From the Associate Chairperson (Issue 118)

Another year impacted by the pandemic

JASON RUDGE, Manager of Major Accounts Quarry and Aggregates for William Adams (founding Associate Member of the CMPA).

Well, what a year it has been? Despite the unprecedented nature of us all dealing with a pandemic and working (for the best part of the year) in seclusion –to witness how our extractive industry and its associates have been able to work together during this period fills me with great pride. The respect and understanding I have witnessed among our key stakeholders (made up of many great people and businesses alike) will continue to support and strengthen our local communities which we are all part of.

The extractive industry has maintained healthy demand which in turn has seen Associate businesses continue to remain busy. As usual, the race to the end of the year was hectic for all, but saw most businesses finish well. The bond between Associates and Voting Members through this pandemic is exactly the reason this industry remains strong. The ability for all to adapt their business to the ever changing landscape has simply been fantastic. It has highlighted the importance of the strong relationship within the CMPA of its Voting members and Preferred Suppliers. Throughout this next financial year, it will be imperative for Associates to support our Voting members by continuing to be both innovative and competitive. In return, we encourage our Voting members to focus on supporting our Preferred Suppliers wherever possible.

Our Associate Members continue to sponsor and attend the various Training programs run by the CMPA in the regional areas – whilst managing COVID-19 restrictions to the best of their ability. This included a number of Web Based training sessions which were well attended. Although there is an overwhelming desire for face-to-face training sessions to return – training attendances remained strong over the past 12 months. Virtual Training certainly has its benefits. It goes without saying that we have still been able to facilitate high quality interactions among attendees, with many business opportunities being covered off. Moving forward, we should consider using a mixture of face to face and virtual based workshops as part of the new “COVID normal” world we will be living in.

The increasing presence of the CMPA on LinkedIn has also provided the Association with an excellent platform for both media releases and articles of interest. This area has seen a significant growth in recent times and will continue to do so moving forward.

The interactive CMPA website continues also to progress. That said – there is still plenty of scope for website improvements to occur, with the aim of this platform becoming front of mind for our members. One such development that will enhance the user experience has been the inclusion of location maps for both our Preferred Suppliers and our member’s businesses. The functionality to pay for membership subscriptions, advertising, training materials and to participate in field workshops online will also be enhanced moving forward.

As we all know, our Preferred Supplier & General Information Reference Manual is a very informative source of information, covering Associates product and service offerings. It is a popular booklet with the operations team of the Voting Members. With this in mind, please note that it remains the responsibility of the Associates to highlight their presence in the booklet during their site visits – to facilitate in-the-group product sourcing.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank the Associates Committee and non-committee members for their attendance at our meetings, constructive participation, efforts to address topical industry issues, ideas sharing (on progressing our purpose) and providing a good think tank to represent the views and expectations of our Associates.

My special thanks go to our dedicated team of Dr. Elizabeth Gibson, Gavin Moreira, Sarah Andrew and Alissa van Geet / Abby Eager for their unwavering support throughout the year.

I would also like to record my personal thanks to each and every member of the CMPA Management Committee, and the Associates Committee. Together, we continue to work in cohesion and tackle issues with a common purpose – to make our industry better.

Thank you for making the role of Associate Chairperson a pleasurable one.

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