WHAT EDUCATION PATHWAY ARE AVAILABLE TO THOSE IN THE FOREST AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY

WHAT IS THE FOREST AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
The forest and forest products industry has a long history in Queensland. The Industry has six main sectors including: Timber Merchandising, Sawmilling and Processing, Timber Manufactured Products, Forest Harvesting, Forest Growing and Management and Wood Panel Products. Today the industry is an important part of Queenslands' economy with approximately 2200 businesses, directly employing more than 19,000 people and having a turnover of $2.7 billion. The industry is now part of a global market for forest products and businesses have adapted a global business approach with awareness for future challenges. Industry is now enjoying a continued demand for their products in a range of local, national and international markets.

FOREST INDUSTRY TRAINING AND EDUCATION CONSORTIUM (FITEC)
FITEC is the peak registered training organisation in Queensland. We are a non-profit industry based association who provides forest and forest products industry skills and knowledge for our members. FITEC's key responsibility is to provide training and assessment services to any members of the forest and forest products industry to ensure the level of qualified persons in our industry continues to increase.

SAWMILLING AND PROCESSING
The Sawmilling and processing sector essentially transforms the raw log into a saleable final or immediate output. Key activities include sawing and veneering, or chipping and pulping of wood fibre. The sector can be divided into fixed sawmills, mobile sawmills and plants producing reconstituted timber products. The type of machinery used by this sector vary greatly, from portable manually operated saws to large, fully integrated and computer controlled operations involving capital outlay of many millions of dollars.

TIMBER MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS
The Timber Manufactured Products sector covers fabrication of; timber roof truss, pre-nail wall frames, and general products including laminated beams, finger jointed products, lattice, timber flooring, pallets, crates, basic timber structures and other timber products. The machinery used in modern truss plants is mainly sophisticated and computer driven, requiring a high level of capitalisation and technically trained operators and support staff. In house designers of trusses and frames use a variety of software programs to assist in the design. Generally these technical roles form part of a career path that starts in the factory, to understand the methods to make trusses and frames and progresses to quoting and then designing timber structures.

TIMBER MERCHANDISING
The Timber Merchandising sector covers all wholesalers of timber products and timber merchants selling timber based products to the trade and retail markets. They range in size from large nationally based hardware chains to small family based owner operator businesses. The majority of large Sawmilling companies will have separate marketing operations to wholesale their products, and are also covered by this sector, as timber importers.

HARVESTING
The Harvesting sector includes the harvesting and transporting of logs from the forest to the point of primary processing. Key activities include felling and delimbing, snigging or the off-road transporting of the cut logs to a loading point, sorting and loading the logs onto a transport vehicle, and hauling the logs to the mill or primary processing plant. In some cases, the logs can also be debarked during this stage, but this depends on factors like tree species and the output being produced.

QUALIFICATIONS
The following Nationally recognised qualifications available through FITEC for those working in the Forest and Forest Products industry. There is a pathway, which can allow a person to progress through an education pathway. There are a number of differed methods in which to gain these Qualifications. Credit from Statement of Attainment received from other Training Providers, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) where assessment occurs to validate you already hold the skills and through training and assessment. There are a number of different State Government funding initiatives, which considerably minimise the costs to persons involved in training.

For more information contact FITEC on 3391 7788