News Items
TAFE STUDENTS TO CREATE NEW AWARD TROPHY
Students from Hunter TAFE, have completed the concept for the 'new look' Hunter Manufacturing Awards' 2010 trophy.
Third year students from the Industrial Design class are experiencing working to a timeframe, budget and an agreed concept for the trophy. The students presented their idea to members of the HMA Board at a meeting held on 21st April. Board members are very impressed and excited by the proto-type presented and look forward to receiving the 12 trophies prior to the Awards' Event on 22nd October 2010.
Working with the Industrial Design students is another way in which HMA promotes manufacturing in the Region and show cases the skills of our youth. Hunter TAFE Industrial Design students designed the previous year trophies, which were used for the Awards in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
HMA intends to use the new 2010 trophy for another 3 years, when a different group of students will be given the opportunity to design a new trophy.
LAUNCH OF 2010 AWARDS NOMINATION PERIOD
THE LAUNCH OF THE 2010 HUNTER MANUFACTURING AWARDS was held on 7th April, 2010. The venue for the Event was the Da Vinci Machines Exhibition, Wheeler Place, Newcastle.
Alison Dillon, Corporate Communications Manager, Downer EDI, officially launched the nomination period for the 2010 Awards. Alison said " Downer has a strong footprint in the Hunter and we've been part of the Hunter region for more than 100 years, playing a key role in the Hunter's manufacturing industry. Of our 20,000 people more than 2000 are based at over 20 locations throughout the Hunter Region providing critical infrastructure services to the public and private transport, energy, infrastructure, communication and resources sectors not just in Newcastle and the Hunter but in over 40 countries across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the United Kingdom.
One of the Group's largest projects is currently being delivered out of our Rail Manufacturing facility at Cardiff.
The Waratah fleet PPP project is for 626 new passenger cars for the NSW Government, providing a $200 million boost to the Hunter economy, and perhaps most importantly, confirming the Hunter Region as the rail manufacturing centre of NSW. This project is the largest passenger train order in Australian history and is generating more than 300 jobs and significant apprenticeship opportunities in our community.
The Hunter Manufacturing Awards are an excellent fit for Downer EDI. We're proud to be HMA's major sponsor again this year and we're very much looking forward to HMA's 2010 program".
The nomination period will close on 20th August 2010 and applicants are urged to submit their nominations early.
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HEIDI ROUTELEY, HUNTER TAFE, TRACEY FREINBERGER, HMA DIRECTOR, LEIGH BRYANT, SCORPION INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT SERVICES & HMA DIRECTOR and LEE EDMONDS-WARD, BAE SYSTEMS and HMA DIRECTOR, enjoy a drink at the Launch of the 2010 Awards at the Da Vinci Machines Exhibition |
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ROB WOLTER, HUNTER TAFE and BRENT JENKINS, NEWCASTLE INNOVATION ATTENDED THE LAUNCH OF THE AWARDS
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PAUL AND JENNIFER GRAY FROM MARQUIS BATHROOM SUPPLIES ENJOY A DRINK AT THE LAUNCH |
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2010 AWARDS
THE 2010 AWARDS WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY
22ND OCTOBER 2010
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CHANGE OF ADDRESS DETAILS FOR HMA
Please note that the new office address for HMA is
Suite 1/ 91 Frederick Street, Merewether NSW 2291
PO Box 332
The Junction NSW 2291
PHONE 0438 242 899
FAX 49 632144
2009 AWARDS' EVENT
On Friday, 23rd October 2009, a gala evening was held to celebrate the Hunter Manufacturing Excellence Awards. An estimated 450 people attended the Event at Wests, with attendees as far afield as the Upper Hunter and the Central Coast.
HMA' Chairman, Bob Cowan, said "We have seen our dollar at a high of 97 cents in June 2008 to a low of 64 cents in January this year and now it's back up to 87 cents but we are still here and we are not going away.
Tonight we celebrate the Region's manufacturers. This year is the 5th year of the Awards and to help profile the manufacturing industry, HMA have endeavoured to reach out to some of the Region's unknown companies as well as companies that are well known to our community.
The manufacturing sector in Australia has seen many challenges during the past 10 years and to combat these we have had to change and part of this change is what HMA is all about.
The Hunter's manufacturers' sector is world class and there are successful companies who can stand alone and don't need support, promotion or assistance, but there are many unsung heroes who are on the verge of great success but need a helping hand to go to the next level.
Over the past 5 years this Award's Night has developed into an event that gives those companies an avenue to be recognised for their excellence and success.
Mr Cowan also announced a $10,000 scholarship for TAFE students who are undertaking a course directly related to manufacturing, is committed to a career in the manufacturing industry, shows a passion for engineering and manufacturing.
The value of the scholarship is $10,000 per year to be distributed to up to 5 students. The scholarship is for 1 year only, but recipients would be eligible to receive scholarships in consecutive years, subject to continuing to meet selection criteria. The students were presented with Certificates at the Event last night.
2009 Major Sponsor, Downer EDI, awarded the prestigious award of Manufacturer of the Year to Mt Thorley company HEDWELD.
Hedweld is made up of a group of companies - Hedweld Head Office and manufacturing facility is located at 13 Russell Road, Mt Thorley NSW Australia. Safe-Away Management and factory is located also at Mt Thorley and Mecensol Pty Ltd is currently being relocating from Singleton to Newcastle.
As well as supporting the Australian mining industry, Hedweld products are exported extensively worldwide. The highly skilled and experienced team includes managers, design engineers & draft persons, accountant, sales and marketing personnel, a range of tradespersons, apprentices and support staff. Staff retention is high resulting in retained extensive staff product knowledge. It has been a long standing practice at Hedweld to engage and train at least five apprentices or trainees each year, to meet the future growth needs of the company. Hedweld currently employs twenty three apprentices and trainees. Hedweld also took out the Excellence in Export of Manufactured Goods Award. Mr Ian Hedley, Managing Director of Hedweld, accepted the Awards on behalf of the Hedweld group of companies.
Export of Manufactured Goods Awards - the judges said "Hedweld has a substantial export market spread and depth of market penetration - over 20 markets. They have a variety of market entry strategies.They have demonstrated substantial growth in export sales across all key export markets - particularly USA, South America and South Africa.
Hedweld have a permanent and well established offshore corporate presence in USA to service both the USA and multi South American distributor and end-user channels.
Their strategic focus is on relationship building with potential and existing customers in the mining equipment manufacturing sector and directly with mines. They have export marketing messages embedded in broad corporate profiles and marketing collateral.
Hedweld possess an outlay of resources in innovative export marketing messages + very clear annunciation of Hedweld unique selling proposition. They have a very strong focus on being regularly "visible" in all export markets - this is linked closely with strategic relationship building.
The HMA Board Award was presented to local company WHITELEY CORPORATION. The judges said "The Whitley Corporation has achieved success through their diligent, focused approach to the manufacture of a wide range of Hygiene products. They have manufactured these products from their base at Tomago NSW. Their innovative approach to the entire process of manufacturing, marketing and distribution of products has enabled them to grow and prosper in these difficult economic times. Through the utilization of lateral thought, initiatives such as their "Good Manufacturing Plant" or (GMP) plan for the Tomago facility has shown the judging panel the level of skill, knowledge and dedication to their business. This level of dedication has delivered significant results both financially and in the areas of business growth and staff satisfaction and has ensured the continued success of this Hunter Manufacturer."
Whitely Corporation also won the Excellence in Marketing Award - Whiteley developed an innovative segmented marketing campaign to develop its business. And develop its business it did!!!!
With the clever integration of training for staff in visual merchandising and campaigns focussed around hygiene control, Whiteley has competed successfully in both the domestic and international market. Well done to the team at Whitely Corporation.
Both winners of these Awards have won trips, sponsored by Travelword - HTG, to the Hannover Messe in Germany, to take place in April 2010.
Peter Marshall, Potline Business Unit Leader at Tomago Aluminium was awarded the Employee of the Year Award. "Through the capabilities born of a commitment to personal leadership development, combining on the job and formal learning, Peter has delivered a range of complex and powerful improvements in the business. Some of these achievements have occurred during a time of great economic challenge and Peter has delivered outcomes that balance the needs of the workforce whilst enhancing sustainability for the organization through significant productivity and profitability improvements. Peter is a very worthy winner of the Employee of the Year with his outstanding ability to balance the task and people elements of the leadership challenge and encourage people to continually build a stronger, more sustainable business for all stakeholders".
The judges also said "It is appropriate in the section of the awards to note the effort made by Tomago Aluminium in creating an environment in which employees are given the opportunity and encouragement to step forward and stretch their capabilities and in so doing help to build a more sustainable organisation. The winner and very close runner up for this award Mark Jordan are both employees at Tomago Aluminium and have both achieved outstanding results that could only have occurred in an organisation that supports its people to take leadership on with enthusiasm and commitment and see tasks through to completion."
Other Award winners were
C-E Solutions - winner of the Excellence in Innovation for their
(1) Horus tracking system and
Excellence in Technology award for the
(2) Mobile Ordinance Impact Scoring System.
•(1) The Horus tracks management software, analyses air traffic radar and other sensor data to 'learn' the patterns of aircraft behaviour and to identify anomalous and potentially suspicious behaviour.
The system is impressive because it demonstrates an innovative approach to a complex problem, and because the development has been undertaken in an astonishingly short time-frame, and within tight budget constraints. Initially, the developers found an ingenious solution to the problem of crunching large amounts of data, by using a cluster of adapted game console controllers to provide high performance computing results at a fraction of the cost of a supercomputer. Even more impressively, they have since developed the underlying algorithms to the point where the whole system can now be installed on a standard notebook computer - an elegant solution. The software has immediate applications in defence and air traffic control, and there are a wide range of other potential applications. The development of Horus is an exciting example of the opportunities presented by new technologies.
•(2) C-E Solutions impressed the judges with a technological advanced solution to a complex problem that was also developed in an amazingly short time. The Mobile Ordinance Impact Scoring System is a "trailerised" system that provides highly accurate scoring support to defence forces ‘live' firing exercises. This product integrates class leading technologies into a world class solution that combines accuracy with mobility and flexibility of deployment and is poised to capture both domestic and international market opportunities.
Opalite Industries - Excellence in Product Design - for their (3) Electric Opening Window
(3) The electric opening window uses a number of electric motors to open and close the window and also to lock it. The mechanisation appears to have been achieved within the cost limits imposed by the existing, manual window market - this is very clever design.
The product neatly integrates all of the hardware necessary to automate the opening of windows, which can be mounted above arm's reach, to promote passive cooling. This is an example of expending a little energy to achieve significant energy (cooling) savings. As such it foreshadows an opportunity for the technology to be extended to windows for use in domestic construction.
The internal mechanisms are packaged very efficiently to produce a window similar in size to its manually operated equivalent. This contributes to the styling which is contemporary but restrained - entirely appropriate to a product in this category.
The approach taken to double glazing is very innovative. It will greatly improve the thermal properties while exploiting the two layers in a novel way to facilitate assembly. The design has also been carefully tailored to maximise the use of production processes available "in house".
This product integrates market requirements with production requirements without obvious compromise to either - exactly what good product design should achieve.
Tomago Aluminium - Excellence in Safety
(4) The Leadership In Action Program was commenced on site in 2007 and was revised in 2009 with the inclusion of harder targets to drive the culture at Tomago Aluminium to achieve zero injury and illness. The program has been embraced by staff and management from the CEO down and has resulted in reduced Workers' Compensation costs and LTI figures. It is an outstanding approach to EH&S in a large company.
BAE Systems - Excellence in Manufacturing Process - (5) The L-3 MAS/BAE/A-18 Hornet Barrel Replacement Program
(5) The L-3 MAS/BAE/A-18 Hornet Barrel Replacement Program exemplifies excellence in manufacturing process at a number of levels. Whilst the replacement program is not solely a manufacturing one the successful part played by the entrant in an international refit task was possible only by the planned introduction of advanced process mapping.
This required integration of the production work performed in Canada together with the procurement, tear down and assembly work plans , logistics and reporting at Williamtown to exacting military requirements in quality and timeliness. The achievement of a 45% reduction in cycle time for the program was commendable and instrumental in the consortium winning additional work, based on performance, which in turn represents a laudatory export/ import substitution outcome. A very worthy winner.
Hunternet Group Training Company and Downer EDI Rail - Excellence in Training
An outstanding program that demonstrates a best practice partnership between industry, TAFE, and school partners. The program's management by Hunternet has ensured that students are nurtured into the workplace and given every opportunity to become outstanding employees. This is a program that demonstrates the value of school based traineeships to industry.
Marquis Bathroom Products - Excellence in Environmental Practice
(6) Marquis Bathroom Products have demonstrated an outstanding holistic approach towards the environmental performance of its facility. It has been able to achieve and demonstrate improvements in energy and fuel consumption, raw materials usage and waste reuse and disposal.
Of particular commendation is the involvement of all employees and management in the environmental improvement and awareness journey and the commitment of the company to sharing its experience with others.
