Category: Australia

Communication

12 Microsoft SharePoint Sites - Winners of the...
Top Sharepoint Sites

For those of us who work in organisations that have a head office, regional offices and remote project sites, communicating across the business has always been an issue. Especially here in Australia where the expression “just down the road” can mean 500 klms.

OK we have the internet, mobile phones etc but transferring information from a coal mine site to head office is reliant on a “link” of some type. Too much data slows the link down, people get frustrated and resources are tied up. But now with cloud based computing we can change how communication can be speede up and with software like Sharepoint we can have a certain level of commonality within the company.

If you can log in to face book you can access Sharepoint. If you work in groups or project teams you can share information easily. If you manage groups or teams you can monitor what is going on no matter where it is taking place.

The biggest issue with Sharepoint is people taking it up and using it. Without adequate preparation and training staff assume it is “out of the box software” like Excel, when in fact it is a tool which can be easily developed to suit user requirements. So to implement it effectively we need to make it as essential as email. Interestingly, the “Facebook Generation” have no problems with this as it is just another site to surf. Some others who have not emraced the social network concept will need more assistance

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Come and join us

Listed below are current job vacancies here at G&S, if you would like to read more about any of these positions, please log onto http://employmentportal.g-s.com.au/.  Suitably qualified friends and family are welcome to register on the E-Portal and apply for the jobs they are interested in.If you are a current employee and are interested in applying for any job listed please send resume and cover letter to recruitment@g-s.com.au stating the job you are applying for.

Department Job Name Location Closing
Trade Intermediate/Advanced Riggers NSW Hunter Valley Operations
Trade Quality Assurance Officer (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Trade Project Manager (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Trade Electrician- Maintenance & Down Days Various Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Electrician- Shutdowns and Construction Various Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Boilermaker/Welders – Workshop Biloela Workshop

2/09/2011
Trade Rigger -Specialising in Structural Steel Erection Various Construction Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Store person Biloela

2/09/2011
Staff Accounts Payable/Receivable – Part-time Mackay

2/09/2011
Trade Fabrication Supervisor – Biloela Workshop Biloela

2/09/2011
Trade Pressure Welders – Construction Projects Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Staff HR Advisor Mackay

5/09/2011
Trade Site Boilermakers NSW Hunter Valley Operations

10/09/2011
Trade Site Fitters/Plant Mechanics NSW Hunter Valley Operations

10/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Supervisor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Structural Supervisor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Expeditor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Supervisor – Rigger (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Staff IT Support Officer Mackay Based

18/09/2011
Trade Down Day Supervisor – Northern Area Various Project Sites

22/09/2011
Trade Boilermaker (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Trade Fitters (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Trade Crane Operator (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Staff Project Controller – Construction Various Construction Project Locations

29/09/2011
Staff Project Scheduler – Construction Various Construction Project Locations

29/09/2011
Staff Area Superintendent – Central Mackay

30/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Supervisor – NSW Operations Muswellbrook

30/09/2011
Trade Boilermakers Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Riggers Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Fitters Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Fitters – Mackay Workshop Mackay Workshop

30/09/2011
Trade Trades Assistant – Expression of Interest Various Project Sites

22/10/2011
Trade Project Manager Bowen Basin

29/10/2011
Staff Project Controller – Electrical Projects Mackay & Site Based

30/10/2011
Trade HSE Advisor Various Project Locations – Bowen Basin

31/10/2011
Staff Senior Estimator – Draglines & Shovels Mackay

31/12/2011
Natasha Birmele
Recruitment and Training Co-ordinator
Human Resources
Mackay
Phone: (07) 4963 7651
Mobile: 0438 681 668
Fax: (07) 4952 4848
Email: nbirmele@g-s.com.au

The New Black Gold

Dragline at the Curragh Coal Mine
Go Curragh

Construction in Australia was affected by the GFA but not as badly as the rest of the world. However, contractor’s order books did reduce and is unlikely to return to the levels of pre GFA for some years. In the meantime the resources sector is booming. Nowhere more so than in coal mining.  So yours truley has moved from construcyion into mining. Farewell Brisbane and hello Mackay.

Our biggest issue in providing construction, maintenance and engineering services to the coal mining companies is people. We cannot get enough of them. Engineers, planners, project managers, contract administrators/project controllers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and site operational workers. The rewards are exceptional and the future workload is guaranteed.

So if you want to move from tower cranes to draglines get in touch with me.

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Midday Mozart

Beginning of Mozart's String Quartet No. 14, K...
Image via Wikipedia

It was my birthday the other day and my darling daughter arranged a special gift for me.  It was a concert by Martini string quartet of which, she plays the viola. Of course my only daughter is the apple of my eye, she teaches music, keeps me focussed on the important things in life, is 27 years old (careful Jane a very dangerous age by all accounts for musos) and she is without doubt the most pleasant, loving and gracious daughter any father could hope for.

So the furniture was moved out  of the formal lounge as this has a 12 foot ceiling and has the best acoustics.  The quartet assembled and the audience of my wife and I, my wife’s mother, brother and a close family friend (plus two silky terriers, prepared for the event.

My initial feeling was one of being transported back in time to a British costume period drama.  No microphones, speakers, laptops or phones. Just live music played in my own house, for our enjoyment and my treat.  They played Bach, Mozart and Hasse.  It was sublime, entertaining and without doubt the best birthday present I have ever had.

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The NFN – National Fax Network

Fax-amarys
Image via Wikipedia

The fax machine is almost a piece of history, like all office technologies it became ubiquitous, reached it zenith in the late nineties and has now become amalgamated in semi trailer cab size photocopiers.

Interestingly faxes were around before telephones but this is not a history lesson. It is a post about the redundancy of technology and a what if question.

What if Ms Gillard had been around in the late eighties, the time when I the company I had started out with installed their first fax machine. It was 1988 and the typists had gone to be replaced by Word Perfect and so had the comptometer people as we were now using Lotus 123 (backslash, w,c enter etc). Ms Gillard could have given every pensioner a fax machine and rolled out fax lines to everyone. We all would have been able to send letters to each other instantly, had built in answer phones, and our very own photocopier.

But it was not all sweetness and light. Some of still remember the panic of the early nineties when we realized the fax thermal image paper was fading, quick invent cheap laser fax machines. And there was the argument about the legality of faxes in contracts etc. But we did not know any better as we were at the cutting edge of technology or so we thought.

But if she had done the rollout it would have been an obvious mistake, email killed off letters and pdfs/scanning killed off fax machines.

Only a couple of months ago a very bright 22 year old commenced work with me. For some vague reason he had to fax a document to someone whose pc was down. The young bright spark had never used a fax and thought that nobody had them assuming everyone was like him on twitter, facebook, with ipad and iphone.

So the question is will the NBN which will take 9.5 years (their numbers not mine) assuming no delays, be redundant when it is fully rolled out. If it was such a good idea where is Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Bill Gate? They are not interested, mind you they were not interested in pink bats and solar panels.

Music to Die For

Listening to the radio, whilst driving through Brisbane this morning, I heard a discussion on music to be played at funerals. Sounds like a depressing subject but I persevered, at least that station has no adverts played in unison as the other other commercial stations do. The presenter explained how the most requested song “in the world” is Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’. There are a few people I wish were there already but lets not go all Victor Meldrew just yet. He then went on about how the Catholic church were “tightening up procedures” and not allowing some music. I suppose as usual their guilt gets the better of them. Perhaps we should go bake to credo in unnum deo et in principio etc and pater noster qui in ceilo est etc. As you can see my mis-spent youth was proceeded as a Irish Liverpool Catholic altar boy. There is a whole book in that last sentence but this blog is too brief, perhaps I will blog a few tasters of the book in days to come. But with that heritage plus an only child, ceaserian section, blue baby syndrome, not breast fed, taught by Christian (supposedly) brothers, a Liverpool Supporter, there is more than one book lurking.

So I started thinking about my own selection for that fateful day. Faubet’s Requiem came to mind, but we would not have six hours from reception at the crematorium to dispatch, so brevity is required. Sixties pop songs lasted on average 2 minutes and 10 seconds, however, I really would not be comfortable with She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah. Perhaps a guitar riff from Stairway to Heaven? Mozart would be soothing to the small gathering or a touch of Vivaldi, not the bloody four seasons rather Gloria or Bach‘s glorious Maginficat.

But no the selection is:

Lazarus Lives!!!