The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Secretariat in collaboration with the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) organized a 5-day online training course on the Development of Productivity Specialists, 27–31 March. The course aimed to train APO-certified Productivity Specialists based on APO-PS 101 Requirements for Productivity Specialists. This flagship program of the APO provides opportunities for NPO professionals to learn about and share know-how and best practices in productivity improvement techniques and methods and exchange knowledge and experience.

Fifty-two participants, including 15 from Malaysia, registered for the course, representing 15 APO member economies. They included professional staff of NPOs and representatives of academia and public- and private-sector organizations. The sessions were conducted by three resource persons from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore who explained the competency requirements of productivity specialists and domain expertise in productivity tools and techniques. The course also provided insights into productivity and quality diagnosis.

The APO established the Accreditation Body Program to develop NPOs as certification bodies (CBs) of productivity specialist-related schemes. The NPOs of Malaysia, Mongolia, and Vietnam have been accredited as CBs for productivity specialists’ schemes, while the National Productivity Council, India; NPO of I.R. Iran; NPO of Pakistan; National Productivity Secretariat of Sri Lanka; and Turkish Management Sciences Institute (TUSSIDE), a partner of the NPO of Turkiye, are in various stages of CB development. The course is a prerequisite for participants to qualify for certification by APO-accredited CBs. Those who complete this course will be guided in meeting the certification requirements, enabling them to submit applications to APO-accredited CBs in member countries.