Thread: Australian Made vs Off-Shore.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Apprentices are supposed to work under the supervision of a tradesman.

Of course they are, otherwise how would they learn all the good & bad habits, not to mention the right swear words that make things happen & fall into place?

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Apprentices are supposed to work under the supervision of a tradesman.

Depends on the task and the “year” of indenture.

Reality is “Calm seas do not a good sailor make” and many apprentices only get exposure to whatever their “shop” does.

I know Fitter & Turners that were so good on the lathe that’s all they did. Conversely I know some who couldn’t machine to save their lives.

Lots of exposure across many work areas makes for better rounded tradesmen.

Made in Aus also can be hard work as a customer..eg Son placed an order for a 3k dollar intercooler 8 weeks ago. The business has provided little feedback inc not answering phone calls and emails.

Today they did email saying they are busier than ever and working long hours to fulfill orders blah blah blah... But there's a supply problem...no doubt from OS..and it could be a couple weeks more🤤

That's 10 weeks and probably more that Johnny has had the 3k in the bank. If he could not deliver he should take down the product or at least be honest about supply times and communicate..how hard is that😞

Support local??

Maybe not such a good idea with some of the bozos out there!!

Originally Posted by INter674

Today they did email saying they are busier than ever and working long hours to fulfill orders blah blah blah...

This could be true, I have recently purchased an item from an Australian manufacturer and AULRO vendor. In our correspondence he mentioned that he is busier than ever, and that anonther manufacturer of Land Rover accessories in Sydney is in a similar position. I work in retail in the "outdoor/leisure" sector, and during this "crisis" we have been trading at 40-60% over budget. It has been crazy busy some days.

There was an initial and large increase in mail order but that has now returned to more normal levels as the restrictions ease, but the personal shoppers continue unabated. I think it can be put down to people being stuck at home (early on), finding things to keep themselves occupied and ordering items over the net to satisfy these urges.

Originally Posted by Eevo

if on the job full time, i dont understand why these things take over 12 months let alone 4/5 years

I trained as an electronics tech - 3 years full time at tech. After graduating From there, I had to do training in specific systems to work on sites, e.g., about 6 weeks training at Moree Satellite Earth Station to learn how to operate and repair the equipment (including running the diesel alternator power plant).

Originally Posted by Tombie

Which just highlights who the “thick as two bricks” ones actually are

Although to be fair - if I’d kept my business and not sold and moved on - I would have been retired at 45.

I’d also be bored as hell

Actually I think business savvy isn't comparable to intellect or intelligence, or to put it another way, there are different forms of intelligence.

Some of the best people I've met at making money have little curiosity of the wider world or much of anything outside their business interests, but damn they know how to work hard and more importantly turn deals.

Originally Posted by Homestar

If you’ve seen how bad some new tradies are after 4 years training you’d be glad their Apprenticeship went longer than 12 months.

Originally Posted by Tombie

That’s a failing of the system.
Like driving - taught to pass, not taught to do the skill set.

Agree though - I can out “trade” most tradies on my site.

Originally Posted by AK83

This!
A few years ago I helped my brother in law(builder) on a job, and he loved my work, in that it wasn't done wrong(and I have zero trade experience).
Explained to me that me being 50% slower on a job saved him 200% labour cost, as that's usually how long it takes to dismantle the garbage work the apprentices usually do, and re do it all again.

My thoughts are that they do it deliberately to extend the overall time it takes to do a job ... either that or they're just too busy facebooking or something.

Some of it is a failing of the tradies they work with, some of it is a failing of the business they work for, not supervising and keeping an eye on their training, and some if it is an individual's attitude to leaning.

Most people can't teach to save their lives, one technically very good tradie I know believers teaching is screaming at and demeaning the apprentice "as he won't forgot it"
The problem is he just treats them mostly as a labourer/TA.

We've had words over that.

Some young blokes just aren't interested, but a lot of that comes down to the tradie they're with.
I haven't trained a young lady but I've worked with a few female sparkies and they've been great.

If you take pride in your work, take responsibility for the job and own it and try and do the best you can, that will usually rub off.
And ply them with responsibility, push them outside their comfort zone while still providing a safety net if in a technical field.
Those lessons then really stick.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Apprentices should be working with experienced tradies to learn, not left on their own to experiment.
Both our electrician and our plumber have apprentices with them most of the time, except when the job is really simple so they can set them up to work alone.

Legally they aren't, or shouldn't be allowed on their own these days until qualified.

Which really, really bugs me, as they need to be be thrown in at the deep end a little to learn to think and nut out problems and take responsibility
It also makes them more productive much faster.
Business is hard enough these days without carrying unproductive employees.

My boss and I battled over sending our then third year out on some jobs by himself, I finally won, and he's turned out to be so far in front technically of the young blokes at the other branches it isn't funny.
To the point he's now on a lot more money than his peers.