their application of such skills. Examples are :

Technicians and Technologists in the Construction Industry who become Site Planners
on the basis of Primavera skills stipulated in the Job Specification. Although such
individuals may have learnt to use the planning tool, they lack the fundamental
knowledge of planning – which is a core industrial engineering skill

Stores foremen who are promoted to Stores and Warehouse Managers, without a
formal grounding in the more advanced principles of inventory management,
warehousing, logistics and procurement

Mechanical Engineering Technologists (eg : Boilermakers, Fitters and Turners,
Machine Operators) who are promoted to production supervisors and production
managers without exposure to the discipline of operations management, or
alternatively to maintenance managers without knowledge of the fundamentals of
Reliability Engineering, Total Preventative Maintenance, etcetera.

B Comm graduates who find themselves in Procurement, or other fields in Supply
Chain Management, without the prerequisite foundation knowledge of either
Strategic Sourcing, or Tactical Procurement
In the light of the above comments on linkages to vocational training, there may be a
significant opportunity in offering applied courses, in sub-disciplines included in and
beyond the above examples, especially at Technician and Technologist level. This could
result in the introduction of various other, and well-defined pathways to Industrial
Engineering Skills that are commonly known to be scarce, albeit that the scarcity may
generally not be defined as an Industrial Engineering related skill.
As a possible next step, a structured intervention, sustained over a period of time, might
be required in the development and introduction of appropriate curricula and courses,
and thereafter, in support of appropriate workplace training interventions.
An assumption, which should be explored, is that many of the scarce skills in the Built
Environment Industries that may eventually be identified as a result of this Initiative,
would be skills that require foundation knowledge across more than one Engineering
discipline. A cooperative, and cross discipline approach would be required to address such
challenges.
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Structured Workplace Training needs to be considered – amongst others - from the
perspective of Professional Registration. With less than 25% of the active, non-student
membership base of SAIIE Registered as Professional Engineers or Technologists, and less
than 20% enrolled as Engineering Candidates working towards Registration, IE is one of
the Voluntary Associations (VA’s) having the lowest number of Registered Engineering
Professionals.
Some of the key reasons for the low drive towards Registration are :

the absence of public liability in the work we do

the lack of Professional Mentors who are IE Practitioners, especially in the less
traditional fields in which young IE practitioners are employed (eg : Construction,
Financial, Medical and Public Sector Service Industries, ICT, etcetera)

the fact that many Industrial Engineering graduates fail to practice their Profession
actively as they advance in their careers

The relatively insignificant status assigned to Professional Registration in many of the
more contemporary sub-disciplines of industrial engineering, and industries in which
these practitioners find themselves
The number of Registered Industrial Engineering Professionals, remains a challenge and is
regarded as a key enabler in resolving and/or mitigating the key issue around assessment
of competence in the workplace.
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