The Skills Pipeline FMCG Manufacturing Depends On
Every experienced fitter, electrician, or boilermaker working in Australian FMCG engineering today started as an apprentice or trainee. With an ageing trades workforce and a well documented skilled trades shortage across food and beverage manufacturing, how a business approaches apprenticeship and traineeship training has become a genuine strategic issue, not just a hiring formality. At BevTech, a family owned engineering business based in Richlands, Queensland, apprenticeship training has been part of the company’s approach for its entire 25 plus years of operation, and it remains central to how the business builds the mechanical, electrical, and automation capability its FMCG clients rely on.
Why BevTech Trains Its Own Talent
Industrial electrical and mechanical trades in a beverage and food manufacturing context require a specific combination of skills that is difficult to find fully formed in the open market: comfort working around live production equipment, understanding of food grade materials and hygiene requirements, and familiarity with the PLC platforms and control systems specific to the sector. Rather than relying solely on hiring already qualified tradespeople, many of whom are already engaged elsewhere given current shortages, BevTech has consistently invested in training apprentices and trainees from the ground up, shaping their skills specifically around the demands of FMCG engineering from day one.
This approach also reflects a longer term view of workforce planning. Apprentices trained within BevTech’s own systems and culture tend to progress more smoothly into specialist roles, whether in PLC programming, functional safety engineering, or precision machining, because they have built their foundational skills in the same environment they will eventually specialise within.
What an Apprenticeship at BevTech Looks Like
Apprentices at BevTech are not confined to basic maintenance tasks or workshop cleanup duties. From early in their training, apprentices work alongside qualified tradespeople on real production line projects, whether that is assisting an electrician with cable pulling and termination on an automation upgrade, or supporting a fitter and turner on a precision machining job in BevTech’s in house machine shop, equipped with CNCs, mills, lathes, guillotines, and brake presses.
This hands on exposure runs alongside the formal Certificate III training undertaken through TAFE or a registered training organisation, whether in electrotechnology, engineering fabrication, or mechanical trades. The combination of structured classroom learning and genuine, varied on site experience is what distinguishes a strong apprenticeship from one that leaves a tradesperson under prepared for industrial FMCG work once qualified.
Mentoring From Experienced Tradespeople
A defining feature of BevTech’s approach is direct mentoring from senior tradespeople and engineers, many of whom have been with the business for years and have deep, practical knowledge of the specific equipment and control systems used across the company’s FMCG client base. Because BevTech is family owned and relatively close knit compared to larger corporate engineering firms, apprentices are not simply assigned to a rotating cast of supervisors, they build sustained working relationships with the same senior staff over their training period, which supports more consistent and personalised skill development.
Traineeships Beyond the Traditional Trades
Alongside formal trade apprenticeships, BevTech also supports traineeships in areas such as process, packaging, and machine operation, reflecting the broader workforce needs of FMCG manufacturing beyond the core electrical and mechanical trades. These traineeships provide a structured entry point for workers who may not be pursuing a formal trade qualification but who are building genuinely valuable, transferable skills in operating and maintaining production equipment within a food and beverage manufacturing environment.
Addressing the Skilled Trades Shortage From the Ground Up
The skilled trades shortage affecting food and beverage manufacturing is, at its root, a pipeline problem: not enough new tradespeople entering the industry to replace those retiring or moving into other sectors. Businesses that rely entirely on the existing labour market to fill vacancies are competing for an increasingly limited pool of experienced tradespeople, driving up costs and creating genuine capacity constraints. By contrast, businesses that actively invest in apprenticeship and traineeship training are, in effect, growing the overall pool of skilled tradespeople available to the sector, rather than simply competing for existing talent.
This is a long term strategy rather than a quick fix, since apprenticeships take several years to complete, but it is the only genuinely sustainable answer to a structural shortage. BevTech’s consistent investment in this area over 25 years reflects a recognition that the business’s own long term capability depends on the broader health of the trades pipeline feeding into FMCG engineering.
The Benefit to BevTech’s Clients
For the FMCG manufacturers BevTech works with, this investment in apprenticeship and traineeship training translates into a more reliable, better resourced engineering partner over time. Apprentices who progress through BevTech’s training system become the qualified electricians, fitters, and control systems engineers delivering client projects in future years, carrying with them years of accumulated, business specific knowledge of client sites, equipment, and control systems. This continuity is difficult to replicate through a workforce built primarily on external hiring, and it is a meaningful part of why long standing FMCG clients continue to rely on BevTech for both planned projects and emergency breakdown support.
Supporting Apprentices Through the Difficult Stages
Every apprenticeship has stages that are genuinely challenging, whether that is the transition from classroom theory to live production work, a difficult unit of study at TAFE, or the natural dip in confidence that comes with a first genuine fault finding failure on a live system. How a business responds to these moments matters enormously to whether an apprentice completes their training and goes on to build a long career, or becomes another statistic in an industry with a well documented apprentice attrition problem. BevTech’s approach relies on senior tradespeople recognising these difficult periods early, rather than waiting for a formal review process to flag a struggling apprentice, and responding with additional support and adjusted expectations rather than simply pushing through.
This matters particularly in industrial electrical and mechanical trades, where the consequences of working beyond one’s genuine competence, particularly around live equipment and safety critical systems, are more serious than in many other trades. A culture that allows an apprentice to acknowledge uncertainty and ask for help, without it being treated as a weakness, produces both safer outcomes and, over time, more capable and confident tradespeople.
How to Apply
BevTech accepts apprenticeship and traineeship enquiries throughout the year, though formal intake typically aligns with the standard Queensland apprenticeship calendar. Prospective apprentices and trainees are encouraged to reach out directly to discuss current opportunities, whether in electrical, mechanical fabrication, or process and packaging traineeship pathways, rather than waiting for a specific advertised vacancy, since the business’s ongoing investment in training talent means opportunities are considered on an ongoing basis as capacity allows.
Building the Next Generation of FMCG Trades
Whether you are a school leaver considering a trade career, a career changer interested in industrial electrical or mechanical work, or an FMCG manufacturer wanting to understand how your engineering partner builds and retains its workforce, BevTech’s apprenticeship and traineeship approach reflects a genuine, long term commitment to the trades pipeline the entire sector depends on. To find out more about current apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities, contact BevTech at 25 Silvio St, Richlands QLD 4077, or admin@bevtech.com.au.