Ten lucky trainee laminators are learning from the pros at the Southern Wind Shipyard in Athlone as part of Southern Wind’s internal skills training programme.
The new intake are all school leavers, drawn straight out of high school and thrown into the deep end of the local boatbuilding sector. They started in April and are already receiving intensive training in the key aspects of lamination, including both basic theory and practical experience. If all goes according to plan they may receive training in other production areas as well.
The school leaver intake adds to Southern Wind’s existing skills training programme comprised of students drawn from two local technical colleges. These recruits complete the practical part of their college qualification with Southern Wind, courtesy of an agreement between SW and the colleges. And so far so good: of the 12 college students enrolled in the college progamme last year, six are now contracted to work with Southern Wind.
Training coordinator Jody Theunissen said Southern Wind’s hands-on training philosophy evolved from the need for top-quality workmanship in their yards. Training staff from scratch was sometimes easier – and more successful in the long run – than retraining staff inherited from other yards. “One of the things about the boatbuilding industry in Cape Town is that it is small, and staff sometimes come over (to us) with bad habits. We then need to show them, this is how we want it done at Southern Wind.
It is sometimes easier if you just train someone once-off.”
“Currently within the sector there is a big need for skilled laminators — lamination is always on the back foot, and yet it is the skeleton (of the production process).
“We want to increase the number and the amount of programmes we have, especially in lamination, so that we would be able to expand production and have more hands on deck,” Theunissen said.