Delta Group set to train its personnel as it adapts business strategy

“As we move from ODM [original design manufacturer] to DMS, we have made talent management a strategic part of the business-model shift. Delta invests 5 to 6 per cent of our group’s annual sales revenues in research and development to equip our staff with essential technical skills and domain knowledge for system integration service,” said Yancey Hai, chairman of the Taiwanese business group.

He wants Delta to become a true DMS company within five years.

Last year, the group’s worldwide revenue was US$7.1 billion (Bt226 billion). Founded in 1971, Delta now has 31 plant sites in Taiwan, mainland China, the United States, Europe, Thailand, Japan, India, Mexico and Brazil, aside from 54 R&D centres with more than 7,500 engineers around the world.

Hai said 50 more training courses were planned for next year, on top of some 100 courses undertaken this year.

He was in Bangkok on November 14 to receive the Asia Talent Management Award at the 2013 CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards. CNBC lauded Hai as a man who identifies candidates for key positions, and with the guidance and assistance of a consulting company, makes the cultivation of high-level talent a strategic part of Delta Group’s operations.

Aside from a systematic training and development framework, he has personally directed the company’s elite talent development plan through the creation of key committees, a personal involvement in the process and in outside recruiting, CNBC noted.

However, Hai said it was tough to recruit outside talent, and that this raises the need for in-house training. Moreover, he believed that old employees, some having worked for a company for 25 years, deserved a chance to keep their jobs. The environment differs from the old days when all workers were laid off just because a factory was shut down, he said.

“Just because the computer industry goes downhill, for the old people, we can’t just let them go. It’s unfair to the employees. We’d transform and retrain them. The industry has transformed and the company must also transform.”

Among the courses is one that helps engineers embark on sales and marketing activities.

“We increase specialities for engineers. If they want to do marketing, [we give them] what they need to know. That’s why we have so many courses to offer,” he said.

Training is necessary also because the company is entering a tougher environment. As an ODM, one order could be worth $1 million. As a DMS, the value could be $10 million. Hai noted that employees needed to have a new mindset and understand customers’ needs.

“Their needs are different and their working environment is different. For a solution, you need to know your customers’ business better than your customers,” he said. “The heart of the training is to increase the value of our people. The technology has changed, and skills must change as well.”

Named the leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Electronic Equipment Sector last year, Delta Group has sets a mission “to provide innovative, clean and energy-efficient solutions for a better tomorrow”. Notably, its business in Thailand was the first to complete the electric vehicle charging solution.