In collaboration with the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC), the annual Development of Productivity Specialists (DPS) course was held in Kuala Lumpur from 11–22 November. A total of 26 participants from 16 members attended, including the professional staff of NPOs, government training centers, academia, and SMEs. This is the final DPS course to be conducted by the APO because the course will be divided into Basic and Advanced starting in 2025.

The two-week course was led by four resource persons from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the USA. To provide new knowledge and experience necessary for productivity specialists to perform as competent consultants, the course topics included productivity concepts and methodologies; productivity tools and techniques; emerging trends in productivity and competitiveness at the organizational and national level; digital transformation; generative AI; productivity diagnosis at the organizational level; and requirements for APO-certified productivity specialists.

During the course, presentations and hands-on exercises on productivity enhancement tools that include value stream mapping, data collection and visualization for productive measurement, lean management, and green supply chains were conducted. To familiarize participants with productivity assessment and diagnosis techniques, they were guided to visit four local SMEs, namely Azam Motor, Indkom Engineering, Ingress Technologies, and Rightontrack. Guided by the resource persons, the senior management of the companies was presented with findings and recommendations by participants.