Case for change

The Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) approved this project out of the Forest and Wood Products Industry Sector IRC Skills Forecast and Proposed Schedule of Work 2019-2022 (see pages 32-34).

Skills Impact and the Timber Building Solutions Industry Reference Committee (IRC) will manage this project, consistent with the 2012 Standards for Training Package Development.

Download Project Proposal (see pages 32-34)

Project Plan

At the same time, there are unique skills needed to work in timber supply businesses. While customer service and product promotion make up some of the job role, working with timber and timber products requires technical skills and specialist knowledge to ensure customers receive services and products appropriate for their needs. Someone working in a timber supply business may have to cut material to the right length and angle, as well as care for and store products. They require knowledge of construction and timber types in order to make sure they’re delivering fit for purpose solutions. In addition to this it is important to be knowledgeable in new products and specialised timber products.

The timber industry will be consulted throughout this project to review qualifications and units relating to timber supply businesses. This will ensure these key skills across retail and timber remain consistent with current industry job roles and need.

Project Scope

The project will review and update two qualifications and 23 units of competency, including eight units approved as part of this project and 15 units common across other current FWP Training Package projects.

Opportunities for stakeholder input

Stakeholder input and feedback is appreciated and welcomed throughout the duration of this project. Stakeholder contribution is essential, so that the units reflect real work experience and training meets the needs and requirements of industry.

Technical Advisory Committee

A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be established to provide technical input to the review and development of units. The TAC may include technical industry experts, industry associations, employee associations, regulators and training providers. The support that the project needs from the TAC includes:

• Provide input with respect to the project on areas of industry skill development requirements, job roles and key tasks and activities
• Provide technical expertise that will inform the content of units of competency
• Review and provide feedback to the draft materials
• Provide input to clarify potential differing views on industry requirements
• Share project materials with other experts for their input.

If you are interested and able to volunteer your time to this project, please contact [email protected]

Development

Draft Qualifications Available for Feedback

Two new qualifications have been proposed to replace the Certificate II and III in Timber Merchandising. You are invited to provide feedback on these qualifications to make sure they reflect the current jobs and the skills needed by business and by the industry as a whole. Please provide feedback by 27 January 2020, so it can be considered to redraft the qualifications that will be made available for feedback again in February, alongside relevant draft units of competency.

To view the draft documents, please click on the links below. Any comments you make will remain anonymous. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. The feedback hub is also moderated to avoid misuse. For further details, see our Moderation Policy.

1. Select the qualification you would like to review.
2. You will be asked to register or login (for a free account). Follow the prompts.
3. Once logged in, you will be able to post feedback directly on the document.
4. Download user instructions

Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply

The draft Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply is for people who work in warehousing, logistics and customer sales roles in timber wholesales, hardware and timber supply businesses. It includes three specialisations:

• Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply (Warehousing)
• Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply (Logistics)
• Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply (Customer Sales)

View the draft qualification and provide feedback

Prefer to email us your feedback? You can email your feedback to [email protected].  Click here to download the document in Microsoft Word format.

Certificate IV in Timber Building Products Supply

The draft Certificate IV in Timber Building Products Supply is for people who work in purchasing and sales account management roles in timber wholesales, hardware and timber supply businesses. It includes two specialisations:

• Certificate IV in Timber Building Products Supply (Purchasing)
• Certificate IV in Timber Building Products Supply (Sales Account Management)

View the draft qualification and provide feedback

Prefer to email us your feedback? You can email your feedback to [email protected].  Click here to download the document in Microsoft Word format.

Units of Competency Available Soon

The draft units of competency and revised draft qualifications will be made available on this webpage for broad stakeholder consultation and feedback from February 2020 (under the ‘Drafts Available’ menu above).

Thank you to those stakeholders that have been involved and provided feedback and advice so far.

Please feel free to register your interest for consultation opportunities by contacting Dr Georgiana Daian at [email protected]. Please also follow projects updates by following the newsletter subscription link at the bottom of this page.

Consultation and development activities so far

In August and September 2019, consultation took place with industry experts from nine relevant organisations in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. These businesses represent timber product manufacturers (with and without timber and hardware stores), timber traders, buying groups, industry associations (with representation across the whole timber sales supply chain) and training organisations.

Consultations have shown that the timber sales sector consists of three major categories of business, namely timber wholesalers, trade timber and hardware suppliers and timber producers.

The timber sales operations have evolved significantly over the last few years:

• Timber trade sales and the imports of a wide range of engineered wood products is a growing sector due to the ongoing construction of residential and commercial buildings and the sustainable benefits of timber.
• With the growing sales of timber to building construction businesses and trade customers, most hardware stores have transitioned a large proportion of their retail operations to timber trade. These stores have adopted a business-to-business model and a ‘whole of house’ concept.
• Sourcing timber and timber building systems from international markets have placed a greater emphasis on the verification of product compliance with the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act, certification systems, legality verification systems and the Australian Standards for the engineering and design of timber building systems.
• To support the growing complexity of this sector, the IT systems that are available to timber sales operations have also increased in sophistication.

The job roles in timber sales can also be grouped into three functional areas, namely warehousing, sales and purchasing.

Depending on the job area, people require to be skilled in the following areas:

• Product storage
• Packaging and dispatch / loading and unloading / transport
• Customer order
• Inventory / stock control
• Customer relationship
• Purchasing
• Sales account management

Job roles and the skills requirements of people who work at the operational level in the timber supply chain (importers, wholesalers, re-sellers) have also evolved and broadened. Consultations have indicated a clear need for training in the following skill areas:

• Timber product knowledge
• Product certification and compliance
• Timber sales and management and marketing system (software)

Consultations have also revealed that formal qualifications have gained little recognition or significance in the sector for employee recruitment, retention or promotion. Nationally recognised training has been mainly used to obtain a licence to carry out regulated activities such as forklift operation. Trade timber and hardware suppliers have used strategies to recruit experienced tradespersons (generally, these people have knowledge of timber and building products) and skill them ‘on the job’ or through vendor/supplier training to keep abreast of new products and services. Also, there has been little use of traineeships in the sector for entry-level employees.

Drafts Available

Feedback was sought on the draft documents and whether they accurately reflect job roles and work practices. In particular, feedback was sought on the revision and updating of the Certificate III in Timber Merchandising to the proposed Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply and the proposed deletion of the Certificate II in Timber Merchandising and one unit. 

During this time, feedback was collected via the online feedback hub, email, and a consultation webinar. The drafts, including any comments made on the feedback hub, are still available for viewing below.

Feedback will inform the work on the final drafts which are expected to be available for industry validation in March 2020. A summary of the feedback and how it was addressed in the final drafts will also be available.

Additional Units

Three additional units were revised and drafted and made available for feedback from 6 April 2020 to 1 May 2020. While these units were initially included on the project scope, they were not selected for the Certificate III in Timber Building Products Supply. They relate to job tasks in the broader timber manufactured products and sawmilling and processing industry sectors.

Feedback was collected via the feedback hub, email, and a consultation webinar. The drafts, including any comments made on the feedback hub, are still available for viewing below.