Albany Engineering apprentices Chris Johnston & George Famlonga take out podium in regional WorldSkills comp

Two Albany Engineering apprentices have claimed first and second place in a regional turning competition, putting their trade skills to the test against apprentices from across the region.

Chris Johnston took out the top spot and George Famlonga finished second at the turning WorldSkills Australia Regional Competition held at Midland TAFE on September 30.

Both apprentices are completing a Certificate III in Engineering — Mechanical Trade (Fitting and Machining), with the competition giving them an opportunity to demonstrate the skills they have been developing in the workshop.

Competitors were given about eight hours to manufacture three individual parts to a set of specifications, with all three required to fit together to form a finished product.

The turning competition tested a range of mechanical and technical skills, including turning, eccentric turning and thread cutting.

Mr Johnston is in his second year of his apprenticeship and said he was pleased to take out the win after putting in some extra practice ahead of the competition.

“Yeah it’s great (to win),” he said.

“We were given a time frame of about eight hours to make three parts that had to come together at the end.

“A lot of stuff we do here (at Albany Engineering) was directly put in.

“I did a bit of practice prior to the competition to feel more confident.”

Mr Famlonga, who is a third-year apprentice, said taking part was a valuable experience and was pleased to finish second behind his work mate.

“It was a pretty cool experience, there’s not many people I know that get to do that sort of thing,” he said.

“Second place is the first loser but by the margin we beat everyone else it was pretty good.”

Albany Engineering owner Tom Dines said the results reflected the quality of the working environment provided to the apprentices both by the business and within the workshop.

“It’s awesome,” he said.

“It’s good reflection of the environment the guys get given — not only the business but the workshop.

“It’s good for the business, good for their confidence, good for us, so it’s good all round basically.”

They will both return to Perth on Monday to compete in the fitting competition as part of WorldSkills, where Mr Famlonga will have another chance of getting through to nationals.

Mr Johnston will head to the Nationals WorldSkills competition next year.