Creating a culture of innovation key to success

 When it comes to workplace culture, it is widely considered as the backbone to any business.

For Field Mining Services Group (FMS) it has been their strongest asset for finding new ideas and making them a reality.

FMS Group chief financial officer Mr Jason Smith said their workplace culture is essential to their success.

Jason said having a team environment, where everyone gets along, is paramount.

He said it not just helps with the day -to -day running of the business, but also builds the confidence for their staff to foster new skills, voice new ideas and work along change.

“Positive working culture is very important to us. We have grown this business from 50 people when we purchased it 10 years ago, to over 500 in Central Queensland, Western Australia and Papua New Guinea today.

“During that growth period, our concern was losing that feel of camaraderie in the team, that as you grow, people feel like they are just a number. So, keeping that feel within the business was key for us.

Jason said FMS’s authentic approach to business is why they had experienced growth of 70.5% since 2019, with 85% of staff residing in regional Central Queensland.

“This rapid growth would, for most companies, result in distance between the directors and their hundreds of staff members.

“Maintaining strong relationships with our team through an open-door policy and frequent social catchups both at work and outside of work are just a couple of ways FMS Group has managed to maintain such a healthy workplace culture over recent years.

“However, the strongest contributing factor to building a positive team culture is respect.

“Every employee is treated like they are a member of the FMS family, with directors and senior managers showing an interest in the personal life, goals, and passions of their team. “

Jason said more than 25% of all staff have been with the company for three years or longer, with 40% of all full-time salary employees also reaching three years plus service this year.

Recently FMS Group was a successful recipient of a Manufacturing Modernisation Fund grant, part of the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which aims to help Australian manufacturers scale-up, compete internationally, adopt new technologies and create jobs.

“Through the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, it has enabled us to fit out our new workshop with state-of the-art equipment.  We have a 126-tonne overhead crane capacity along with a range of equipment to develop skills and training in house.

“Building products in house takes the reliance off supply chains coming in.

“As we have seen in the last two years supply chains have been disrupted across the world, so getting parts, even motor vehicles has been difficult. So, by manufacturing products inhouse for our clients is the best way to go.”

Jason said being able to grow your business in the Greater Whitsunday region, means there are greater opportunities for staff to develop their skills.

“Having people who think outside the box is vital, we do many different things onsite. We are about finding the competitive edge or trying to find how to do something more safely – they are the advantages we want to see.

“Our greatest achievement is our new facility that we have built and to have the courage to do that despite the ups and downs of the industry. “

As a business leader Jason believes our region needs to continue to diversify what we do, across agriculture to the mining and Mining, Equipment, Technology and Services (METS)sectors.

“The future for this region is diversifying what we do.  It has been a strong agriculture and mining centre for a long time. These industries will have their ups and downs and that means we need to diversify.

“I believe that manufacturing is key to that, being able to support ourselves and not be reliant on imports or other areas of the country.

“I hope we see a lot of advancement in manufacturing, it is going to take a lot of support from government and innovative solutions by businesses like ours and others.  It Is going to take a long time, but we have to start.

“I am not afraid of change, but it can be scary if it happens quickly, but change often leads to new opportunities,” Jason said.