The issue of dependence on foreign labor is not something new in the construction industry in Malaysia with a record of encouraging growth in the last few years while providing significant employment opportunities with a total registered workforce of 1.2 million, representing 9.5 percent of the total workforce in Malaysia.

 

Thus, an initiative carried out by a group of researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in collaboration with Universiti Malaya (UM) successfully developed a system to address the problem of industry dependence on foreign labor known as Construction Personnel Modeling System (COPMOS).

 

Its chief researcher Prof. Prof. Dr. Rusmawati Said from the Faculty of Economics and Management, said based on the findings from the Human Capital Management Study in the Construction Industry in Malaysia conducted, this sector needs information analysis to estimate employment projection needs data more accurately, then the inspiration to develop COPMOS is triggered.

 

“COPMOS provides information related to construction personnel, trends and challenges of the construction industry in Malaysia based on the findings of previous studies. This system provides input on construction personnel through benchmark analysis, human resource management model and manpower master plan, ”said Dr. Rusmawati

 

This system is also the first system built to help the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) estimate the employment needs in the construction industry for the future as well as assist in terms of employer costs in hiring in a project to be carried out.

 

Among the other functions of this system are addressing the problem of labor duplication in the construction sector, increasing the efficiency of local labor, identifying best practices and managing data comprehensively.

 

"COPMOS also helps modernize the construction industry to be more competitive as well as drive the industry in the use of construction technology in parallel towards the 4.0 industrial revolution," he added.

 

Among other researchers involved in the development of this system which consists of UPM experts is Prof. Dr. Zulkornian Yusop, Prof. Prof. Dr. Azmawani Abd. Rahman, Prof. Prof. Dr. Rozanah Ab. Rahman and Prof. Prof. Dr. Yong Chen Chen from the University of Malaya.

 

COPMOS is ready to be commercialized and targeted at markets in the government and private sectors as well as agencies involved with the construction industry or other related bodies who wish to obtain comprehensive data for the purpose of policy improvement, human resource planning or research purposes.

 

In the meantime, this system has won several awards at the university and national levels including gold medals at the 4IR Innovation Carnival: Educational Entrepreneurial Mindset Transformation, Digital World Innovation Category, bronze medal at JINM Showcase 2019 and High Impact Industry and Community Network Award 2018 and 2019. - UPM

Date of Input: 19/05/2020 | Updated: 26/11/2020 | asrizam