Right for the Role?
Performance management in the workplace The first question in a performance management issue is what constitutes poor performance? Often an employer will know when an employee is not performing their role properly, but before addressing the issue, he or she needs to:...
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Get it Straight
German measuring specialist Stabila is celebrating 130 years. For a measuring company, there’s no more logical way to celebrate a big birthday than with a set of celebratory spirit levels. Stabila has launched a limited-edition 1889 Anniversary Edition set. Each...
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Data Driven
When the Tilling Group began to redesign their Smart Portal, they quickly realised they had created a whole new set of tools for both their business and their customers. Many people like to quote Thomas Hobbes’ famous aphorism ‘Knowledge is power’, but in the 21st...
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A New Cut
Bringing in a new cutting saw – even a high-tech version – is a surprisingly straightforward experience but it succeeds or fails based on the quality of service. March saw a gathering of fabricators and other timber specialists at Multinail’s Stapylton headquarters to...
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Timber Marketing
Stirling Machinery has turned to its customers to get the message out about their product. Its first production with Thor’s Hammer in the ACT shows just how strong a story timber can tell. One of the biggest trends in advertising over the past few years is the...
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Winning Together
For Tilling Timber and Independent Hardware Group, a long-standing partnership has developed into new ways to drive sales growth and support independent timber merchants. When the winner for Trade Supplier of the Year was announced at February’s IHG Awards of...
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Floors With More
ASH’s new engineered flooring is exactly what the customer asks for. Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) has launched Australian Oak, an innovative and customisable engineered flooring range based on the results of an exhaustive survey of flooring specifiers, which...
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A Grain of Truth
High quality abrasives make all the difference when it comes to floor sanding, but not all are created equal. By Steven Hutchinson, Norton Abrasives In today’s world it can be difficult to determine the authenticity of the products we use. Many products on the market...
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Safety Culture
The NSW Centre for Work Health and Safety needs businesses to help their research. If you’ve ever seen the fall-out from poorly guarded machinery you will no doubt be motivated to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The traumatic injuries associated with this hazard are...
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Best Dressed
Timber cladding combines architectural beauty with a long-lasting, natural, fire-resistant product that brings multiple benefits to the end user without high costs or installation difficulties. Every building needs a skin. Whether timber-framed domestic residences, or...
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Fire Safety
Stronger fire protection requirements for external structures in NSW are being missed by some timber suppliers, but the Rural Fire Service is available to help. Timber merchants are generally good about regulation. They know the product they sell has to be fit for...
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A Path That Will Last
Accoya modified timber forms the basis of a long-lasting refurbishment to a popular Queensland boardwalk. Noosa is one of Queensland’s key tourism hotspots, and a combination of big crowds, coastal climate and semi-regular extreme weather events on the Sunshine Coast...
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Swadlings on the Move
When Rozelle stalwart Swadlings Timber & Hardware was forced out of the peninsula where it had served the community for over a century, it took the chance to design a perfect new site in St Peters. WestConnex has seen several much-loved businesses pushed out of...
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Parquetry Promotion
It’s the best quality and most sustainable flooring, but there are problems to be solved. By Sharon and Ray Brice. This month’s Brice on Boards column expands on April’s TTN cover feature on parquetry flooring. Parquetry focuses on timber sustainability and recycling....
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La Trobe Upgrade
Building has begun on a $100 million Victorian mass timber project. Construction has recently started on a 624-bed student accommodation project at La Trobe University’s Melbourne campus. Part of the university’s $5bn Bundoora campus transformation plan, the...
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Gathering the Experts
The future of international timber construction will be outlined over two days in Melbourne this month. Times are changing in construction. Ignoring the narrowing of credit availability and fluctuations in housing prices around Australia, several consistent factors...
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We Grow Houses
Environmental concerns are at the forefront for many consumers and should be a key point of difference for timber suppliers. Michael Kennedy is a very fact-based environmentalist. The founder of Kennedy’s Timbers, his position comes from a simple proposition: timber...
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Show and Sell
While many of the country’s top fabricators were gathered for the FTMA Australia National Conference, Multinail opened its doors at nearby Stapylton to show off its range of saws. On a misty March morning, almost 90 fabricators could be found at Multinail’s Staplyton...
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Fast and Easy Briefing
Wesbeam’s new e-portal for Design Centre briefs is carefully planned to be fabricator friendly – improving accuracy while saving time and reworking. Wesbeam’s Design Centre has long provided a free service to engineers, builders and timber merchants, calculating the...
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Printing Buildings
Australian research is at the forefront of 3D printing using timber products. FWPA’s latest WoodChat features Associate Professor Sandra Löschke, director of the Architecture Design Research Group at the University of Sydney. In the free 24-minute podcast, she talks...
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F&T Hits the Spot
The leaders in frame and truss gathered on the Gold Coast for the FTMA Australia National Conference, where information and inspiration were the order of the day. Every two years, FTMA Australia brings its members together with industry leaders and specialist...
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A Powerful Advocate
There was a thunderous outpouring of admiration when FTMA Australia named Jim Cheney as the 2019 Clive Martella Service to Industry Award recipient. Jim Cheney has long been a stalwart of the frame and truss industry in NSW and has driven industry improvements with...
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Frame Details
International exhibitors are teed up to display at Frame 2019 Kevin Ezard has announced more of the big national and international names that will be exhibiting at this year’s Frame Australia 2019 ‘Timber Offsite Construction’. Rubner Holzbau from Italy, will showcase...
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A Fair Dismissal
A recent sacking for leaking info has been upheld. This month I’ve summarised an unfair dismissal case decided recently that addressed two important questions. Can an employee be dismissed for failing to look after the interests of their employer? And can information...
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