MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE
FRAME AND TRUSS NATIONAL ADVISORY GROUP
Date:
Time:
Venue:
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
9.30 am
Kauri Room, Level 6 Conference Centre
234 Wakefield Street, Wellington.
PRESENT:
Paul Rountree
Eric Martin
John Hill
Andrew Mclachlan
Paul McKay
MiTek NZ (Elected Chair)
Henderson Timbers
Pryda Manufacturing
Placemakers
Truss and Frame NZ Ltd
IN ATTENDANCE:
Ruma Karaitiana
Greg Durkin
Helen Hines-Randall
Glenn Duncan
Andrew Kear
Mark Williams
Kate Hopkins
Chief Executive, BCITO
Group Manager, Stakeholder Engagement
Industry Advocate, Stakeholder Engagement
Group Manager, Apprentice Training
Group Manager, Standards Leadership
Insight & Innovation Manager (Item 7 only)
Minute Secretary
APOLOGIES:
Stewart Waters
Carters
ACTION POINTS
Helen Hines-Randall to liaise with NAG members regarding
potential new members to ensure that each industry sector is
represented around the table.
Helen Hines-Randall to draw up a draft document for an activity
plan which could involve the supply chain, fabricators etc.
Helen Hines-Randall to send Andrew Mclachlan information
regarding the RPL process and fast-tracking some of his staff
through the Detailer qualification.
Helen Hines-Randall to follow up the issue raised by Paul
McKay around lack of response to his request for a Skills Broker
to visit his plant.
Helen Hines-Randall to send a monthly email of up-to-date
BCITO information to Frame and Truss industry members.
Who
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Ongoing
1.
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Ruma Karaitiana welcomed everyone and opened the meeting. Stewart Waters‟
apology was accepted.
2.
ELECTION OF CHAIR
Ruma clarified the role of a NAG Chair as there was some concern around the table
about the amount of time which would need to be invested. With encouragement
from his peers, Paul Rountree put his name forward for election and this was
seconded by Eric Martin.
There being no further nominations, Paul Rountree was declared Chair of the
BCITO’s Frame and Truss National Advisory Group.
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Ruma suggested that Paul treat this meeting as a “test run” and if he felt he could not
commit to the role of Chair at the end of proceedings he should say so and there
would be no recriminations. Ruma handed over the Chair to Paul.
3.
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
Resolved
That the Minutes of meeting held on 9 November 2011 be confirmed as a true and
correct record.
Moved:
Paul McKay
Seconded:
Eric Martin
4.
MATTERS ARISING
All action points from the previous meeting had been completed and no other matters
were raised from the minutes.
5.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT
Ruma Karaitiana‟s report was received and he noted the changes which had been
made recently with the internal structure of the BCITO which was aimed at improving
the organisation‟s relationship with its stakeholders through better communication.
Ruma stated that the Frame and Truss NAG was a classic example of one of the
reasons why the BCITO wanted to make the change. As an ITO, the organisation
had always been active with industry when it wanted something which was generally
around qualifications, but once those review processes had been completed, it all
went quiet, apart from the ongoing support of industry in the field. Ruma explained
that the BCITO wanted to create an environment where it was much more active and
creative with stakeholders who would be encouraged to communicate with the ITO
about any issues affecting their industry.
4.1
BCITO Performance:
 Ruma noted that 2014 was a very busy year for the BCITO which had doubled its
number of trainees since the beginning of 2013. The BCITO had to meet the
challenge of managing this high rate of growth whilst still delivering quality
services to its existing customers. By the end of the year there were 9700 people
in training, but that had slowed down a bit.
 There were 18 completions in Frame and Truss last year, and the core F&T area
was going pretty well. However, there were still relatively low numbers in
Detailing.
 In 2014 the BCITO signed an incredible number of people into training and there
were 981 new sign-ups in December which was a record figure, brought about
principally due to the closing off of the Government‟s Reboot Scheme on 31
December. This meant that signings for the beginning of 2015 were less than
expected but are steady at 60-80 per week, with one exceptional week where
124 people were signed-up. Whilst the Reboot Scheme cost the BCITO a lot of
money to administer, it did mean that many people decided to take up training
earlier than they would otherwise have done.
 Completion rates are rising in general and there have been good completions
with Frame and Truss. It was one of the effects of the recession which was
deeper and longer than anyone anticipated. Over the critical years in the middle
there were few new signings resulting in very few people moving through. The
cohort shape should show ¼ of total trainees at the beginning and ¼ at the end,
with the rest in the middle two years of their training. Fortunately it is now
beginning to return to normal, with 2000 completions forecast for this year, rising
to 2,500 in 2016 which is where the ITO wants to be.
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Ruma referred to the chart showing regional numbers of trainees which had been
boosted by the absorption of additional specialist trades.
Ruma commented that it was a good feeling not to be making losses. Over 3
years the BCITO lost a total of $8m but this was planned for. Before the
recession there was $20m in reserves and this was used to weather the period of
slow growth and still retain as many high level staff as possible so that the ITO
could react quickly to the period of accelerated growth following the downturn.
The 2014 result is probably over-inflated by 50% because the BCITO couldn‟t
plan and recruit all the resources it needed during that financial year. It is
anticipated that the ITO will generate just over $2m per year going forward. The
large surplus generated in 2014 will assist with the Digital Engagement Project
which the Board is about to give the go ahead to. $3m will be spent in realigning
the training delivery to a more digital environment, where apprentices and
trainees can take photos on site, upload their evidence onto their phones, and
employers can have access directly into their employees‟ training records.
The BCITO is still dealing with the lag in its field staff resources but the good
news is that the organisation is still managing to attract really good people and
there are 3 new TAs starting today in Auckland.
4.2
Tertiary Education Commission: Ruma advised that the TEC provides 72% of the
BCITO‟s funding and the relationship with them has been good for the past couple of
years. They have been willing to undertake supplementary negotiations and add a
bit of money into the pool to assist with the increased level of growth. The
Construction industry has had an advantage in that the rest of the economy hasn‟t
moved as much and the competition from other ITOs has been less, but that time is
coming to an end.
4.3
The Auckland Construction & Infrastructure Education & Training Alliance:
Ruma gave some background to the structure of the Alliance who had teamed up to
find optimum ways of dealing with the growth in Auckland. Whilst Christchurch is
topping out now, it is forecast that Auckland will continue growing rapidly out to 2020
and it is impossible to predict what will happen beyond that. Ruma said this was why
the BCITO was creating a new office in Auckland, but regardless of what it does, it
will never be enough. The Alliance had taken note of the success experienced by
the Barrangaroo Skills Exchange in Sydney and were planning a scaled down
version for Auckland with the big target being Auckland Airport will run for some time
and cover all levels of skill.
4.4
Prefabrication: In its review of the Strategic Plan last year the Board considered
how the BCITO could prepare itself for increased prefabrication in the construction
industry. Over time, through discussions with the Carpentry sector, it may be
necessary to reflect that in their qualification. In the meantime, the plan is to
understand prefabrication in its wider sense. Those in the Frame and Truss industry
are part of the prefabrication process, carrying out partial construction before
structures arrive on site, and it is the same with Cement and Concrete.
Questions/Comments:
 Paul Rountree asked if all the recent sign-ups and growth which the BCITO has
experienced is just meeting current demand or does it allow for future demand as
well. Ruma explained that it was all about penetration rates, which varied trade
by trade across the industry. One of the challenges was that so many of the
trades were invisible. He said it was unlikely that Year 10 students would be
thinking about leaving school and going into Frame and Truss. Ruma said that it
would be pretty difficult to get that perfect balance and noted that boom and bust
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cycles made the situation worse. It was about setting ambitions as high as
possible to achieve as much as possible.
Ruma noted that the male voice in career choice was pretty quiet and that mothers
tended to think that the construction industry was a dangerous and dirty environment.
The BCITO‟s message to young people is that this is the best time for them to get
into an industry, get themselves fully trained and qualified, and settled into
employment and they will be the people that industry wants to hold onto when there
is another downturn.
5.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT GROUP
Greg Durkin‟s report was taken as read and he highlighted the following points:
5.1
Stakeholder Engagement Group: Greg outlined the purpose behind the
establishment of the Stakeholder Engagement Group and said it was a clear signal of
the BCITO‟s absolute commitment to ensure that its engagement with industry and
stakeholders was dynamic and involved listening as well as talking, not only at
national association level but at a regional level as well. Greg noted that the Group
now encompassed Industry Advocacy, Insight and Innovation, Research and
Marketing and Communications functions.
5.2
Industry Advocacy:
 An Industry Advocate team of 4 has been established within the Group and Greg
noted the table in his report which outlined which trades each Advocate was
responsible for. Their engagement with industry will primarily be through the
National Advisory Groups but will also feed through other channels within the
BCITO.
 Greg noted the work being carried out around the Development of Engagement
Profiles for each industry and how that information will be used to feed into the
overall direction of stakeholder engagement. Greg advised that he and Glenn
Duncan had been conducting an audit of the BCITO‟s relationship with industries
at a regional level, and noted that with some industries it was well established
and quite structured, going through to industries where engagement is quite
spasmodic. The goal was to create an opportunity at regional level for industries
to engage with the BCITO, not just when the ITO had something to say, but when
the industry had issues which it wished to raise.
 Greg asked if Regional Advisory Groups (RAGs) offered an engagement system
which would work for the Frame and Truss industry, or was there another way
that the BCITO could more effectively work with the industry at regional level.
Greg asked NAG members to let him know the best means of communication for
them.
o Paul Rountree said the NAG would appreciate any direction that Greg could
give them in this regard, and asked if the BCITO worked in different ways with
other groups.
o Greg advised that last year the BCITO conducted some RAG meetings as
part of the work which Andrew Kear‟s team were doing around the Carpentry
qualification which worked well. RAGs were also involved in the Review of
Specialist Trades and this worked in some areas but not in others. Greg
noted that the Joinery industry held their own Regional Association meetings
around New Zealand and the BCITO was invited to attend those.
 Greg asked NAG members how they communicated amongst themselves as an
industry; what worked for them; was it around the supply chain and would that
work; how do the industry members co-operate at a regional level, or do they?
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Jon Hill asked if the BCITO had a mechanism for industry feedback. Greg
talked about the interaction with employers and apprentices, and surveys
conducted with apprentices who had terminated which were mostly
conducted by telephone.
o Jon asked if there were any common factors about why apprentices decided
to exit the industry, and felt that with stakeholder engagement there could be
some valuable information coming through from an end-user point of view.
Why do some people succeed and others fail?
o Paul McKay asked if the feedback came through Associations like Registered
Master Builders and Certified Builders and the FTMA, and suggested that at
regional level that may be one way of looking at how that feedback is
communicated. Greg responded that it varied, depending on the industry.
Some industries don‟t have Associations at all and the BCITO engaged
through a supply chain approach. With Frame and Truss he was looking for
engagement at a regional level as well as with the NAG and noted that while
there may be national companies involved, most people engaged in the
construction industry tended to be regionally focused.
o Paul Rountree noted that the Frame and Truss industry was New Zealand
wide and, being merchant based, there were major groups like Carters
Placemakers, ITM. Paul said it was easy to engage the Group but harder to
engage the Region. Greg said the Industry Advocates will have a list of
things they want to engage with the industry about, like completions,
terminations, volume demand, but they also need to be sensitive about
listening to some of the things which the industry wants to feedback to the
BCITO.
Greg noted there were questions about whether the trends the BCITO was
seeing in the industry matched up with the trends the employers in the industry
were seeing in terms of demand. The BCITO wants to work with the industry to
identify skills shortages in terms of new people or existing people. Greg noted
that, as an industry, Frame and Truss were relatively innovative and open to the
ideas of new technology, and because of this both the BCITO and industry need
to understand each other in terms of delivering quality skilled people into the
system.
Andrew Mclachlan advised that Placemakers knew very little about the BCITO‟s
Detailer qualification although they did know it existed. Andrew said he was in
charge of Detailers but he didn‟t know about the qualification and they don‟t know
about it. In terms of engagement, it would be useful for the BCITO to get
involved with all the Placemakers Detailers and get them on board. Andrew said
that would be a good start as far as he was concerned. Helen asked if there had
ever been a collective event. Andrew advised that they had a National
Manufacturing Meeting but that wouldn‟t be the right forum. The only other event
was the Placemakers National Conference.
Paul Rountree noted that some groups in the country were due for regionallybased workshops. Helen asked if FTMA did anything at regional level or was it
just the Executive Committee. Eric Martin advised that they went down to
Christchurch last year and had their Executive Meeting there and then invited
members and non-members along to a social evening. A “meet and greet”. Eric
said he was encouraging FTMA to get around the country and tell people what is
available, but the year comes and goes and next thing it is the AGM.
Greg Durkin said this was exactly what the BCITO wanted to hear which
highlights that there is a gap to be filled. Eric said the FTMA would be happy to
have their Executive Meetings for half a day and then a half day workshop with
the BCITO and invite FTMA members and non-members along. Helen felt this
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opened up the opportunity for the FTMA to change the location of their next 4 or
5 Executive Committee meetings to get some regional coverage.
Greg said this option could be worked through but the BCITO‟s first point of entry
into establishing good regional consultation was the supply chain and groups.
Paul Rountree asked if it was just management and owners or was Greg talking
about going to the Detailers. Greg noted that he didn‟t want to get in the way of
the existing work carried out by the BCITO‟s regional Training Advisers, but it
was much more about engaging with the industry per se at regional level which
will look different depending on whether it a particular group or supply chain.
Paul Rountree suggested that the BCITO do a presentation to the supply chain
users because a lot of the industry training is done by the suppliers. He said
there were a lot of people in the Frame and Truss Industry who basically receive
information and knowledge from the suppliers visiting them. Andrew Mclachlan is
more likely to ask him about the Detailer qualification than picking up the phone.
Paul Rountree said they visited their customers every 6 weeks and it would be
good to have a new topic of conversation to talk about and having the BCITO
being able to provide the supplier with information so that when the reps go on
site they can tell the customer “this is the information you need to know”.
Jon Hill outlined the tiers:
o Associations and Groups, eg FTMA MiTek and Pryda.
o Placemakers, Carters, ITM
o Smaller fabricators.
and suggested that dealing with FTMA, MiTek and Pryda would be good
avenues into the industry.
Paul Rountree commented that the frame and truss industry was screaming out
for qualified people and trainees but there was uncertainty about the qualification
being available and suggested that there would be value in giving a presentation
to the Placemakers Conference. Greg asked whether the BCITO should engage
at Andrew Mclachlan level or Human Resources level so that it becomes part of
the Placemakers policy that employees complete their training and do a
qualification. Andrew suggested pitching it to the Detailers and get the
awareness out there, particularly about how much the employer will pay towards
their training. He said there was an awareness at national office level but the
troops on the ground have no idea at all.
Helen asked who drove the training. She noted that there was a financial
investment in training Detailers, so does the employer have a plan for investing in
sustainable qualified people? Paul Rountree responded that the person who is
making the investment doesn‟t understand what the investment is. Upper
management understand the value and time that needs to be spent on that
person in order to get them to become efficient and become a Detailer but they
don‟t understand the pathway. Andrew understands the pathway from a high
level, and understands the investment, but he needs to understand the path that
the student is going on and then he can go to his boss who writes the cheque.
Helen advised that the BCITO can come up with a plan around that type of
engagement. The IT can create more recognition for skilled people and help
drive that as well.
Eric Martin asked where the BCITO started targeting trainees and suggested that
they talk to the Tech Drawing teachers to encourage kids who will never get
University Entrance to think about entering into a technical career which they
could be successful at. Eric also talked about the potential benefit of the BCITO
giving a short presentation about the Detailing qualification during Careers Days
at Colleges targeting both kids and their parents. Eric and Jon both said they
would be happy to go along to such events. Helen confirmed that the BCITO did
have a relationship with Careers Advisers throughout the country and attended
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regular Careers & Transition Education Association (Aotearoa) Ltd, commonly
referred to as CATE events.
Jon Hill asked whether the BCITO was targeting existing Detailers to become
qualified or new people entering the industry, and commented that no-one knew
about Detailing or Frame and Truss.
Paul McKay suggested hooking into the key plants who are willing to work with
the schools. He said he worked with the polytechnic who bring their students
through the plant regularly. Not just handing out pamphlets but they want to
know more about employment opportunities. Paul noted that the word “detailer”
didn‟t indicate what the job actually was. He said it was a “truss and wall frame
designer” and they are looking at marketing this fact.
NAG members discussed the importance of targeting students before they left school
and getting the message through to employers about the value of having trained
staff. Greg commented that the BCITO had taken on board the key points made
around the table and now needed to market the qualification in order to fill the skills
shortage in the industry. He stated that the long game for the BCITO was not to get
people enrolled into qualifications but to have a really high quality of skill across the
industry. Greg acknowledged that the Frame and Truss industry had a range of
broad over-arching objectives which the BCITO shared.
Glenn Duncan asked the NAG if the idea of bringing their staff through a training
process was attractive to them. Eric Martin emphasised that many companies in
their industry couldn‟t do the training themselves and couldn‟t expect Pryda to do it
for them either. Because his was a bigger enterprise, they were looking at training
people in house with assistance from Pryda and the BCITO, and it would be good for
their company to have someone come out the other end with a qualification and
some credits attached. Glenn suggested that the BCITO get together with Pryda and
MiTek and put together a pathway where everyone contributes something.
5.3
Insight and Innovation: Greg noted the importance of the BCITO listening to what
the challenges were for the Frame and Truss industry both regionally and nationally.
However, if all the BCITO did was listen it wouldn‟t be doing its job properly. The
appointment of an Insight and Innovation Manager was to mine that information to
further develop ways in which the BCITO can help the industry address its problems.
Greg said the BCITO was fortunate to have attracted Mark Williams from the Open
Polytechnic to that role and he will be joining the meeting later to talk about the areas
he is currently working on.
5.4
Research: Greg outlined the two research projects which were currently underway,
being “Return on Investment in Training” and “The Impact of Mentoring Training on
the Quality of Mentoring Engagement” and said he would be rolling out the findings to
industry.
5.5
Econometric Reporting and Demographic Modelling: Greg advised that the
BCITO was working with Infometrics to develop a model which helps them
understand some of the economic information and a tool that helps them to look at
some of the demographic data covering different industries. Greg emphasised that
the BCITO was not about construction it was about people. He gave a slide
presentation showing data relating to the Frame and Truss Industry and advised
NAG members to contact Helen if they wanted to discuss issues around the human
side of their industry. He noted the two page Construction Update which was
published 5 times a year by Infometrics which may help NAG members understand
some of the economic factors which impact on their industry.
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5.6
Vocational Pathways: Greg talked about the work which the ITOs were doing with
the Ministry of Education whereby a range of occupations have been grouped under
the headings of Primary Industries, Manufacturing and Construction. Guides have
been developed for students outlining the value which industries place on certain
skills, eg CAD programming. These have been distributed to the students and there
is also a website that the students can log into which provides further information.
The guides tell those students who think they want to join the construction industry
what they need as part of their NCEA, or if they have already achieved that it will
point them in the right direction. The next step is the Ministry developing Vocational
Pathways at curriculum level in schools and the BCITO is happy to work with them
on that. Greg said this work helped to raise the profile of the Frame and Truss
industry and the construction industry in schools because it is specifically identified in
those guides.
6.
INDUSTRY ADVOCATE REPORT
6.1
Introduction: Helen Hines-Randall outlined her role and noted the trades which she
was responsible for.
6.2
Activity to Date: Helen said it was a please to attend the FTMA Executive
Committee meeting but it was unfortunate that Richard Rozbicki wasn‟t there. She
noted that the FTMA were interested in drawing up a plan in which they might
independently engage with the BCITO to pursue the people shortage in the industry.
There was talk of an industry conference in which the BCITO could help by
acknowledging the excellence of people within the Frame and Truss industry.
6.3
Internal Communications: Helen advised that one of the things which the BCITO
has started to do internally is the “Fortnightly Updates” from Ruma Karaitiana telling
the rest of the organisation what the Industry Advocates are doing and what research
is being undertaken. This gives an insight to those in the office and some of the
Training Advisers who don‟t normally step outside the core trades.
6.4
Format of Future Meetings: Helen asked the meeting how they wanted the
National Advisory Group to be run, whether it was „business as usual‟ or have a
speaker attend to talk about something of a technical nature. She emphasised that
there was no need to change anything if the NAG were happy with the current
format.
Andrew Mclachlan asked whether there should be more representation from industry.
Helen noted that the NAG had been bigger in the past, and with a small number
there was a risk that the Group wouldn‟t be able to make any decisions. Helen had
mentioned this at the FTMA meeting and suggested input from other franchises like
ITM , Mitre 10 and independent employers. She noted that there were currently four
people from Auckland and one person from Christchurch and clarified with the Group
that it was more about having people with the right knowledge and skills sitting
around the table. The meeting agreed and felt it was important to have the right mix
of people, not necessarily by region. Eric said he would support getting one or two
ITM fabricators interested in coming onto the NAG.
Options put on the table for additional representation on the NAG included the
following:
 Carters, David Stewart, Peter Wilson
 ITM
 Phil Broadley, Upper Hutt.
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Andrew Mclachlan suggested that each NAG member have a named back-up person
to ensure that each sector was always represented at a meeting.
Action:
Helen Hines-Randall to liaise with NAG members regarding potential new
members to ensure that each industry sector is represented around the
table.
The meeting agreed to hold two NAG meetings a year in April/ May and
September/October.
Mark Williams joined the meeting for the next item.
7.
INSIGHT AND INNOVATION
Mark Williams gave some background to the newly created position and outlined
what things he wanted to talk to the NAG about. Mark made the following comments:
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The BCITO has a lot of data from Infometrics and also has a lot of data from
student surveys, employer surveys etc, and the “insight” is trying to go through
that and pull out some of the data to give the BCITO direction about doing those
things better or undertaking things it is not doing currently.
Insight is gained from people in exit interviews who have identified areas of small
business management, and supervisory skills, particularly for areas which are
more manufacturing orientated, larger organisations and first line management.
Mark referred to the numbers at the end of his report which showed the main
categories of interest. He emphasised that those being surveyed were given a
free-text field so that they could put their views about additional training without
any prompting.
In terms of feedback so far, it has been heavily weighted towards „people skills‟
leading to „business skills‟. The BCITO will look at identified areas that it can
work in but it wouldn‟t necessarily be delivering this training, but would look to
work with Business Mentors or PTEs around the country to deliver courses that
met the needs of the sector. Mark emphasised that he was not talking about the
Supervisor qualification which the BCITO already offers but a mix of knowledge
and skills that industry sectors are looking for at L4 and L5 upwards and what the
best mode of delivery might be. This could be distance learning, or supervisory
mentoring training or first line management training.
Mark said he was interested to hear from NAG members in terms of what they
felt the next steps were in L3 Manufacturing and L4 Detailing outside the specific
Frame and Truss qualification, and what were the areas in which they would like
to see more training made available.
Paul Rountree stated that Frame and Truss wasn‟t the same as Carpentry and
Tiling where people who gain qualifications are using these skills in their own
businesses and employing staff. He noted that within the F&T industry people
didn‟t openly encourage people to set up new businesses, and it is more of a
case of what people want within their existing business.
Mark asked if Supervisor was an option. Paul Rountree said that from a
corporate angle those organisations are big enough to identify staff and bring
them through, but it is different with smaller businesses. Eric agreed and said
that people would find modules which gave them a better understanding of
finance and taxation quite useful.
Mark drew attention to the wagon-wheel in his report and noted that people are
often not aware of all the modules available to upskill themselves in areas which
will help them and their businesses. If industry sectors won‟t want whole
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qualifications, what areas are people interested in, and how can the BCITO
facilitate that for them?
Paul Rountree said fabricators had Supervisors who would benefit from „people
skills‟ and „health and safety‟ etc but he wondered whether a large number would
be willing to undertake the training. Eric Martin felt that a course on „human
resources‟ and „soft skills‟ would be of great benefit to Line Managers. Mark
commented that these were generic skills which were not customised to any one
industry sector.
Mark asked if the corporates made this type of training available and Andrew
responded that they did, however the uptake from staff tended to be people who
didn‟t have much to do. Greg Durkin commented that if there were 20 people in
the Frame and Truss industry, and 20 people from four or five other industries,
then it might be something worth doing.
Paul Rountree said it came down to the sales pitch. Do it at the same time as
pitching Frame and Truss. Ask if there are any soft skills which employers would
like their staff to have.
Helen noted that the L4 Supervisor qualification covered a lot of these soft skills
and if industry wanted „people management‟ then it was a good qualification.
Paul Rountree said he recognised the value of this qualification which would be
suitable for some people.
Mark Williams noted that it has tended to be „people skills‟, „health and safety‟
and „compliance‟ which have been the common thread in the surveys.
8.
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Andrew Robertson‟s report was received and Ruma commented as follows:
8.1
Overview: The BCITO is currently dealing with the challenge of being a larger and
more diverse organisation. Whilst there are more sub-sectors of the industry, the
marketing objective remains pretty much the same which is to keep the pipeline filled.
One of the interesting things that has happened in the last two years, as we have
come out of the recession, is a complete flip from a surplus of apprentices looking for
employers to currently 400 employers contacting us every week and only five or six
people interested in entering the industry. Now the emphasis is on finding people to
enter the industry as employees and undertake training.
8.2
Brand Refresh: The BCITO has gone through a process of refreshing its brand with
two objectives. It wanted to symbolically signal that the organisation had changed
following the merger activity, and also consciously trying to modernise the image.
Ruma noted that it would be a slow change and vehicles leased 2½ years ago would
be retaining the old brand until their lease came to an end. However, all the
collateral is receiving a face-lift and the pamphlets trade-by-trade are being
refreshed.
8.3
New Website: This has been rolled out and is now optimised for mobile use. The
BCITO has been polling people around the IT space and the message from trainees
has been “If you can put it on a phone I am interested, if you can‟t I‟m not”.
8.4
Recruitment Campaign: The campaign this year is entitled “It‟s Not…” which is
primarily digital, and a bit “tongue in cheek”. Ruma presented a few of the posters
and outlined some of the complaints which had been received. He also advised that
the BCITO had used Phantom to paste posters up around the university campuses,
but unfortunately the one they chose was “It‟s not BA; It‟s LOL” which upset the
academics, particularly Canterbury University. On the positive side, there has been a
700% increase in the number of people contacting the job-matching service.
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Ruma noted that 10% of the BCITO‟s current apprentices have come from
universities, some graduates and a lot of drop-outs and the staff are happy to talk to
people at the university campuses to steer them in the BCITO‟s direction if they
decide to change their career choice.
During the week of 21-28 August the ITOs will be working together in the “Got a
Trade Week” with the target audience being 25 year-olds.
8.5
Scholarships:
 Outward Bound: The worthy recipients will be participating from 5-25 July and it
will involve people from across all BCITO trades with 10 people from specialist
trades on scholarships. If any Frame and Truss employers identify one or more
of their apprentices as future leaders, they should encourage them to apply as
the BCITO is involved in this every year. There are generally between 18 and 20
on the programme and the BCITO buys two watches of 28 people in the
construction industry. It pays directly for 10 and others are paid by Master
Builders as part of the AOY regional prize.
 Employer Development Grants: 15 of these grants are awarded a year and the
BCITO is interested in things that will help employers be sustainable in their
business. The take up is pretty broad, with people doing construction
management, quantity surveying, one-on-one with business mentors. The only
rider is that they are must be employing a BCITO apprentice at the time they
apply.
8.6
Buildability: Ruma advised that this was an in-school challenge which the BCITO
had to give up during the recession. Last year they reignited it and had eight schools
participating and this year there are 28. The event is based around the technology
curriculum and supervised by a technology teacher and involves kids who are
already interested in the construction sector. It is a small building challenge, and
each team has to have a customer and must discuss the project with that customer,
design a building to meet their needs, and construct it. For the duration of the build
they have to blog at least once a week. The competition is judged by BCITO staff
and based on the project portfolios which the schools send in.
8.7
Promotion: The meeting briefly discussed different ways in which the BCITO can
promote training, through employer breakfasts, golf tournaments, BBQs etc. It was
suggested that the TAs should try and find out if there are any events happening in
their region and get involved with that.
Action:
9.
Helen Hines-Randall to draw up a draft document for an activity plan
which could involve the supply chain, fabricators etc.
STANDARDS LEADERSHIP GROUP REPORT
Andrew Kear spoke to his report and said it was a story of good news and bad news
and highlighted the following points:

It was bad news from the point of view of people who develop qualifications
because at the end of 2009 NZQA called a massive review of every qualification
in existence which diverted everyone‟s attention for three years and affected the
BCITO‟s ability to deliver some of the projects already in place. The good news
was that the review of the Frame and Truss Manufacturers qualification had just
been completed so it didn‟t really hold up progress in that respect.
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





Andrew spoke about the pathway towards approval for Certificates of
Competence to become part of the qualification, and noted that following 2009
the BCITO was in a position to say that this could happen. The New Zealand
Certificate in Frame and Truss Detailing was the first qualification registered by
NZQA that had a component in it which recognised something else, which was
the 20 credits MiTek or Pryda Certificate. This was quite a coup for this Group
and everyone was thrilled about it.
Unfortunately there haven‟t been the sign-ups for the qualification which FTMA
was hoping to get. At the time the committee was keen on the idea of
“champions” in the workplace. These would be experienced guys who could offer
leadership to their colleagues and who employers would be willing to apportion
expenditure to for their training.
Andrew noted the very positive feedback around the learning materials for the
Detailer qualification which are delivered by flash drive and allow assignments to
be submitted electronically. The resources did not consist of pages and pages of
text, but diagrams, interactive materials, and links to third party websites. This
method of delivery offers trainees the ability to communicate with their supervisor
and training adviser and is the beginning of a change to the way BCITO training
programmes are conducted.
What Greg Durkin gained in attracting two of Andrew‟s staff as Industry
Advocates was lost to the Standards Leadership Group and recruitment efforts
are underway to fill the gap.
In 2016 the review of Frame and Truss will happen in earnest and Andrew said
his team will be looking at updating all learning resources for the Manufacturer
qualification. He noted that this little package was incredibly popular both with
the learners and with the supervisors who are involved in their training.
Andrew referred to the Specifications and to the example attached to his report.
He noted that the Carpentry qualification had no unit standards in it at all, and
tabled a copy of that qualification for information purposes only. He emphasised
that this didn‟t have to be the template but asked how NAG members felt about
redeveloping the qualification using this type of process. He stated that the
BCITO now had great flexibility in how it compiles qualifications and next year will
sit down with NAG members and have a look at doing it for the Frame and Truss
industry.
Questions/Comments:
 Paul Rountree asked for confirmation that Andrew was talking about the
Manufacturing qualification, as the Detailing qualification already followed this
type of format. Helen commented that it may just be repackaging what is already
there.
 Paul Rountree asked whether the trainee was being taught to do a task in the
way the employer does it, or as it is stated within the Carpentry qualification.
Andrew Kear outlined the importance of „commercial competence‟ which is what
the employer has taught them to do. Helen advised that this will be supported by
a Text Book and on-line videos and the apprentice will record their work in a
Work Diary. Ruma noted that commercial competence was a high standard, and
demands that the trainee must be able to show that they can work on their own
and consistently produce items of a high standard, and be confident that the
customer will get a good product from the organisation. Paul commented that
someone in the organisation must understand the weight behind that sentence,
eg “be commercially competent” and wondered if there could be an issue around
the consistency in process development by different manufacturers. Andrew
Kear noted that the document tabled was not specifically targeted at the
apprentices as they will use the learning resources provided.
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
Andrew Mclachlan advised that he had a number of staff who have NSEAD,
which is now the Diploma in Architectural Draughting and has a contractor with
one of those qualifications who was also an LBP. Andrew asked what guidance
he should give them in terms of the Detailing qualification, and was this
something they would like to cross-credit, start from scratch or something that
they wouldn‟t need to be doing. Andrew Kear responded that guys like that
would probably complete the Detailer qualification very quickly and the employer
needed to determine whether it would be advantageous to their business to put
them through that qualification, or were their current skills enough for the Training
Adviser. He added that the Detailer qualification would provide an extra
challenge for those guys. Helen suggested that if they went through the
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process it would help to identify gaps and
agreed with Andrew Kear that these people could be fast-tracked because they
will already have some of the skills.
Action:
Helen Hines-Randall to send Andrew Mclachlan information regarding
the RPL process and fast-tracking some of his staff through the
Detailer qualification.
10.
APPRENTICE TRAINING REPORT
Glenn Duncan‟s report was taken as read. Glenn introduced himself and outlined the
structure of his team which now comprised 107 Training Advisers, 11 Skills Brokers
and 10 Regional Management roles. Glenn made the following comments:
10.1
General Overview:
 The key is knowing how to manage the current rate of growth and making sure
the BCITO stays ahead of the wave and also looking at what the wave is doing.
 Frame and Truss had 38 sign-ups, 18 completions and 11 withdrawals in 2014.
There has been some recent activity in Dunedin with 6 possible Manufacturing
sign-ups, and also some good prospects in Auckland.
 The Auckland staff are working with ITM Head Office from a human resource
perspective and are now looking to get that into their branches.
 Reference was made to the Infometrics data regarding the opportunity for Frame
and Truss to get better penetration into the market and increase employers‟
knowledge and understanding of the value of the qualification.
 The industry needs to be aware of the “age bubble” with the average age of
employees being between 45-49 years and in a couple of years down the track
that lump will disappear. An employer‟s best guy may be 50 years old but he
should have a younger guy under his wing to keep the skills coming into the
industry.
 Glenn advised that he was about to put a field team through Sales and Account
Manager training, making a conscious effort to gather information from an
employer for the future. He will also be talking to his staff about stakeholder
engagement and each region will have a liaison person for each industry,
including Frame and Truss, and these people will get to know the “movers and
shakers” in the industry in that region. If there is an FTMA meeting then that
BCITO person should be there to understand what is happening in the industry.
The team‟s assessment practices will also be developed for their primary focus
trade, and the three sub-trades which they are responsible for. Skills Brokers are
also being upskilled around account management in the human resources area.
10.2
Wider Industry Demand: Glenn talked about activity with polytechnics and PTEs to
market the BCITO.
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10.3
Staffing: Following the mergers all apprentice training is now under the auspices of
one team, with an additional tier of Associate Regional Managers in the regions to
share the load.
10.4
Premises: The BCITO is about to take possession of a new office in Albany to add
to its offices in Newmarket and Highbury. A full-time person has been put into
Gisborne and another in Timaru. Glenn added that the BCITO had 35 apprentices in
Waiheke Island across all trades.
Questions/Comments:
o Paul Rountree asked for clarification around re-signing trainees into a training
agreement with another employer and Glenn explained about the ability for an
apprentice to transfer to another employer within a certain timeframe without any
negative impact on their training pathway.
o The importance of using fully qualified staff to mentor the new apprentices was
emphasised and getting the right person to go through the RPL process.
o An ITM document was displayed on the screen which had been sent to all Frame
and Truss plants about what was involved in the New Zealand Frame and Truss
qualification. Glenn advised that this could be replicated in other areas.
o Paul McKay advised that he hadn‟t seen a Skills Broker in his Christchurch plant
for three years, and noted that even if he rang them up they didn‟t turn up. Glenn
acknowledged that most of the urgency has been around Carpentry. Helen told
Paul to ring her and she will follow through with the appropriate Area Manager.
Action:


Glenn advised that he would be putting a regional perspective into his reports
from now on so that the NAG can get a nationwide picture. Helen asked NAG
members to let her know if they wanted anything in particular included in her
report.
Paul Rountree felt that the BCITO should be making information available to
Carters, Pryda and MiTek to let them know what is going on. Helen said she will
send around a monthly email of information and links to all trades under her
coverage. Paul asked if that could include a little bit of where the BCITO is at
with F&T specific information, because those groups will filter it or repackage it.
Paul McKay saw the benefit of a monthly update which will identify when gaps
and issues arise which can be dealt with immediately rather than in 12 months
time.
Action:
11.
Helen Hines-Randall to follow up the issue raised by Paul McKay
around lack of response to his request for a Skills Broker to visit his
plant.
Helen Hines-Randall to send a monthly email of up-to-date BCITO
information to Frame and Truss industry members.
GENERAL BUSINESS
 It was reconfirmed that the Frame and Truss National Advisory Group would
meet twice a year from now on.
 Paul Rountree said he was happy to continue as Chair of the National Advisory
Group.
There being no further business, Paul Rountree thanked everyone for their contributions and
closed the meeting at 2.20 pm.
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