Page 41 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2020

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LEFT: ASC have been working with the college on a number of workforce skill fronts.
“We’re up to five iterations of the de- manddataprovidedbytheninebiggest companies; we’ve got very, very good data up to 2025 and estimates up to 2035,” he said to ADM.
“We’ve got our first piece of what will be an iterative process, the supply analysis for the country around all the professional roles, and by the end of April we’ll have the operational roles understood as well.
“We’ve got models for the supply chain, we’re working through the supply solu- tions and we’ll have all the priority roles completed in the next six months. We’ve prioritised those that are needed early, and in parallel with all that, we’re reach- ing out to the companies about their cur- rent acquisition strategies.”
INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Operationally, the plan draws on a stra- tegic governance forum chaired by Tony Dalton, Deputy Secretary Naval Ship- building within CASG; a CEOs’ forum; an HR directors’ forum; a communications forum; and a current acquisitions forum; in all of which the NSC engages with in- dustry peers and implements decisions.
“We’re a hub and spoke model, we’ve es- tablished a network of 21
institutions, TAFE colleges
and universities that are
courses made available that can be ag- gregated across all the players,” Irving ex- plained to ADM.
The facilities under construction at Os- borne for the frigate and submarine pro- grams will be amongst the world’s most modern, involving digital integration down to the factory floor.
“The ability of individual assembly workers to engage with that technology is something that has to be imparted, as is the ability of suppliers to integrate their workforce and their systems with the primes,” Irving said.
“In terms of complexity and sophistica- tion the ships and the submarines them- selves are absolutely beyond the baseline of what we’ve seen previously, and with- out question we will be the parent navies of them both. So we as a country need to be able to master both boats in a more intensive way than we ever have before, both operationally and technologically.”
DEMAND CURVE
The current demand in the naval construc- tion sector is predominantly around expe- rienced designers, project managers, com- bat systems engineers, systems engineers and procurement specialists, Irving notes.
“We have some very experienced people as a core but others will have to come from adjacent sectors while we develop more of those skills through the educa-
SEA POWER WORKFORCE 41
partnering with us and we’re working with them to ensure that required courses are available with the curricu- lum that meets the needs of the sector,” Irving said.
“THE FOUR STEP STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLAN ESSENTIALLY ADDRESSES DEMAND, SUPPLY, SOLUTIONS AND SUSTAINMENT ON A NATIONALBASIS.”
tion system. We’re balanc- ing all that, there are no specific concerns yet about a particular shortage, but there’s work to do.”
The NSC already has more than 2,000 people on its national Workforce Reg- ister, about 500 of whom are already job-ready for theindustryrolestheyare seeking, and the momen- tum is building.
“There may be some
areas where specialist
training is required that
would not ordinarily come
in an accredited training
scheme, and more specialised training can either be put in place by ourselves or by another training provider.
“That’s a powerful por- tal for us, it enables us to engage with these people and determine what kind of training they would need to undertake, we’ll counsel them on what we think is the most appropriate way for them to gain those skills. I’m hoping within a few months we’ll have a jobs portal and they’ll be able to access those jobs directly and
enter the sector,” Irving said.
In the short-term ASC Shipbuilding is
recruiting external candidates, mainly
“There’s a shortage of design engineers and no traditional designer course, and in this instance NSC has put its own course in place. Procurement and sub-contract management are also not typical courses within the Australian curriculum.
“We’re looking to identify those areas where it would be appropriate to have