| 61 T T Kelly Deeks On-site training for academy students From its Oamaru base Anvil Engineers provide general engineering, machining, fabrication, and repairs and maintenance for customers in a variety of industries throughout North Otago. SOREC - Anvil Engineers ENGINEERING Engineer Ross Hayes and his qualified teacher wife Ailsa have embraced the SOREC academy as the perfect outlet to pursue their passions while they address the industry’s staffing issues by showing young local people the many and varied career opportunities available to them in trade engineering. With their company Anvil Engineers in Oamaru, Ross and Ailsa provide general engineering, machining, fabrication, and repairs and maintenance for customers in a variety of industries throughout North Otago. They know the region, they know their customers want reliability, quality workmanship, and honesty, and they pride themselves on finding the right solution to fulfil their customers’ requirements. “This is one of the coolest parts of the job,” Ailsa says. “We are a small business with three engineers in the workshop, which has its challenges, but it also allows us to be more flexible with what we can offer. We’ve built components for the vintage car community when they can’t get spare parts, and we’ve worked for people with disabilities making one-off products that are going to make a huge difference in their lives. Sometimes people put off a job because they think it might be too expensive or we might not be able to do it. They come in and we say we can do it and their eyes light up. That’s the kind of job satisfaction we get to enjoy.” Anvil Engineers’ relationship with SOREC began during Covid, when Ailsa availed herself of a number of free SOREC webinars for businesses. The SOREC academy was established in 2021 and Anvil Engineers jumped on board straight away, taking on one of the seven students placed by the academy in its pilot programme. Anvil Engineers is now hosting its third academy student as they get really good exposure to all the skills, machinery, outputs, and career opportunities in trade engineering. Meanwhile, Ailsa uses the SOREC platform to help promote the engineering industry in her local community. She and SOREC skills partnership manager James Bracewell have recently attended the Waitaki Girls’ High School Careers Expo. “SOREC as much as us wants to bring the next generation into the industry,” she says. “We’re buggered without them. We need them to take over our business.” Ailsa has been attending the careers expo for the past five years and has noticed some key barriers for kids wanting to get into engineering. Some youngsters think the only way to get into engineering is to go to Canterbury University and do a degree, but Ailsa says there is more to engineering than that. “Circumstances change a lot over a lifetime and one career isn’t always the way it will go for everyone. A trade qualification from an apprenticeship can open up other opportunities for people as they move through their lives.” Ailsa does have a degree in teaching and while she only spent 18 months in a classroom after graduating, she still loves working with young people and is relishing the opportunity to develop them with the SOREC Academy. “This is about supporting the kids to find where they fit in the world, and making our industry more accessible.” Providing engineering services across North Otago Fabrication | Maintenance | Certified Welding Machining | Onsite repairs 20 Pukeuri-Oamaru Rd, Oamaru North 03 437 0744 office@anvilengineers.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=