In this Issue:
Spring 2011

Regional Managers Desk

Ai Group Member Profile: Industrea Limited

Hunter Manufacturing Awards

Varley Group's 125th Anniversary

Ai Group's WHS "Harmionisation" Services

Upcoming Regional Events & BIZassistBriefings

Training Calendar

Local Networks

Ai Group website

Affiliated Associations

From the Regional Manager's Desk

The Future of Manufacturing
In February 2011 our Hunter Industry Leaders Council held a meeting to discuss emerging problems that were being experienced by fabricators with shrinking orders for mining industry procurement in Western Australia. Hunter Ai Group Members reported that the trend was also afoot in the Hunter Valley and beyond, with whole coal washeries being imported from China and elsewhere. It was claimed that:

• these products were bought overseas for less than the price of the steel in Australia
• the price reduction in the products was in the magnitude of 70%
• products often did not comply with Australian Standards and local companies were being called upon to repair them
• and local companies were being excluded from tendering because they could not possibly meet the price of the imported products

As agonising as this was for fabricators supplying into major projects, there did not seem to be much that could be done. We were aware from the Australian Steel Institute of the lobbying they were doing to the WA State Government and the Federal Government without initial success.

On 10th August Ai Group commenced its consultations with local manufacturers in preparation for publishing its 2011 Manufacturing Report. About 30 Hunter manufacturers met our Director of Policy Dr Peter Burn and gave him first-hand accounts of loss of work from the mining industry. Shortly afterward the Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan requested a meeting with manufacturers at Ai Group offices in Sydney to obtain information and to consider possible responses.

Then on 22 August BlueScope Steel announced the closure of parts of its steel making businesses in Wollongong and Westernport Vic with the loss of 1400 jobs. Suddenly there was alarm and concern not only in those communities but across the country.

Federal Government Developments
The BlueScope decision has provided some "up-side" for the industry. This is promising and includes:

• The Prime Minister's appointment on 25th August of former Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie as an emissary between the mining and manufacturing industries to develop more local procurement for manufacturers
• The Prime Minister's holding a job summit on manufacturing on 6th October and, following from that meeting, Ms Gillard has established a Manufacturing Task Force. The Prime Minister will personally chair the task force and it will comprise 6 senior ministers, several CEOs from large corporations, Ai Group CEO, Heather Ridout and high level union officials.

Dumping
For several years prior, Ai Group has been representing member concerns to the Federal Government about dumping of imported goods and products at a price below the price the company charges in its home market or below the cost of production. The Member for Newcastle Sharon Grierson arranged for a meeting of Ai Group and HunterNet members on 20th October to meet with the Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor, who is in charge of Customs. We had an excellent opportunity to hear him and ask questions. He advised that in the previous week the Parliament passed the first of three enabling pieces of legislation, which will:

• Assist in the appointment of a further 6 customs officers to investigate dumping claims - one of these will be appointed to Ai Group in the near future. Ai Group had previously requested this.
• Provide funding for overseas forensic accountants to investigate pricing in the countries of origin
• The penalising of importers of dumped products by the addition of import duties
• The setting up of an industry advisory committee to advise the Minister for Home Affairs on the administration of these measures. Heather Ridout has been appointed to that committee too.

For more details on Anti-Dumping measures here.

Our CEO, Heather Ridout, has worked tirelessly, in particular over the recent months, to influence the Federal Government to take steps to create a fairer playing-field for our members. Her press releases may be viewed here . In particular I recommend for your reading "Five principles to Ensure Australian Manufacturers Get a Fair Go" which appeared in the Sydney Morning herald on 20 September 2011. Many of those principles have now been adopted by Government.

State Government Developments
Following on from its February 2011 meeting with the then candidate for Newcastle Tim Owen, the Hunter Industry Leaders Council on 2nd September 2011 met with the State Government Ministers for the Hunter and Planning and newly elected Liberal MPs, and CEOs/Senior Managers from Ampcontrol, United Group Rail, Tomago Aluminium, Cowan Industries, BAE Systems Australia, Varley Group and Melvelle Equipment to showcase the range and strengths of manufacturing in the Hunter Region and to impress upon them:

• why it is important that Government policies do not make it difficult to do business
• why Government should favour local manufacturers in Government Procurement

According to the Hunter Valley Research Foundation statistics, manufacturing in the Hunter is the third highest employer at 34,000 employees which is twice the number employed in mining.

The State members were so impressed that Ai Group has been invited to take a "trade show" to State Parliament early in 2012 to educate all parliamentarians and heads of departments why manufacturing is important to the NSW economy and to ensure conditions are created or maintained which will allow it to prosper. We will be following up on this and I will let you know the time and date with sufficient notice to take advantage.

Your attention is requested please
The State Government has announced that it has appointed a Government taskforce working on the Manufacturing Action Plan for NSW. Mark Goodsell, Director NSW of Ai Group, is a member. The State Government has also invited manufacturers to participate in an online survey to better inform it about the conditions being experienced by manufacturers and what you want the State Government to do to assist. I strongly recommend that every manufacturer consider participating as there has been precious little published in state government reports on our industry in more recent times. You may access the survey here and the closing date is 18 November 2011.

In my view, public and government awareness of the manufacturing industry has never been higher and it is now up to Ai Group and our members to ride the wave for as long as it takes to ensure that business conditions for manufacturers are improved across the board. We must adopt a position of optimism and become a "glass half full" industry. Our Hunter Industry Leaders Council will continue a very active interest in monitoring these initiatives for results.
If you would like to discuss any of these points or offer comment please contact me by email or on tel: (02) 4925 8303. I would very much like to hear from you.

Regards,

Adrian Price
Regional Manager - Hunter, Central Coast & Northern NSW

Ai Group Member Profile: Industrea Limited

Industrea Limited is an expanding global provider of specialist mining products and services, with a focus on improving our global customers' open cut and underground mining productivity and safety. In FY 2011 we employed in excess of 600 full-time staff and sub-contractors in offices and/or manufacturing bases in Australia including Mount Thorley, Thornton, Tomago and Gloucester in the Hunter Valley and Fountaindale on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Mt Isa and the Bowen Basin in Queensland, Santiago in Chile and multiple locations in China.

Our revenue streams are diversified both geographically, by commodity and by customer. In FY 2011 our products and services were sold into many parts of the world, including Australia, China, USA, South America, South Africa, Indonesia, Russia, Japan.

The specialist range of mining products and technology designed, manufactured and supported by Industrea are widely acknowledged as world leaders in enhancing mine safety and productivity. They include open cut collision avoidance systems, underground methane gas drainage and directional drilling systems, mobile asset tracking and driver safety performance road tools, along with flame-proof and explosion-proof underground diesel vehicles for mine personnel transportation and longwall mining equipment. In FY 2011 these were broadened following the addition of a specialist contract methane gas drainage capability to our market offerings.

Our operations are conducted through four business divisions:

• Industrea Mining Equipment
• Industrea Mining Technology
• Industrea Gas Management
• Industrea Mining Services

Industrea recently exhibited a range of its equipment at the 2011 AIMEX Conference in September 2011. Equipment exhibited included the Industrea Mining Equipment Dozer, Mk 7.0 Minecruiser and 70 Tonne Longwall Roof Support Carrier - all produced at its specialist manufacturing facilities at Thornton, Cardiff and Tomago in the Newcastle region.

The company has also recently announced the expansion of its service facilities in the Hunter Valley following the recent acquisition of premises in Rutherford. The facilities are well positioned on over 2.5 hectares acres of land with over 7500m2 of covered floor space.

Industrea Managing Director and CEO, Mr Robin Levison, said "These expanded premises offer many benefits to both our employees and the wider Industrea group including capacity for ongoing growth of the Industrea brand, the ability to bring the Industrea service function together under one roof and enables future expansion of the service function".

In addition to the fantastic benefits this new location will bring our people, I am excited about continuing to strengthen the Industrea brand and provide further growth opportunities for the members of our Industrea group," Mr Levison said.

We hope to feature a member profile in each edition of our Newsletter. If your company would like to take part in our Member Profile, please forward your interest to judy.martin@aigroup.asn.au

Hunter Manufacturing Awards

The annual awards were a glittering affair at Wests New Lambton on Friday 21 October. The principal sponsor of the awards is Ai Group member Downer Group. (The theme of the night was French, which will explain the berets in the photos.) Ai Group members are congratulated for being prominent among the finalists and the winners. Winners included:

• Manufacturer of the Year and Excellence in Product Design - Taree based company Steber International (see photo directors Alan, Colin and Graham Steber - winners are grinners)
• HMA Board Award - Mt Thorley company Hedweld Pty Ltd (see photo Ian Hedley Mangaging Director, also grinning)
• Technology Award - Thornton company Alminco Pty Ltd
• Excellence in Safety - Tomago Aluminium for their employee well-being program
• Excellence in Manufacturing Process - Williamtown based company BAE Systems
• Excellence in Training - Lake Macquarie power generator Eraring Energy
• Environmental Excellence - Eraring Energy for ash re-use

Steber International	Hedley Pty. Ltd.

Also at the awards, TAFE Hunter Institute scholarships worth $2000 each to 5 apprentices/trainees and two of those were from AiGroup member companies:

• Zac Dalziel, Eraring Energy
• Kristopher Bottomley, Varley Group

Congratulations to them and their employers.

Ai Group Hunter Industry Leaders Council's Sponsored Award
In addition, the Hunter Industry Leaders Council of Ai Group Hunter sponsored a new award for recognition of our school education partners in stimulating interest in students in manufacturing and engineering. The award was won by Regional Development Australia - RDA Hunter for their program "Manufacturing Success through Education" or the ME Program. Several Ai Group member companies are involved - Varley Group, Ampcontrol, Custom Fluidpower, Thales, RPC Technologies and BAE Systems teaming with 8 local high schools to provide interactive activities for students from Year 8 and upwards.

The photo shows (from right to left) Jeff Phillips, Chairman of Hunter Industry Leaders Council, John Quaife OAM General Manager, Aviation Solutions, BAE Systems and Chairman of the ME Program Board, and Adrian Price Regional Manager Ai Group.

Varley Group's 125th Anniversary

Ai Group Hunter congratulates Jeff Phillips, the CEO and Managing Director of Varley Group and their employees, on the occasion of their 125th anniversary. Such an amazing achievement is attributable to the Directors and owners of Varley Group for having a sound business model that adapts to changes in markets and technology, investing in training and R&D, and stretching ideas about "what is possible" to new limits. Their evolution from a repairer of steam ships in the 19th century to a diversified manufacturer in rail, defence, emergency vehicles, marine, power and industrial maintenance, and electric vehicles has been progressive and planned. At a time when manufacturing has many detractors it is hard to ignore the solid foundations of companies like Varley. Visit the Varley Group's website.

Ai Group's WHS "Harmionisation" Services

The new Work Health and Safety Laws come into effect on 1 January 2012 in NSW and other states except for Victoria and Western Australia. The following services are currently available to members:

• Website information, including helpful fact sheets.
• 4 hour training sessions on the Act and Regulations.
• Implementation Checklist - available on the website
• BIZassistBriefings over the past 18 months have kept members up to date on developments (available on website). The July 2011 briefing also included a webinar of the OHS section of the briefing which is accessible via the website.
• Video - accessible on Ai Group TV on due diligence requirements under the new laws

Future services will include:

• Industry Magazine in November will include an 8 page lift out on the new laws.
• The BIZassistBriefings in November will include a one hour session on the new laws.
• Video on consultation, consult/cooperate & coordinate, union right of entry, incident notification and risk management. (November 2011)
• Webinar on officer's duties. This will be a 20 minute webinar available in November.
• New OHS publication (a publication members and non-members can purchase). This will be updated to reflect the new laws and be available early in 2012
• BIZassistManual -will include a complete update in the December update

Ai Group is putting an enormous amount of effort into the harmonisation of OHS laws, recognising that safety should come first, rather than compliance with nine acts and all the inefficiencies and cost that entails. This is a single safety standard opportunity too important to be missed. Given the new proposed maximum penalties (noted below) for breaching the New National WHS laws, we would encourage you to familiarise yourself with the new laws.

Upcoming Regional Events

• Developing Effective Return to Work Programs Workshop, 30th November, Cardiff RSL
  Free workshop with a light lunch provided
  
• BIZassistBriefings
  Our next round of free Industry BIZassistBriefings is coming up in November. Some topics that will be covered include Redundancy; Adverse Action Decisions/Unfair Dismissals; Annual Leave & Managing your workers through the summer season; Climate change; Implementing Energy efficiency; Risk Management.

10th November, Central Coast - Mingara Recreation Club
16th November, Newcastle - Apollo International
24th November, Tamworth - Quality Hotel PowerHouse
25th November, Muswellbrook - Muswellbrook Race Club
28th November, Port Macquarie - Quality Sails Resort

REGISTER ONLINE NOW or see your INVITATION for more details of what will be covered in each
If you missed the previous briefings, visit our BIZassistBriefings Webinar.

Newcastle Training Courses - 2011

Click here to download a Training Calendar

Remember - All Ai Group training programs can be tailored to your organisation's needs. We offer on-site training in and out of working hours at competitive rates. Contact the Newcastle office on (02) 4925 8300 for further details.

Local Network Meeting Dates

If you would like to tap into any of the activities of these interest groups, the notes of minutes may be viewed on our Hunter Web Page.

Ai Group Website - www.aigroup.com.au

Members are reminded to regularly visit the Ai Group website to keep up-to-date with the latest news, member communications, events and special member functions.

Affiliated Organisations

• HunterNet
  
• Hunter Valley Research Foundation
  
• Hunter Manufacturing Awards Inc
  
• NSW Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services
  
• Central Coast Manufacturing Connect

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