INVESTING in its staff - and educating students - Cavpower Broken Hill is securing the heavy machinery industry in the area.
The branch now has eight apprentices, ranging from boilermakers and autoelectricians to diesel mechanics.
"Those apprentices do their TAFE training through Regency Park, in blocks of two weeks at a time," Cavpower Broken Hill's manager-mining branches Tony Everuss said.
"We predominantly employ those apprentices from the local region.
"We also run a school-based work experience program with the two local high schools and the TAFE college, where we allow access through the right channels to come and experience time in our workshop with the tradesmen and give them an understanding of the industry and what we do."
The program at Cavpower Broken Hill gives apprentices a broad understanding of the heavy earthmoving industry.
"We pride ourselves on the quality of our apprentices," Mr Everuss said.
"When they've finished their time, they do come out with a reasonably well-rounded experience of products and are usually experienced in most aspects of the heavy earthmoving industry, reconditioning as much as refitting.
"They get exposed to a broad spectrum of the trade as opposed to just following repetitive type work."
Retention at the completion of apprenticeships is also high, with Mr Everuss estimating about 80pc of apprentices staying at the branch.
"Some go and travel and then come back, and some might move to other locations within the business such as Moomba or fly-in, fly-out work."
Testament to the high regard employees have for their workplace, the average tenure of staff is about 15 years.
"There are some long-termers in the high 20-plus years, which is about the length of time the business has been in Broken Hill," Mr Everuss said.
Established in 1987, some of the original employees of the branch are still there, including Mr Everuss.
* Full report in Stock Journal, October 30, 2014 issue.