Weld Australia is excited to announce that our MEM Training Package Resources won the Excellence in Manufacturing Skills Development Award at the 2023 Endeavour Awards.
Celebrating 20 years in 2023, The Endeavour Awards are presented annually by Manufacturers’ Monthly. Recognised as the premier Awards program within the manufacturing industry, the Endeavour Awards highlight innovative organisations and provide manufacturers from around Australia with industry-wide recognition.
Weld Australia designed and created a suite of resources for delivery of the 12 welding and fabrication units of competency in the Manufacturing and Engineering (MEM) Training Package.
According to Geoff Crittenden (CEO, Weld Australia), “Our resources help simplify the learning process for students, teachers and training institutes and—most importantly—place the student at centre of the learning process.”
“Weld Australia believes that a national industry, which has a national learning package, needs national learning resources. Whether you’re an apprentice in Kalgoorlie, Ultimo or Davenport, you should have access to the same, high-quality training. Our goal is to help ensure that high-quality welder learning is consistent across the country.”
Welders are more in demand than ever—labour shortages are inhibiting the growth of Australia’s welding industry. According to Weld Australia’s members, 50 per cent of Australia’s welding workshops are currently operating at 80 per cent of their capacity or below. When asked why this is, a lack of skilled workers was the overwhelming answer.
“This labour shortage comes as no surprise. Weld Australia has been calling for urgent action for over five years. We estimate that Australia will be at least 70,000 welders short by 2030,” said Crittenden.
“And yet, the number of welding trade workers in Australia dropped by 8 per cent in the course of just five years, and completion rates of welding apprenticeships continue to fall by as much as 23 per cent annually. It is essential that welder training is revolutionised with online, accessible and engaging learning resources.”
Weld Australia formed a national consortium of TAFEs to work on the project. Over the last two years, the consortium has collaborated with us to develop the most engaging, up-to-date resources possible. Members of the consortium piloted use of the resources, and some TAFEs have already permanently adopted them.
Weld Australia’s MEM Resources have been built with students, teachers and training organisations in mind. It reimagines the learning process with its user-friendly interface, diversified delivery methods, and audited and accurate material. The new MEM resources are completely online and accessible via phone, mobile device or computer. This allows students to access learning at the time, place and pace that suits them best.
Members of the consortium piloted use of the resources, and some TAFEs have already permanently adopted them.
South Metropolitan TAFE in Fremantle, Western Australia was the first training organisation to facilitate an official pilot. The feedback received from students and lecturers alike was extremely positive.
According to Jonathon Maile (Executive Director – Engineering, Transport and Defence, South Metropolitan TAFE), “The resources have been terrific, not only for our team here at South Metro TAFE, but we’ve also upheld these and shared these with some external customers as well. So from a quality perspective, the resources have been tremendous.”
“Being able to link in with Weld Australia and other TAFEs, improved training outcomes—there is a better consistency from a technical perspective Australia-wide. It has improved our focus on digitisation and e-learning, and the increased the flexibility of how we deliver. We’re able to utilise these training resources in class to support lecturers. If apprentices miss classes, they can access the resources and catch up a lot more quickly than trying to reschedule another block later on.”
Brenda Micale (General Manager, Training Services at South Metropolitan TAFE) agreed. “The resources have improved our delivery across the fabrication area quite significantly. We’ve had some really great feedback from our industry partners too.”
“On our own, we could have developed an adequate suite of materials for the qualification. Through the national collaboration, we got a much higher quality resources. On a TAFE budget, we never could have got all the bells and whistles—the videos, the eLearning—it’s just financially out of our reach.”
“It’s great when I go out to Rockingham, the Thornley and Naval Base campuses where fabrication is taught and you can see apprentices engaging with the technology. They’re able to
