SCHNEIDER Electric, has unveiled its first regional Services Training Centre in South Africa, aimed at providing its customers, partners and employees with a single point of access to the company’s vast array of training options and resources.
The training centre was officially opened by Suleyman Aydemir, vice president, services, Middle East and Africa at Schneider Electric, who stated that Schneider Electric’s investment in the training centre was part of its broader investment in Anglophone Africa which include South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
The Services Training Centre was unveiled during Schneider Electric’s Services Innovation Talk, which was held at the company’s head office in Midrand, Johannesburg and attended by valued partners and customers.
Aydemir noted that the Services Training Centre aims to provide customers, partners and engineers with a single point of access to the vast array of training options and resources available, covering Schneider Electric solutions and industry-focused courses.
“There is an urgent need to develop skills to adopt new technologies, drive modernisation, enhance performance, minimise downtime and comply with evolving industry safety regulations,” he added.
“Training is critical to career enhancement and forms a key foundation of a positive employee experience, attracting and retaining people when we’re facing a significant skills gap challenge,” said Aydemir.
He added that the centre is positioned to add greater elements of safety, quality and reliability to the assets and installations of Schneider Electric’s partners and customers, revealing that the scope of the training facility will be expanded based on demand.
“Importantly, if our customers or partners identify any other needs or additional training that we should be conducting, we would love to receive this feedback. We will continue to grow the training centre and the value proposition that we bring to the country,” he said.
Aydemir noted that Africa has the youngest population in the world, with about 60% of sub-Saharan Africa being under 30. “We need to keep investing in our youth to bring meaningful impact to South Africa and other African countries, with the biggest impact being achieved through training and the development of professional skills.”
The following training equipment forms part of the Service Training Centre, which covers various Schneider Electric business units, such as:
- Power Systems
- RM6 Ring Main Unit
- MasterPact MTZ circuit breaker
- PremSeT switchgear
- MCSeT Active medium voltage (MV) switchgear
- Dry Type – Cast resin transformer
- Industrial Automation
- Automation and Control products (including M340 & M580 PLC)
- Secure Power
- Galaxy PW 2nd Gen industrial three-phase UPS
- Easy UPS three-phase modular
“Launching this training centre has been a tremendous effort by multiple people. It serves not only Schneider Electric but also our community, our partners and our end users. It drives the impact of Ubuntu and the company as a whole,” Ravishka Jairam, the services operations director concluded.
