After two years of intensive on the job training, 44 Seeley International staff will graduate with a Certificate III in Competitive Manufacturing at a ceremony in Albury..
The training has delivered major benefits to the company – including significant production improvements which are all-important for competing on a world stage.
Seeley International’s General Manager Albury Operations, Barry Mynott, said the training had helped Seeley’s Albury plant make a cultural shift and engage employees on a much higher level.
“This training has been genuinely active, not just theoretical and it’s had a significant impact on the culture of our organisation,” he said.
“We have been able to grow a culture where our staff are engaged in the process, working in teams to improve their own working conditions.
“It’s a bottom–up culture, which is very much supported by management – it’s about our staff being engaged in our industry, not just working for the industry.”
The Competitive Manufacturing program was customized by TAFE NSW Riverina Institute to meet the needs of Seeley International and was delivered to nearly all of the permanent staff at the Albury plant.
Riverina Institute’s Head of Studies Manufacturing and Local Government, Mike Parfitt, said the program was designed specifically to meet Seeley’s requirements and was completely work-based.
“The staff have come from every section of the enterprise, including administration, management, fabrication, logistics and the production line in a whole-of-enterprise approach,” he said.
“And, there have been some outstanding examples of training projects making a major difference to production and output.”
Seeley International is committed to ongoing staff training and sees the investment in continual improvement as vital to its success.
“We’re in a very competitive environment and we want to develop our people to perform at world class manufacturing standards if we’re going to compete at a global level,” Mr Mynott said.
Seeley International’s investment in its staff goes above and beyond the cost of training.
The Albury plant closes for an hour once a fortnight to enable staff to identify problems and find solutions to make physical improvements in their work stations and conditions. Staff are then empowered to effect those changes.
Mr Mynott said the Competitive Manufacturing training had been part of an empowerment journey for staff.
“Learning a common language and undertaking practical elements to the training have led to ownership at an individual level and empowered our staff to make individual changes to their own work stations to improve their own working conditions,” he said.
The graduation will not mark the end of the competitive manufacturing program. Seeley International has already committed further staff to undertake the training and considers it an ongoing program.
“We have had a long relationship with TAFE, since the very first English literacy program several years ago,” Mr Mynott said.
“Everyone that comes into the organisation has a structured training plan to ensure the quality of our production and to give our staff ownership over what they’re doing.”
The Board of Directors, including Chairman Frank Seeley AM, flew to Albury from Adelaide to attend the graduation ceremony.
“It’s committed people like ours, who access programs like these, than transform great companies like Seeley International into global legends ,” Mr Seeley said.
The graduation took place at the Seeley International’s Albury premises in North Street on Friday, May 20, 2011. Photographs are available.