Mr Er Kwong Wah, Chairman for Centre for Cleaning Technology

Board of Directors for Centre for Cleaning Technology

Mr Michael Lim, Executive Director for Centre for Cleaning Technology

Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen

Good morning, I am pleased to be here today for the launch of the Centre for Cleaning Technology and NSRS in cleaning.

Singapore�s economic landscape in the next decade will be shaped by the accelerating pace of scientific, information and technological changes and globalization. Entire industries and businesses will have to transform themselves. We will have to adopt a new paradigm to compete in this new environment. Past success will no longer guarantee survival and success in the future. To survive and prosper, we must evolve into a knowledge-based economy. Our workers, at every level, must constantly upgrade skills and build up distinctive competencies. We need higher skills so that we are always ready to exploit and harness new technology and knowledge for growth. Prof Michael Porter was in Singapore recently to address the New Economy Conference. He stressed that unless our domestic economy is as productive as our external economy, the whole economy would be negatively affected. He recommended that Singapore�s economic agenda must include transformation of our domestic-based sectors to improve the efficiency of low-productivity industries. This process of professionalising domestic-based industries. He had made a valid observation. Two years ago, our M21 Report also emphasized the need to upgrade domestic-based industries.

The cleaning industry is an important part of our domestic economy. Our vision for the cleaning industry is an industry powered by skilled and productive workers who are able to use the latest cleaning technology to boost their productivity and service quality. Today�s commercial cleaner needs to be a thinking and knowledgeable worker. It is not enough just to know how to use a mop or a broom. For example, new synthetic materials used in carpets, floorings and furniture have different properties and must be cleaned accordingly. Equipment and cleaning agents are designed for specific materials. Hence there are cleaning solutions for marble flooring, natural wood flooring and artificial wood flooring. The list goes on. A professional cleaner must be aware of the properties of the materials and use the correct cleaning agent and technique. The professional cleaner has to be brought up to date and be equipped with the knowledge and application of the latest technological cleaning materials and tools. This is indeed a brief profile of a professional Cleaning Technician.

This brings us to the question of whether our cleaners are ready to deliver such high quality and professional services. Are our cleaners raising the productivity of the cleaning industry and better wages? The answer is not yet. Unfortunately, today, the cleaning industry suffers from low productivity due to the labour-intensive practices. Cleaning was traditionally perceived as a manual industry, with a poor public image and limited career prospects. Skills and knowledge were not regarded as important within the industry. The result was a vicious cycle. The lack of training opportunities led to low value-added, low-paying jobs, poor career progression paths and low image. Business practices also did not encourage higher productivity as cleaning contracts are awarded based on the number of workers deployed. If a contractor bidding for a job promises a dozen workers, no one would ask what were the capabilities of these workers. The emphasis on head count led to very low productivity and poor service standards.

In December 1999, at the inauguration of the Cleaning In the Next Millennium, I spoke about launching the "Cleaning Industry Transformation Plan". Brought about by the tripartite partnership of the industry, EMAS, PSB and MOM, three initiatives were introduced under this strategy. Firstly, technical references were developed to facilitate the industry to measure and improve the quality of cleaning services. PSB had also worked closely with the industry to develop six basic core competency skill standards under NSRS. These skills standards delineated the competencies that are required for cleaners to deliver quality services. The third initiative entailed the setting up of a training centre that would provide workers and other stakeholders with the requisite skills and knowledge to be effective players in the industry. I am happy to note that these initiatives have been implemented and are steering the industry towards higher productivity and better job opportunities for Singaporeans.

Since the launch of the Transformation Plan in 1999, the cleaning industry has made considerable progress. The Technical References have enabled building owners to quantify the standard of cleanliness for their buildings. This has encouraged building owners to incorporate the technical references as performance standards into cleaning contracts. Examples include the Singapore Power building, offices belonging to the Economic Development Board, the Changi International Airport, Singapore Productivity and Standards Board, Ministry of Education and also my Ministry at the Ministry of Manpower building, just to name a few. Private sector buildings have also taken up performance based contracts, including Suntec City Development.

The new service contracts, focusing on service performance rather than using the traditional headcount basis, will allow cleaning service providers to be more innovative in service delivery. It will also mean that they will have to train their service personnel to improve productivity and service standards. This will create a win- win outcome for all. The building owners will get their buildings cleaned to their standards, while the cleaning service providers now know what the desired outcomes are in terms of service performance and can effectively plan and budget for it. At the same time, there is now a demand for cleaners to constantly acquire new skills to be more productive on the job so that they can meet the higher expectations from building owners.

The NSRS has contributed to the transformation of the cleaning industry and the employability of cleaning workers. A trained and certified workforce will benefit building owners and cleaning service providers enormously. A skilled and responsive workforce will result in provision of higher levels of cleanliness and better quality of service to building owners, better service provided to customers, increased productivity for the cleaning service providers and better wages for the workers. More importantly, with this transformation, the industry will acquire a new image and can get rid of the old perception of dull and low-paying jobs.

For individuals, the industry-wide recognition of skills and knowledge will lead the way to training and skills upgrading. This will result in better pay and career prospects. We have seen excellent response to NSRS training and assessment. To date, PSB has assessed 2,207 cleaners and 1459 cleaners have been certified. I understand that the certified cleaners are much sought after by cleaning companies.

In February 2000, the Centre for Cleaning Technology (CCT) was established as the third thrust of the transformation plan. Jointly funded by the Skills Development Fund, the Ministry of Manpower and the industry, the centre, costing over $2million, is the first of its kind in Singapore. It has brought together the latest cleaning technology and expertise under one roof. The industry is represented by six Founding Members who have contributed their time, resources and expertise to help upgrade the industry. Their commitment and sharing of knowledge, technology and skills to develop appropriate skills standards and training is highly commendable. The six companies - Campaign Cleaning Services, Ecolab, ISS, Karcher, Nilfisk Advance and Service Master have demonstrated how stakeholders can take the lead and make a difference.

The CCT provides a comprehensive range of training and other services with the aim of bringing benefits to building owners, cleaning service providers and their employees. It has conducted comprehensive training programmes to prepare workers for certification under the NSRS. The CCT has trained over 1700 cleaners during the last one year. It is also worth noting that these training courses are well attended by over 60 cleaning companies which are SMEs. These progressive SMEs have recognized the need for a well-trained workforce and are taking the effort to improve their services by putting their employees through the NSRS training. With training and certification, the cleaners will be armed with knowledge and skills to improve productivity in their jobs. They are also motivated to work in an industry that is fast acquiring a professional image and leaving the old image of dirty sloppy manual work in the dustbin.

The average age of trainees is 45 years old and the average educational profile of these trainees is secondary and below. The oldest trainee who has undergone training in CCT is 78 years old! He is an example that age and educational profile are no barrier to continuous learning and training. I was told that the older trainees are very hardworking even though some were reluctant to enroll initially and thought that they would be too old to start learning again. CCT, has however, put in place special efforts to make training accessible and understandable by older and lower skilled workers by specially orientating their trainers so that they are competent in conducting the courses using video and hands-on demos, pictogrammes and even to the extent of using other languages where needed.

Besides having schemes such as Skills Redevelopment Programme to help displaced workers train and retrain, the Ministry of Manpower has also launched the "People for Jobs Traineeship Programme" which aims at helping older job seekers (aged 40 years and above) who are prepared to make a career transition phase into jobs in new sectors. The Ministry will like to extend this programme to the cleaning industry. We hope to see more cleaning companies put in place traineeship arrangements to help older workers taking on a new job in the cleaning industry. A well-implemented traineeship arrangement will help shorten the time for the older worker to pick up new skills and start contributing to the company.

The transformation of the cleaning industry has gone beyond the three initiatives. Very often we associate cleaning with low or no technology. The industry has come up with service measurement tools and systems. This involves the use of wireless technology to measure productivity and service levels on a real time basis. This technological innovation, using wireless and internet technology, will allow the owners of cleaning companies to track the number of workers deployed in different buildings. Using remote internet access, they will know where these workers are, what work has been completed, which areas have yet to be cleaned or are behind schedule. The level of performance delivered by these cleaners can also be made known via the internet any time, on a real time basis.

This is indeed a time for change in the cleaning industry. The introduction of such advanced technological monitoring will help determine the effectiveness of training through the assessment of the workers� performance and productivity. These measurements can therefore lead to clear quantification of the returns on investments in training received by the workforce. What is most promising is that the Government�s extensive involvement in the first phase of transformation has stimulated the industry to proceed further to the next phase of transformation. This is a very positive development. We need more industries to adopt such a forward-looking stance.

Technology is only one factor. In the service industry, the development of human resources must not be neglected, especially as people are frontline providers, playing a crucial role in uplifting our domestic services to world - class standards. Our other domestic-based services industries have the potential to be professionalised through raising of productivity, acquisition of skills and knowledge, and improving public perception so that more rewarding career opportunities can be created for our people.

Cleaning has set clear benchmarks for other industry transformation plans to emulate. I hope to see more industries coming forward to take on the challenge of elevating the productivity and professionalism of their own sector. This will help us to weather the difficult economic conditions and position ourselves for the recovery and new opportunities.

Thank you.

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