As part of Project Vikas, an IT training programme was conducted on 30th December, 2008 in association with Vaniyambadi Tanners Association (VTA). The cluster consists of over 150 tanneries and around 20 product units.
Around 40 participants attended the training event. The IT training session was much awaited by VTA as the usage of computers is high in this cluster’s operations.
The training was targeted for the work force (basic computer operators and freshers) as well as CXOs. The key areas covered were operating systems, MS Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). IT trends such as wireless networks, data communications, Bluetooth as well as emerging IT business domains like ERP and CRM were also covered. The participants were also given an introduction to MS Dynamics solutions. Business Intelligence Systems were also discussed.
This was a refresher training course and gave a lot of insight and generated a lot of interest among the participants. The key speakers were Mr. Mohammed Mubeen, Secretary-VTA and Mr S S Sankaramoorthi, Senior Technical Adviser of Apex Clusters.
Mr. Mubeen mentioned that this training was very useful for the industry owners as well as the staff members as systems in units were being computerised. He also mentioned that the owners, even if they are old, can mingle freely with the other members of the cluster and learn computer operations from scratch. They can do so without any inhibitions and hesitation unlike in a school where they would be nervous with other students who are young. He requested for further training specific to industry requirements and wanted Microsoft to support these trainings.
Mr.Moorthi highlighted the importance of cluster development through the usage of IT systems development and training.
At the end of the training, SME participants felt that even this training was useful for the beginners and fresh members. The next level of training should focus specifically on ERP, CAD/ CAM, SCM and CRM. They were also looking for advanced IT training sessions suitable to the leather industry operations.