TALC News

Productivity and Skills

info@talc.com.au — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:31:00 GMT

We know that there is a link between productivity and skills at the individual, enterprise, industry, sector and national level. More skills generally equals more productivity. Just how much and what is the benefit-cost analysis for T&L in terms of investment in education and training are the questions that need answers. There must be an answer somewhere. In 2003 TALC asked a PhD economics student to think about it and this is some of the response from that student.

Seminar: Truckers, Turnover and Accidents: Links to Cognitive Skills, Economic Preferences and Strategic Behaviour.

info@talc.com.au — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:06:00 GMT

Come along to The Industrial Relations Research Centre's Seminar on Truckers, Turnover and Accidents: Links to Cognitive Skills, Economic Preferences and Strategic Behaviour. Read on for more information!

If you can't measure it - you can't manage it

info@talc.com.au — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:52:00 GMT

W Edwards Deming remarked along these lines over 30 years ago. His words ring out in 2010 as true as they did then. If you can't measure, record, analyse and assess processes and systems in terms of real data, you cannot hope to manage or improve them. The alternative is guess work, blind faith and personal prejudice.

Skills, knowledge and workplace design

info@talc.com.au — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:04:00 GMT

There is a growing disconnect between job design, skills and workplace organisation. The national training system is driven by the notion of individual "jobs" and individual skills needs. This atomisation of skills has led inevitably to a notion of personal training regimes and certification. It has ignored the wider issue of the collective nature of most workplaces in which multiple roles are swapped amongst workgroup members, and the "messy" and "informal" nature of real work.

What does this Age demand of me?

info@talc.com.au — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:58:00 GMT

The holiday season is a time of reflection for many of us. The odd new book to read, the occassional discussion with friends about things that matter. Often we just move back into our daily grind in the New Year and the books and conversations are forgotten. The cricket and the bottom line loom large in our thoughts. Just sometimes an idea lingers....

One more time - are you ready for climate change?

info@talc.com.au — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:12:00 GMT

Copenhagen has come and gone. The issues remain. The ten carbon questions raised by TALC in July 2008 are still on the books. Do you have answers yet?

The leaving of Shenzhen

info@talc.com.au — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:48:00 GMT

Nothing can prepare you for leaving the place. You can't wait to be back on familiar territory and yet when you are, you miss the place. Hard to say why. There is a newness and a strangeness, a disturbing element and a sense that this place is going somewhere.

Shenzhen - smog today, smog tomorrow, economic growth every day

info@talc.com.au — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:49:00 GMT

What a city! There are thousands of factories in the Pearl River Delta, millions of workers, and they all seem to be determined to stare down the GFC. The economists are up beat, the logistics companies enthusiastic. What could possibly be wrong with this picture?

Shenzhen - from rice fields to logistics capital of the world

info@talc.com.au — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:15:00 GMT

The Shenzhen International Logistics and Transportation Fair is billed as the biggest in Asia. It just might be that. There are over 300 exhibitors and many foreign visitors. For a region that carries 10% of total world manufacturing output it has grown from a small rural village in the 1980s to a dominant city of 10 million in 2009.

NSW strategic planning for T&L - "what shall we do after lunch?"

info@talc.com.au — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:42:00 GMT

We came THAT close to an announcement on a $180 billion transport plan yesterday. We only missed out by a splii motion and the defeat of a Premier! After a year of waiting and hoping, we are faced with more waiting and hoping. When will people in Government come to appreciate that industry needs certainty, long term planning and serious investment options. Industry does not need another Premier telling them about being humble, daunted, proud. caring, or being ready to "give it a red hot go".