Build the workforce yourself or let the skills shortage become your biggest operational risk.
That was the choice facing NEACH managing director Ryza Garbacz close to a decade ago.
He explains why NEACH grew its own tradespeople from the ground up, and how Major Training’s monthly on-site model supports five apprentices as they work towards a nationally recognised trade qualification and long-term careers in fabrication.
NEACH is a Queensland based structural steel fabricator with more than 50-years of continuous operation, delivering complex steelwork for tier one and tier two contractors and government clients across infrastructure, defence, health and industrial projects.
Ryza has been with the business for close to 15-years, and over the past decade he has built NEACH’s own apprenticeship pipeline in partnership with Major Training working through a delivery model built around monthly on-site visits rather than block release.
A pipeline built by necessity
NEACH watched the market for skilled tradespeople get harder every year and through Covid finding qualified fabricators became a genuine constraint on the business.
“I determined the only way to resolve that was to develop my own talent pipeline and start bringing young people in through the business,” Ryza said.
The company began with one apprentice a year, then two, building toward a steady cohort at any given time.
NEACH currently has five apprentices working through a Certificate III in Engineering Fabrication, with a sixth apprentice due to start later in the year.
Major’s monthly on-site model
NEACH’s apprentices train where they work. Major Training industry trainer and assessor visit the workshop monthly, keeping each apprentice on schedule against their training plan and working through modules in person.
“Layne comes out and does his visits monthly and he keeps the guys on schedule, and then he’ll meet with me usually once every three to six months and we’ll go through sign offs on different modules and we’ll keep the apprentices trained to those levels,” he said.
Keeping training on site rather than sending apprentices away for block release is central to the model working.
Apprentices stay immersed in the same workshop, the same team and the same standard of work every day, which keeps their training directly connected to the job they are actually doing.
“The apprentices are here. They’re not going somewhere else. It’s a good, consistent approach to gaining a trade for them.”
NEACH opened a purpose-built training room on site in 2018, separate from the workshop floor, giving apprentices a dedicated space to work through theory with their trainer between practical sessions.
Ryza also credits the relationship with Major Training beyond scheduling.
Major supports the technical curriculum required for formal trade qualification and communicates clearly on where each apprentice needs extra attention, much of which NEACH already sees day to day on the floor.
Support that goes beyond the trade
When an apprentice needed additional literacy and numeracy support, NEACH and Major Training worked together to connect them with external tutoring in reading, writing and maths.
“We were able to organise tutoring externally to the business to get their basic maths and English up to a higher standard, and that got them through their trade.”
A pipeline that shapes culture
Engaging apprentices in a live workshop creates a culture built on safety. Senior tradespeople take on a mentoring role that gives their own day to day work more purpose, and the business has grown a culture where more experienced hands take pride in the progress of the apprentices coming through underneath them.
Skills for a career
Ryza’s team support the apprentices through the MEM31925 Certificate III in Engineering – Fabrication Trade and see this as the first decade of a much longer career path.
It takes four years to complete the trade, another two to three years to become genuinely proficient, and two to three more to reach a level of real expertise, with options after that to move into supervisor or management roles.
“This is your stepping-stone to get into the market, earn some money get some runs on the board and start funding your own life and becoming independent,” he said.
Built on a strong foundation
NEACH operates from its 2500m2 Noosaville facility, employing more than 35-staff and delivering contracts ranging from $5M to $20M.
Recent projects include the Exhibition Train Station, recognised as an ASI highly commended project in 2024, Hope Island Station, Caboolture Hospital, Sunshine Plaza, the Caloundra Interchange upgrade, the Kings Co-Op precinct at Brisbane Showgrounds and vehicle workshops at Gallipoli Barracks.
Ready for what comes next
With a strong pipeline of infrastructure work ahead across Southeast Queensland in the lead up to Brisbane 2032 Olympics, NEACH’s apprenticeship model gives the business a workforce built specifically for the standard of work it takes on.
Apprentices work on live infrastructure projects from their first year, trained within NEACH’s own production systems and held to the same quality standards as qualified tradespeople.
“We pride ourselves on giving people of all capabilities the opportunity to improve themselves and move forward, that’s really what it’s about.”
It’s a model NEACH built out of necessity, and one that’s now shaping the next generation of Queensland’s tradespeople.
