Partnership expansion to benefit local apprentices and the region

The Hunter will continue to have more well-rounded apprentices in the engineering industry thanks to a renewed partnership between the regions premier training company and the local arm of a global engineering company.

Hunter-V-Tec, Registered Training Organisation (RTO) of Hunter Valley Training Company and Alstom have today signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Hunter-V-Tec, manager operations, Doug Ivins, says the new deal means his team will expand its services beyond the provision of tailored workplace apprentice and training programs at Alstoms Telarah workshop. Mr Ivins says these moves will benefit both companies as well as the region.

We will strengthen the operations of our two Hunter based businesses and create more local, highly skilled people as the skills shortage again becomes an issue in Australia, Mr Ivins says.

We will now be doing Alstoms local Workcover courses and we are looking at rotating apprentices from other parts of Alstoms operations as well as the provision of other internal training programs, he says.

This year, for the first time, project management modules will be delivered to third year apprentices to equip them to become team leaders when they enter the workforce.

Alstom workshop manager Clint Perry says the apprenticeship program with HVTC has been very successful over the past ten years and has a bright future for Alstom and the region.

Mr Perry says that under the MOU, between six and eight apprentices each year will be employed and managed under a four-year apprentice indentureship by Hunter-V-Tec, with Alstom acting as the host employer.

At Alstom apprentices gain practical experience from Alstoms highly experienced tradesmen including the precise work of reblading power station turbines and generators, Mr Perry says.

They also get a chance to work up close with the largest lathe in the southern hemisphere which can take a 100 tonne load and turn objects up to four metres in diameter, he says.

Two Alstom apprentices Mic Wilson and Jeremy Adams were named HVTC school-based trainee of the year in 2009 and 2010 respectively. A number of Alstom apprentices have also won TAFE awards for excellence in machining.

Alstom provides services in power generation, transmission and rail infrastructure sectors. It employs around 1000 people in Australia and New Zealand and has workshops or factories in every Australian state including one in Maitland that employs 50 people. Hunter-V-Tec is both an RTO and a Group Training Organisation (GTO) that delivers flexible and innovative training to suit the needs of industry. Around 250 full time and part time students attend training at its Telarah Skills Centre.