From the CMPA Associate Chairperson
Similar Challenges Lie Ahead for the New CMPA Associate Chairperson
TEJ PANESAR, Manager of TSP Group of Companies reflects on the last financial year.
The current financial year has been very demanding for the Associate Members with controlled spending from the Voting Members for the services, consumables, parts, accessories,
attachments and equipment alike. This has been due to limited major projects and associated business opportunity for the Voting members. It is still very encouraging that the Voting Members and their quarry operational teams supported the Associate members with business at every opportunity while keeping them competitive with the market place. This has helped the Associates in a big way to continue their business activity despite lower demand and margins. This support from Voting Members to the Associate as a Preferred Supplier is greatly appreciated and well acknowledged. The Associate Members regularly sponsor and also attend the various Field Training programs run by the CMPA in the regional areas. This has improved interaction and business opportunities amongst the various attendees.
Among the key training sessions, the following are noteworthy:
• Annual Dinner in Melbourne (Sep 2016 – 264 attendees)
• General Meeting in Epping (Oct 2016 – 30 attendees)
• Noise Management Workshop in Epping (Oct 2016 – 16 attendees)
• Progressive Rehabilitation Workshop in Frankston (Feb 2017 – 34 attendees)
• Critical Incident Management in Quarries in Seymour (Mar 2017 – 14 attendees)
• Work Safely Refresher and Working Safely with Geotechnical Risks in Quarries in Ballarat (Jun 2017 – 19 attendees)
The Associate Members continue to provide technical and commercial knowledge articles in the Sand & Stone magazine for the benefit of the large reader base from various walks of the industry.
The marketing pack generated this financial year is a great instrument to grow the revenue from advertisements in the Sand & Stone magazine, the Preferred Supplier’s Manual, wall planners,
Field Trainings and progressing into web links. A realignment of the advertisement spaces and sources will continue to help us grow the revenue while offering better value for the advertiser.
The interactive and easy to navigate CMPA website has matured a lot in the whole year in small positive and solid steps and is ready for the big leap. The stepping stone is set and we expect to be able to be fully functional including the ability to conveniently pay for membership subscriptions, advertising, training material and participating in Field workshops.
The Preferred Supplier & General Information Reference Manual which is a very informative source of the Associates product and service offerings is a popular booklet with the operations team
of the Voting Members. It however 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 like to formally thank my Associates Committee, non-committee members who attended the meetings and Rowena Cairns as the Associate Vice Chairperson for the constructive participation at the meetings, efforts in addressing issues, good ideas in progressing our purpose and providing a good think tank to represent the views and expectations of the Associates.
My special thanks goes to the dedicated team of Dr. Elizabeth Gibson, Gavin Moreira, Sarah Andrew and Jacinta Gall for the unwavering support throughout the year.
Last year four Voting members joined hands to be amongst the sponsors at the Annual Dinner. Now this year the number has doubled to eight. Special thanks goes to this year’s voting member sponsors (in alphabetical order) Burdett Sands, Castella Quarries, Conundrum Holdings, Dandy Premix, EB Mawson & Sons, Latrobe Valley Sands, Mansfield Crushing and Newcomb Sand & Soil Supplies. I would also record my personal thanks to each and every member of the CMPA Management Committee and the Associates Committee in working cohesively on the issues that were jointly tackled towards a common goal.
As the incoming Chairperson of the CMPA Associates Committee I would like to take the opportunity to thank Tej for his hard work and diligence over the previous 5 years as chairperson. Tej leaves a large hole to be filled, but thankfully won’t be leaving the committee all together and will continue to play an important role on the committee. I look forward to working with Tej and the other members of the Associates Committee to help deliver the best outcomes for the CMPA.
I encourage all Associate members to continue to use the Sand & Stone publication as a valuable resource to promote and report on innovation and technology. This can only assist in providing continual improvement to our broader industry.
A quick reminder that all Associates Committee meetings are open to all Associates and any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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