Blog

By equipping individuals with the skills required to adapt to the emerging digital economy, apprenticeship programs can reduce the skills gap in the right way.

Here’s how one of our clients has made the apprenticeship program their largest source of talent.

Client

The client - a company dealing with providing products and services such as elevators, escalators, and moving walks transport to improve the quality of urban living for current and future generations.

Business Context

The client established a Corporate Research & Development center in Pune to develop new systems and components for elevators and escalators and to provide long lasting customer benefits. It is the first global elevator and escalator company to set up a greenfield manufacturing facility to produce escalators for the Indian market. The operations started in early 2014.

Issue Discovery

To create a talent pool that would be deployed once trained and certified.

Solution

An apprenticeship program was started by the client with the aim of creating a talent pool that would be deployed once trained and certified. The process starts with capacity planning, outlining a blueprint for the headcount that needs to be deployed. The apprentices hired (on an average of about 300 a year) are taken through a two-year program that involves various training and skills.

Once the technical training is completed, the trainees move to the operations team to accompany a certified technician who can coach them on the job. At the end of the two years, the trainees are assessed and if they do well, they are hired and certified for the installation role.

Hiring happens every quarter as this is a continuous process.

Outcome

50% of client’s workforce comes from the apprenticeship pool, which helps to drive the company’s productivity, efficiency and profitability. 95% of fitters come from the apprenticeship program. The successful apprenticeship program has reduced the company’s dependence on third-party subcontractors, improving profitability and reducing the risk of accidents.