Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers
The Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Business Section falls under the Manufacturers and Other Industries Economic Group.It was formed to better reflect the needs of the electrical and electronics industry.
Executive Committee
Mr Simon Alden - Chairman
Dr. Ing. Conrad Pace - Deputy Chairman
Noel Micallef
Ing. Anthony Galea
Executive Support
Mr. John B. Scicluna
2011
Five Electrical & Electronics Business Section members hosting 16 unemployed trainees
The Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) has been promoting its Traineeship scheme amongst employers with the aim of meeting labour market demands by providing unemployed job seekers with initial vocational training that will enable them to obtain the knowledge, skills and competence required to find and secure employment, and to ensure that the current and future labour market needs are adequately met with a qualified and competent pool of human resource.
In 2010, the Malta Chamber Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers Business Section identified the need for skilled electronics assembly operators. This led Business Section members to work on devising a detailed 25-week training programme to address this need. This was then passed on to ETC representatives to start working on launching a Traineeship for Electronics Assembly Operators.
Monday 28th April 2011 marked the start of this traineeship. Five companies are participating: Bavarian Technology Systems (Malta) Ltd, Carlo Gavazzi Ltd, Delta (Malta) Ltd, M S C (Malta) Ltd, and ProMinent Fluid Controls Ltd and together they are currently hosting 16 unemployed trainees.
This 25-week traineeship consists of 20% off-the-job training and 80% on-the-job training. Employers act as Training Service Providers and provide the practical on-the-job training 32 hours per week. The theoretical off-the-job training is being provided by ETC once a week, every Tuesday, as agreed with the participating members.
Although the traineeship does not constitute employment, there are possibilties for future employment for trainees who successfully complete the traineeship.
Call for Expression of Interest - Waste Management Service Providers
During a meeting of the Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers Business Section, Ing. Anthony Scicluna (Facilities Manager, STMicroelectronics (Malta) Ltd) delivered a presentation on the way waste is handled by the company. He explained that waste is a profit centre at STMicroelectronics and money is generated mainly through scrap stemming from the manufacturing waste stream.
This has triggered other Business Section members to explore ways on the possible joint export of electrical and electronic waste in order to derive some value in monetary terms. It takes large volumes of waste to make this process economically feasible, and members deduced that only through the joint export of waste can small to medium companies benefit.
In this respect, by the end of 2010 a questionnaire was sent to companies in the electrical and electronics sector to quantify their amount of waste for different categories.
The Malta Chamber secretariat consolidated these figures and the Business Section is now in a position to discuss the subject with potential service providers.
ETC Tender Issued for IPC Certified Trainer
Over the past months the Electrical and Electronic Business Section within the Malta Chamber formulated the Electronics Assembly Operator Training Programme, which will seek to improve the availability of appropriately trained human resources on the job market and enable members to tap into the Traineeship Scheme currently available to companies through the ETC.
The Business Section had informed ETC that a number of modules within this programme require the services of an IPC Certified Trainer. ETC currently have no IPC Certified Trainer and thus a tender had to be issued. This tender was published on the Government Gazette last week.
Topics which the IPC Certified Trainer would be required to deliver are:
- Introduction to Hand Soldering (32 hours)
- Electronic Assembly Standards (24 hours)
- Electronic Production Processes and Machines (12 hours)
- Electronic Components Identification and Preparation (16 hours)
- Electrostatic Dissipation and Health & Safety in Electronics Manufacturing (8 hours)
A copy of this tender document (ref: ESF/EMP/127/10) can be obtained from ETC by sending an email to Glen Ellul at ETC on glen.ellul@gov.mt. Deadline for submissions is Tuesday 1st February 2011 at 10.00am. Tenders must be submitted by hand to the ETC Head Office in Hal Far.
2010
The Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Business Section was formed in 2010 to better reflect the needs of the electrical and electronics industry. The Business Section members elected Mr. Simon Alden as Chairman.
Electronics Assembly Operator Traineeship
One of the first areas addressed was that of seeking to improve the availability of appropriately trained human resources in the job market. For this reason, during 2010, the Business Section worked on devising a training programme for an Electronics Assembly Operator, which consists of a combination of off-the-job and on-the-job training over a period of 23 weeks. This enabled members to tap into the Traineeship Scheme currently available to companies through the Employment and Training Corporation; which Traineeship is aimed to kick off early 2011.
Meeting with MEPA
A meeting was set up with Mr. Kevin Mercieca from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to better understand the regulations, legal requirements and procedures involved with electrical and electronics waste management. A number of points were raised during the meeting with special focus on the WEEE regulation and how it affects electrical and electronics manufacturers. It became clear from this meeting that companies would have to communicate individually with MEPA to receive feedback on the steps they would need to take to ensure they are compliant with WEEE as each company’s waste scenario was quite specific.
Waste Management
During a Business Section meeting, Ing. Anthony Scicluna delivered a presentation on the way waste is handled by ST Microelectronics (Malta) Ltd. He explained that waste is a profit centre at ST Microelectronics and money is generated mainly through scrap stemming from the manufacturing waste stream. This has triggered other Business Section members to explore ways on the possible joint export of electrical and electronic waste in order to derive some value in monetary terms. It takes large volumes of waste to make this process economically feasible, and members deduced that only through the joint export of waste can small to medium companies benefit.
In this respect, by the end of 2010 a questionnaire was sent to companies in the electrical and electronics sector to quantify their amount of waste for different categories. The Malta Chamber secretariat consolidated these figures and this data will better enable discussions on the subject with potential service providers in 2011.