FITEC Awards: Winners announced

The search for more skilled people to meet growth expectations in the forest and wood sector is gaining momentum.

Hon Nathan Guy, Associate Minister of Primary Industries and the Ministry's Director-General, Wayne McNee, both attended the annual industry awards in Rotorua last night.

Mr Guy told more than 300 guests that study and training is a major commitment the economy needs, especially in the primary sector.

He mentioned the strategic goal of the NZ Wood Council to increase annual export earnings from forestry to $12 billion in ten years, from a current level of under $5 billion

"The primary industry is pulling the economy along," he said.

The Minister said there would also be opportunity to showcase the sector in the Christchurch re-build.

Dr Brian Rhoades, Chairman of FITEC, the industry ITO which hosted the awards, said the investment in training and how it pays off for the New Zealand economy was shown by this year's award winners

"The vast majority of tomorrow's workforce is already in employment, so it makes huge economic sense to focus our training resources on the workplace, " said Dr Rhoades.

FITEC's CEO, Ian Boyd said the sector has an "enormous diversity of jobs, roles and careers.   "The development of human capability is what we need to meet the demands of rapid improvement in technology, increased mechanisation and the processing of greater volume of product."

Winners at the 2012 FITEC awards are:

Modern Apprentice of the Year - Forestry - Gareth Williams

While studying at Telford Rural Polytechnic over five years ago, Gareth Williams discovered new capabilities within himself.

Gareth graduated with merit from Telford with a certificate in Forestry in 2007 and since then, has been advancing his career with Gamble Forest Harvesting Ltd in Mosgiel.

Earlier this year he was also awarded the Southern Wood Council Apprentice of the Year.

His employer, Tony Gamble, said Gareth has all the attributes to be a leader in the industry.

Modern Apprentice of the Year - Furniture - Reid Jarvie

Reid credits his FITEC tutors and his boss, Craig Bagnall for bringing the best out of him at the Finesse Furnishers plant in South Auckland.

"During his apprenticeship, Reid was working at a high level equal to, or above most qualified people in the industry," said Craig. "He has been a great employee from the day he started over seven years ago."

Reid sees his future holding many options, which will probably include establishing his own business. He is now considering further management studies through FITEC.

Modern Apprentice of the Year - Wood Manufacturing -Izaac Filipov

Izaac Filipov  is the head rig and re-saw operator at Kaituna Sawmill where he has worked for the past five years.

"Kaituna Sawmill has a proven track record of spotting talent,'" said Tom Snodgrass of FITEC.

"Izaac was quickly seen to have an inquiring mind and an aptitude that only needed direction."

Izaac has worked at the Kaituna Mill for five years where he starts at 5.30 am each day to ensure the Mill is ready to function when the rest of the staff arrive at 6am.

His next goal is to complete an emerging leaders programme within the company.

Trainee of the Year - Forestry - Tim Davison - Nelson

Tim Davison was almost 30 years into a forestry career when an experience on the job in a Nelson forest sparked his interest in getting those years recognised through some formal training.

It was less than three years ago when he was at a crew briefing after some trees had to be cleared from a 'windthrow," which is not an infrequent event in Nelson.

"The advice the crew was getting was pretty poor," said Tim.

"I remember thinking that I had a far better idea of what had to be done. So I thought I'd better front up and get my experienced recognised.

Tim paid tribute to Hugh Booker, a work colleague in Nelson, and his employer Mike Fraser, for the encouragement they have given him as he has gained recognition for his many years of experience.

Trainee of the Year - Furniture- Matthew English - Auckland

Matthew is a furniture craftsman at Danske Mobler's Auckland factory.

He designed and built a domestic table from native Rimu, which can double its seating capacity by turning it, similarly to a camera lens cover. The six extension pieces emerge from under the table as it is turned.

Matthew is one of four apprentices among more than 100 staff at the Danske Mobler plant in Mt Eden, Auckland.

Trainee of the Year - Wood Manufacturing - Teresa McKinlay- Wairoa

As a little girl, Teresa McKinlay remembers following her grandmother around the local sawmill writing in "huge thick ledger books.

"And I thought it would be awesome to do that," said the 2012, Forest Industry Trainee of the Year in Wood Manufacturing.

Teresa manages debtors, creditors, wages, GST and PAYEE for East Coast Lumber in Gisborne - something which also can be traced back to her childhood when grandma would allow her to count the small change into the weekly pay packets.

She continues to study towards a Business Diploma Level 6 and is not ruling out an eventual directorship as a long term goal.

Training Company of the Year - Forestry - Moutere Logging - Nelson

Managing Director of Moutere Logging, Dale Ewers, says training is now driven by the 100 people in the Moutere group of companies, not by the management.

Dale said training and self-improvement has grown like a snowball effect within the company.

Training has also lead to new thinking and the development of at least one new product.

Training Company of the Year - Furniture - Danske Mobler - Auckland

About 70 percent of Danske Mobler staff are now in some type of training compared with about 10 percent the year before.

Managing Director, Allan Winter, said the "lean manufacturing" training programme has been applied through FITEC and involves over 60 staff.

Some of the company's younger people have since been elevated into more senior roles because of the training. There is also more confidence generally, among all employees.

Danske Mobler manufactures about 50 percent of the furniture it sells, which includes about 40 lounge suites every week.

Training Company of the Year - Wood Manufacturing - Niagara Sawmilling- Canterbury

Established in 1954 as a sawmill, Niagara now employs over 130 people at sites in Invercargill and Ashburton.

The company produces over 100,000 cubic metres of sawn timber for a growing export market.

The Ashburton site produces timber weatherboard, window reveals, laminated posts and mouldings for local and international customers in the USA and Australia.

Niagara exclusively uses New Zealand-grown radiata pine and was among the first sawmills in New Zealand to be certified as a supplier of FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) timber products.

The company's sawmill and remanufacturing plant operates around the clock.

Health and Safety Initiative - MJ Fraser Logging- Nelson

MJ Fraser Logging has been sufficiently committed to safety that it has employed a psychologist to help with many of the safety initiatives within its forest operations.

Mike Fraser, said the psychologist has been employed since 1995 and more actively in the past two years.

MJ Fraser Logging is entering its 40th year of operation and has three extraction crews producing 300,000 tonnes of logs annually.

15 of the company's 24 staff have been with the company for more than ten years.

MJ Fraser staff has appeared regularly in the top three placing for the nation-wide "Top Spot" safety competition.

Mike Fraser said the company funds gym memberships as well as instruction in hydration and nutrition.

FITEC Training Leader of the Year- Phillip Townshend- Ashburton

Niagara Sawmilling, also a winner this year, places its training leadership under Phillip Townshend

Phillip manages health and safety across the Niagara sites as well as staff training.

Phillip said that New Zealand needs to create higher value products and if we don't have a highly skilled workforce, "you just can't produce it."

He said introducing 'Lean' to the Niagara team has brought results in many ways.

"We witness it in improved production methods, staff generally feeling more valued, operating with a more positive attitude and understanding why and how to work more efficiently," said Phillip.

Outstanding Business Performance through People Development - Thames Sawmilling - Coromandel

A key result of a comprehensive training programme at Thames Sawmilling has been more than $1 million in additional annual revenue.

The company employed innovative techniques to enhance average literacy and numeracy skills among the 100-plus staff before training competitive manufacturing got under way.

Manufacturing Manager, Phil Cave said it took about six months before results started to show but now the company is enjoying dramatic improvements in productivity.

Phil and his colleague trainer, Dave Bisset, started to notice how conversation was changing in the training room. People were understanding what a specific graph meant, they could convert lineal metres to cubic metres and understand the productivity of a shift, or an hour's work.

Phil said the programme has been the most productive training approach he has experienced in 35 years.