DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the MOU Signing between Indian Restaurants Association (Singapore), Singapore Productivity Centre and Asian Culinary Institute

Mr G Shanmugam, Advisor, iRAS
Mr C. Sankaranathan, President, iRAS
Dr. R Theyvendran , Chairman, SICCI  
Dr Ahmad Mohd Magad, Chairman, Singapore Productivity Centre
Mr Ng Cher Pong, Chief Executive, WDA
Mr Edward Ho, Deputy Principal (Development) of Nanyang Polytechnic 
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

I am delighted to join you today to witness the MOU signing between the Indian Restaurants Association (Singapore), or iRAS in short, the Singapore Productivity Centre (SPC) and the Asian Culinary Institute (ACI). It is heartening to know that the 22 Indian Restaurants are coming together, with the support from SPC and ACI to advance the transformation of productivity in the sector.

Indian cuisine, with its long history and all its regional variations, is an important part of Singapore’s culinary and cultural heritage. We each have our favourite Indian dish. 

A manpower lean domestic sector

Today’s initiative is important because our biggest challenge, and indeed our biggest opportunity in our economic restructuring journey is to uplift productivity in our domestic service sectors, including F&B and retail. They face many challenges, and the food service sector is a useful example to highlight these and how we can overcome them.

First, the food services sector will see a diminishing workforce. It is currently supported by an aging workforce, where half the workforce is above 50 years old, with a quarter being above 60.  Many of these older workers will retire in the next 5 to 15 years. Our overall Singaporean workforce growth is expected to slow down further in the coming years. Local workforce growth is expected to be negligible after 2020.

The second challenge is that many more firms are competing for the same diminishing pool of workers. We continue to see new restaurants and cafes opening -  in fact on a net basis, we add two outlets every day.  

We will continue to need foreign workers in the sector. But the solution to these challenges cannot be to rely on more and more foreign workers. We must find every way to move towards efficiency in use of manpower, every way to deliver value for the customer without more manpower. Whether through technology, changes in workflow, shared resources or self-service, and always with skills-upgrading and better jobs, we must to deliver high quality services with a lean workforce.  

 I am therefore very encouraged to see that iRAS, in partnership with the Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, is taking the lead to guide and support their members, to transform their operations to be more manpower-lean, and to create better jobs and careers to attract younger Singaporeans to the industry.   

The Central Processing Unit is a first amongst Indian restaurants. On its own, each individual establishment would typically not have the scale to set up a central kitchen. Neither can they typically meet the minimum quantity required by the suppliers if they want to outsource their food processing functions individually. By banding together, these restaurants are able to invest in technology and automation, aggregate demand, bulk purchase and reap economies of scale.  With SPC’s help in setting it up, the Central Processing Units will benefit iRAS members in the years to come. 

But for any sectoral transformation to be sustainable, it is critical to ensure that employees are equipped with the skills to embrace new technologies and work processes. I am glad iRAS will be working closely with the Asian Culinary Institute to develop Indian culinary training programmes and strategies to reskill and upskill workers in this sector, and to take advantage of SkillsFuture. Our Singaporean trainees will benefit from the culinary expertise of the adjunct trainers and their transfer of know-how, as we work to build a pipeline of skilled chefs for the sector. ACI will mount place-and-train programmes to help Indian restaurants build a pipeline of skilled local chefs, and also conduct regular masterclasses on Indian Culinary skills and best practices on manpower lean restaurant operations and management.

Under this MOU, ACI will also embark on an Applied HR Research Study to analyse and map out the job roles and career progression pathways for the Indian F&B sector. The insights from this research will be vital for the Indian F&B sector to scope out its manpower recruitment and retention strategy to better attract and retain talents.

Yesterday we saw a useful example of a supermarket operation using a combination of technology, change management across its operational process, self-service culture and job redesign to reap productivity gains, improve job quality and provide better service to customers.

Today is another example, with a different strategy.  A strategy of consolidation of different businesses, to automate common processes and raise culinary skills together.  Restaurants can reap productivity gains, chefs can focus on improving their culinary skills and customers can enjoy high quality.  There is still a large scope to enable this win-win-win approach across the domestic sector. 

Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme 

To further encourage this, we have also recently launched the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme from 1 Oct this year. This scheme aims to help progressive SMEs transform and grow in this new manpower-lean landscape. We want to support SMEs that want to be pioneers or early adopters in the areas of improving productivity and commit to build Singaporean core with good jobs and develop better quality workers.

iRAS is one of the first few applicants to the LED scheme. By taking the first step to set up the Central Processing Unit and commit to skills transfer, iRAS has shown their willingness to upgrade, innovate and transform. This is certainly commendable. The LED Taskforce is already working with iRAS to explore relevant schemes, solutions and training programmes to facilitate the smooth transition to a more manpower-lean sector. 

Besides iRAS’ plans, there is a list of pipeline projects that have been submitted to the LED Taskforce from various sectors including the environmental services, food manufacturing and cleaning services. The LED Taskforce, a cross-agency taskforce led by SPRING, WDA and NTUC, will build on current efforts of the various agencies and integrate their existing schemes to help SMEs in a more coordinated manner. I would encourage SMEs who have innovative ways in improving productivity and building up out Singaporean core to submit their proposals to the LED Taskforce.

Conclusion 

To conclude, I would like to commend iRAS’ efforts in helping your members navigate through the current challenging environment. You play a key role as a bridge between the government and businesses. By providing timely feedback, we can ensure that our assistance is targeted and relevant to business needs. 

I would like to encourage other Trade Associations and Chambers to take the lead and embark on innovative solutions for their members so that our SMEs are future-ready. 

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