The Pragma Academy, which has been in existence for the last eleven years, has recently offered the Certificate in Physical Asset Management. The 3-year certificate is divided into three streams and can now effectively be used as a road map for career development within Physical Asset Management, to assist staff to grow into a management role, a first for South Africa.

Says Billy Wilson, Academy Manager of Pragma Africa: “We now offer a total of 42 stand-alone short courses, directly linked to Physical Asset Management, all featuring a place in the framework of the Pragma CPAM, aimed at improving physical asset management practices throughout Africa, irrespective of the organisation’s specific CMMS, EAMS or even their industry.”

Industry continues to experience a massive shortage of competent artisans, planners and engineers. The onus is simply that of the private sector to create internal capacity through training.

Wilson continues: “Some interesting clients have attended our CPAM courses since the outset. We’ve already had a whopping total of 2 657 learner seats since 14th January 2013. The Pragma CPAM is divided into 3 separate certificate streams - a strategic stream, a tactical stream and an operational stream. When we implement a full CPAM, we start the certificate by presenting each stream with an overview of Physical Asset Management. We further cover PAS 55 and its impact on your asset management strategy. We then take the learners deep into the world of asset management with the highly intensive principles of asset management short course followed by change management; converting data to information; technical information management; maintenance planning and scheduling; the development of an asset management scorecard; asset care plan development which includes Pragma’s world class 7 step OMM (Optimum Maintenance Mix) methodology; contract and contractor management; physical asset financial management; physical asset risk management; organizational development; management; the successful implementation of operator asset care; warehousing, material management and MRO optimization; 5S, lubrication principles and tool management; life cycle management; Project and Shutdown Management; Focused improvement, continuous improvement and Root Cause Analysis and far more ”

Wilson adds: “We’re also working on the development of framework for our On Key 5 system training which will also follow the same thinking of a modular business model, shorter courses over longer periods. All courses are developed in line with PAS 55 principles and are accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa through the South African Asset Management Association (SAAMA). We are also an accredited training provider with MERSETA. We aim to work very closely with selected, recognised professional bodies and tertiary institutions locally in South Africa as well as on an international platform to ensure that asset management qualifications, diplomas and certificates are launched in the short to medium term.

Training is open to all companies. “Of course we present a lot of training in support of our services to existing clients of Pragma, but also present courses to  more companies that aren’t clients but need to improve their physical asset management practices,” concludes Wilson. Clients include some top names such as the eThekwini Municipality,Transnet Group, Fresenius Group, Goldfields, Botswana Breweries, Sasol Group, Nampak Group, Debswana, Parmalat, Murray & Roberts, all major Utilities; Rainbow Farms, Minopex; Eskom, Rotek, Nkomati Mine, Tiger Brands, Aveng Group, Bravo Group, BHP Billiton, Sun City Resort, Clover SA, Rand Water, Arcelor Mittal SA, Pioneer Foods, DBSA, Engen, Exxaro, Aspen Pharmaceuticals, Mercedes, IDC, Powertech Transformers, Umgeni Water, De Beers, Paarl Media, and MTN, Assmang, ERWAT, Polyoak Packaging and I&J, to name but a few.