SYNOPSIS

In the current climate of industrial downturn that had been spurred by the decline in oil prices, the impact on maritime industry in particular on the shipbuilding and ship repair industry had been quite severe. As such, marine related industrial players be it contractors or suppliers need to take a bolder step towards improving their delivery system. The delivery system relates to a major extent of materials and services supply. In services supply the skill sets needed for improvement are extensive. However, if industrial players can delineate the more important ones and prioritize them, it does help.

A skill set is a particular category of skills or abilities necessary to perform a job. The examples of specific skill sets include human relations, research and planning, leadership, management, and computer skills. Although these are not exhaustive, skill sets again may be divided into “Soft Skills” and “Hard Skills”. Soft skills are interpersonal or people skills. They are difficult to quantify and relate to a person’s personality and ability to work with others. Soft skills are related communication, critical thinking, conflict resolution and leadership, among others. Hard skills are quantifiable and teachable; they include specific knowledge and abilities required for a job. Some of examples of hard skills include computer programming, accounting, mathematics, project management, welding, design and data analysis.

Henceforth the course is designed to single out the primarily essential skill sets and competencies that are necessary in the industry’s perspective. The trainer First Admiral Dato’ Ir Ahmad Murad Omar (Retired) a Marine Engineer, also a Vice President of Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST) United Kingdom currently a Vice President for the Association of Maritime Industry MALAYSIA (AMIM) has more than forty years of experience and will share critical points beneficial to engineers and technologists in the marine industry sector.  


ABOUT THE SPEAKER

First Admiral Dato’ Ir Hj Ahmad Murad B. Hj Omar (Retired)
BE (Mech), MSc EBM (Warwick), FIEM, FIMarEST (UK), MSNAME (USA), PEng, CEng, CMarEng, ASEAN Eng)

First Admiral Dato’ Ir. Hj Ahmad Murad B Hj Omar was born on 2nd January 1955 and hailed from PONTIAN a small town in JOHOR in the southern part of peninsular Malaysia. He received his early education in Johor Baru and later joined the Royal Military College (Boys Wing) at Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur. He joined the Royal Malaysian Navy as an Engineering Cadet in December 1974. He pursued a degree course in Mechanical Engineering at University Technology Malaysia (UTM) and graduated in 1982 with Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering.  He then completed a part time off campus Masters of Science degree course in Engineering Business Management (EBM) with Warwick University UK in 2003. First Admiral Dato’ Ir. Murad is a FELLOW of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science & Technology (IMarEST) United Kingdom.  

He is also a Chartered Engineer (CEng) registered with the UK Engineering Council. He was a Council Vice President from April 2010 to March 2015. In November 2015, he was awarded the Honorary Vice President of the Institute.

He is a FELLOW of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) since 21 Mar 2005 and had acquired his Professional Engineer (PEng) qualification in 1989. In 2005, he was admitted as a member of SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers) USA. In IEM he was the past Chairman of the Marine Engineering & Naval Architect Technical Division (MNATD) and Public-Sector Engineers Special Interest Group (PSESIG) respectively. He is also currently a Vice President of the Association of Maritime Industries MALAYSIA (AMIM) Marine Related Industries.  

First Admiral Dato’ Ir. Murad joined the RMN in 1974 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in 1984, subsequently to Commander in 1996.  After graduating from the Malaysian Armed Forces Defense College, he was promoted to Captain in 2001 and a year later as First Admiral.  He held many positions (on board ships and bases), including as the Director General of Engineering at Navy Headquarters, Ministry of Defense, Kuala Lumpur and as Fleet Systems Commander in Navy Base Lumut till his early retirement in 2007. In 2008, he was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer and later became the Chief Executive Officer of Motor Teknologi & Industri Sdn Bhd an engineering company dealing with remanufacturing and precision machining of machine components/diesel engines, automotive engine and vehicle refurbishment based in Rawang. Leaving MTI in Apr 2009, he became Chairman of Six Sigma Consultancy Company and moved on to be the Executive Chairman of OMAHAMS Corporation Sdn Bhd, a trading company dealing with Jotun Marine paints and engineering consultancy for marine project management and human capital development, running courses endorsed by the Board of Engineers Malaysia and HRDF.