AUSTRALIA’s national resource industry employer group, AMMA, congratulates ministers Michaelia Cash, Josh Frydenberg and Matthew Canavan on their reappointment/appointment to portfolios critical to the future of Australia’s resource employers, employees and communities.

AMMA chief executive Steve Knott says Senator Cash has proven to be an extremely knowledgeable and consultative Minister for Employment who brings a strong appreciation for the resource industry and its importance to Australia’s economy and living standards.

“Since taking on the employment portfolio less than 12 months ago, Minister Cash has successfully secured the passage of the first, and long overdue, amendments to Australia’s workplace relations laws in more than three years,” Mr Knott says.

“The minister has also made highly regarded appointments to the Fair Work Commission (FWC); simultaneously improving the proportion of women in the tribunal to one-in-three commissioners. The modernisation of the FWC is a work in progress and AMMA encourages Minister Cash to continue to ensure government institutions better reflect the gender composition of the Australian community.

“As Minister for Women, Ms Cash has also championed gender diversity in the resource industry, maintaining Labor and Coalition government support for AMMA’s Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA), including funding hundreds of women to complete its innovative e-Mentoring program.”

The resource industry is now looking to the government to drive further, vitally important workplace relations reform that the preceding parliament was incapable of legislating.

“Resource employers want to see the government deliver its election commitments to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and return to sensible and balanced laws for union entry into workplaces,” Mr Knott says.

“The industry is also eagerly awaiting a response to the Productivity Commission’s December 2015 recommendations to fix pressing problems with Australia’s workplace relations framework.”

Mr Knott also welcomes the appointments of Senator Matthew Canavan to the Resources and Northern Australia portfolio, and Minister Josh Frydenberg to the Environment and Energy portfolio.

“AMMA looks forward to working with Senator Canavan to ensure that the resource industry can continue to attract investment and generate ongoing employment and economic benefits for the nation,” he says.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with Minister Frydenberg in his new Environment and Energy portfolio. Mr Frydenberg has proven to be a proactive and consultative minister who understands the importance of a diverse energy mix to Australia’s future prosperity.

“The resource industry also thanks Minister Greg Hunt for his global leadership on the environment and will maintain a collaborative relationship with him in his new key portfolio of Industry, Innovation and Science.”

www.amma.org.au

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OVER 200 procurement professionals will gather for the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Australasia Conference and Awards 2016 on the 27^th and 28^th July 2016 at the Park Hyatt, in Melbourne, Australia.

The conference will see speakers from Coca-Cola Amatil, Siemens Ltd, New Zealand Defence Force, University of Sydney and others to discuss and explore the latest procurement and supply chain landscapes, examine emerging technologies, and discuss the growing focus being placed on the need for soft skills.

This is the 12^th Annual CIPS conference to be held in Australasia. The conference is open to anyone who has an interest in procurement and business and ideal for those who wish to engage in lively debates and network with procurement colleagues from the Australasia region.

Speakers at the conference will include:

• Cath Hill - Group Marketing and Membership Director, CIPS
• Chris Sullivan - Chief Procurement Officer, Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA)
• Patrick Rehm - Head Of Supply Chain Management, Siemens Ltd Australia
• Jaydeep Solanki - Director – Global Purchasing & Supply Chain, General Motors Holden
• Dr Jason Bingham - Head Of Procurement NT, Northern Territory Government

 
The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (Australasia)
The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) is the world’s largest procurement and supply professional organisation.  It is the worldwide centre of excellence on procurement and supply management issues.  CIPS Australasia has thousands of members and participants in the procurement community around the world. CIPS Australasia clients include Rio Tinto, Air New Zealand, Spotless, Woolworths and the New Zealand Defence Force. The activities of procurement and supply chain professionals have a major impact on the profitability and efficiency of all types of organisation and CIPS offers corporate solutions packages to improve business profitability. 
http://www.cips.org/en-au/

@CIPSAustralasia

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SCOTTISH Pacific Group (ASX:SCO) is pleased to announce it has been admitted to the Official List of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and that its ordinary shares will commence trading at midday today.

“Today is a major milestone for management and for our 260 staff. It is a celebration of Scottish Pacific’s long history of working with the business community to provide the flexible working capital requirements they need to grow,” Scottish Pacific Group CEO Mr Peter Langham said.

“Our management team has spent many years at Scottish Pacific and will continue to provide strong direction for us, as we strengthen our offering within Australia and New Zealand,” he said.

Scottish Pacific Group is the clear market leader in the SME finance sector, with more than 1600 clients in Australia and New Zealand, handling more than $10 billion of invoices each year and providing debtor and trade finance funding exceeding $800 million.

Based on the listing price, Scottish Pacific Group will have a market cap of over $440m.
The 38 employees who have been with the business for 10 years or more (more than 10% of staff qualified, highlighting Scottish Pacific’s position as an employer of choice) were invited to witness today’s listing.

Operations Support Officer Mrs Anita Roopra, who joined Scottish Pacific more than 25 years ago, was given the honour of ringing the bell on behalf of all staff.

Scottish Pacific Group comprises three main brands: Scottish Pacific Business Finance, www.scottishpacific.com, FactorONE, www.factorone.net.au, and Scottish Pacific Tradeline www.sptradeline.com.

Scottish Pacific Group (ASX:SCO) is the largest specialist provider of working capital solutions for SMEs in Australia and New Zealand. Established in 1988, the business has full service bases in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Auckland, London and China. Scottish Pacific was voted by brokers Best Cash Flow Lender 2016, 2015 and 2014 in The Adviser’s annual Non-Bank Lending Awards; and named Best Trade Finance Provider 2015 at the international Trade Finance Global Excellence Awards.

www.sptradeline.com

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NATIONAL and international leaders from the materials handling and intralogistics technology industry say that the efficiency of Australia’s supply channels is critical to the country’s future economic prospects.

However, the sector is in a two-speed race; where some companies have already invested in world-class automated processes and machinery, while others are still using low level tracking with outdated and inefficient systems.

Speaking at the Knowledge Theatre at CeMAT Australia, the Asia-Pacific’s largest materials handling and intralogistics show, in Melbourne today until 14 July, leading experts from around the country and globe have gathered to share insights from the supply chain management, materials handling and intralogistics industry, to spark conversations and debate about an industry which underpins much of Australia’s economy, and keeps businesses operating to the best of their ability.

Michael Kilgariff, Managing Director, Australian Logistics Council, who is speaking at CeMAT says that the most pressing issue facing Australia’s logistics industry is the need for greater focus on measures to improve safety and efficiency. 

"The efficiency of Australia’s supply chains is critical to Australia’s future economic prospects, whether it be getting our exports to our ports, consumer goods to our supermarkets or delivering products to our doors.  The volume of freight going through our ports and airports will grow inexorably over the next 30 years, with Infrastructure Australia predicting a 165% increase in containerised trade from 2011 to 2031.

“Research by Australian Logistics Council and ACIL Allen has found the industry represents 8.6% of Australia’s GDP and employs over 1.2 million Australians. ALC also estimates that a 1% increase in supply chain efficiency can deliver a $2bn benefit to Australia’s economy,” said Mr Kilgariff.

Underpinning the top consumer, retail and food industries are high performing intralogistics and materials handling systems, says Sarah Haughey, Show Director for CeMAT Australia.

“This week, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, we will demonstrate the latest innovations by leading providers, which keep the country running efficiently,” said Haughey.

Lloyd Hussey, Solutions Consultant at International Business Systems said that in Australia we have good access to, and adoption of the latest technology amongst the larger businesses.

“We see our larger companies embracing continuous improvement and lean principals to improve their operations. This will help them meet the greatest challenges of the next 30 years, which I believe is the transition into more robotic and automated technology, changing our workforce requirements.”

Milan Vjestica, Head of Sales and Marketing, GM of Sales and Consulting at Swisslog, agrees that technology has a critical role to play in managing the demands of growth, but also needs to be used to maintain quality customer service.

“The challenges our industry faces are related to the understanding of how to successfully deploy technology, being able to plan for the direction of the company and addressing the time pressures from the market. The adoption of strategies such as big data and the embracing of concepts such as “Industrie 4.0” to deliver competitive advantage will help us all meet new challenges,” said Mr Vjestica.

David Quayle, Managing Director – Australia and New Zealand at Apex Supply chain Technology, says that while business evolves to meet the needs of their customers, they need to also manage costs to ensure they are competitive in a growing global marketplace.

“This means investment in technologies to process and handle orders more quickly and accurately as well as managing the reverse logistics effectively. From a cost perspective, every element of cost must be examined to identify where they can be removed or reduced with no detrimental effect on productivity,” said Mr Collyer.       

Michael Kemeny, Business Area Manager, Australia from KNAPP adds: “Businesses need to ensure that whatever systems they put in place, they are able to be adapted to changing requirements and processes. This could be a sudden rise in e-commerce orders or change in retail customer numbers.”

A large number people are expected at CeMAT Australia over the course of the next three days to see, learn and share about the latest in intralogistics and materials handling.

www.cemat.com.au  

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