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ENsep17-eMag

N E W S 16 September 2017 The race for ‘my’space continues The VSS Unity spaceplane has completed its sixth glide test for the passenger craft owned by out-of-this-world billionaire Richard Branson. Mr Branson’s Virgin Galactic brand conducted the craft’s first free flight with its propulsion unit installed. It was another small step toward future powered tests that will see Unity propelled on a suborbital trajectory into space. Holster Engineering welcomes maintenance engineers A 30-strong crowd of engineers descended on the Tokoroa’s Holster Engineering for the Maintenance Engineering Society’s Kaeser Compressors Network Evening. Bruce, Marty and the staff, 10 of who have been with the company for more than 22 years, provided refreshments and a well appreciated BBQ for those that had made the trek to the South Waikato. Attendees got the chance to view the heavy machine shop with a 50T capacity chuck to the 12m centre lathe, horizontal borer, the light machine shop, metal spray shop and cranes. It was obvious that this crew is experienced, ready and capable. Video guide to SPX pumps SPX FLOW has created a series of maintenance video tutorials to help users efficiently and correctly maintain their equipment. The latest of these covers the new hygienic Waukesha Cherry-Burrell (WCB) universal twin screw (UTS) pump range. The videos are designed to help ensure customers optimise product performance throughout the lifetime of their investment. Hopes for A&G Price Interest is out there, according to liquidator Ecovis KGA Limited, in purchasing the A&G Price foundry located in Thames. The 100+ year-old business announced to staff on July 26 that the Waikato engineering company was in liquidation and some 100 employees were informed that they would lose their jobs. At the time of print Gareth Hoole of Ecovis was reported as saying that the company was currently speaking with several potential buyers and investors. Staff have received their final pays but issues still surrounded holiday pay and potential redundancy packages, Mr Hoole says. Myles Leeson of E tū, the union representing the workers, says that top priority was the workers and their welfare. “Price's is a long-standing business in Thames. It’s one of the town’s primary employers and this will hit our members and the town hard,” he told Stuff. “These are good quality jobs and new jobs will be hard to find. There will be many households in Thames where people will be worried about their future.” Skills shortage needs tertiary flexibility The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) has called for action to be taken over the deepening skills shortage, saying it’s an issue of grave concern to employers. “Action needs to be taken to address the skills shortage if we want to grow prosperity and productivity as a nation,” says Kim Campbell, ceo, EMA. Mr Campbell’s comments followed the government’s response to the Productivity Commission inquiry into New Models of Tertiary Education, which outlined four key focus areas which will be developed into a strategy for tertiary education in 2018. Mr Campbell says that it was “positive” that one of those areas was meeting the needs of industry and employers but the EMA wanted to know more. “We have called for more flexibility and responsiveness in the current system, to meet the needs of industry now and in the future. We must bridge the gap between employers and tertiary institutions so it is more integrated,” he says. “We also need to invest in lifelong learning. Currently, we focus on investing in 18 to 24 year olds - and rightly so - but we must also look at the long term needs of an individual over their working career and balance this with the requirements of our industry needs.” The skills shortage continues. In the EMA, Employers Survey 2015 67% of employers were finding it difficult to recruit for skilled positions. A year later in the Employers Survey 2016 this had increased to 72%. Furthermore, employers are struggling to recruit positions across all range of skills from fully qualified professionals to manual labourers. “Which is why we also advocate for vocational training to be made more appealing to school leavers too. About 70% of school leavers do not go onto tertiary education, however they still need to gain work-related qualifications for their first step into their working career,” says Mr Campbell.


ENsep17-eMag
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