Sydney, Australia, 11 March, 2002 - ABB Australia, part of the global power and automation technology company, is using a unique student workplace scheme to help young people prepare for their future in the workforce. In a recent pilot of the scheme, the company’s Service Centre in Port Kembla, NSW, put a range of high school students through a two-week Structured Workplace Learning (SWL) program as part of their Higher School Certificate (HSC) studies. It produced benefits to all participants. The students learnt and practised occupation health and safety, and performed general machining and lathe work, general fabrication and boilermaking in a real-life, industrial setting for clients. They thus gained invaluable and realistic career insights and experience. Senior staff at the ABB Service Centre benefited from their advance training in the TAFE Workplace Assessment module to ensure they gave the students the best possible training and assessments. All staff working with the students were able to improve their own supervisory and training skills and the Centre as a whole was able to preview potential apprentices for future employment. The Illawarra community benefited from ABB’s involvement with the Illawarra high school system and its potential for increasing employment in the area in the future. The pilot was so successful that the Service Centre, part of ABB Australia’s Asset Management and Service Division, repeated the exercise a month later and has now committed to undertake one scheme per school term in 2002. "We had extremely positive feedback from the students, and we enjoyed their enthusiasm and curiosity," said Alex Spillett, Site Manager of the ABB Port Kembla Service Centre. "This scheme provides a win-win situation for all participants. It is a very valuable investment for the future for all parties and we are looking forward to building on it in 2002." To run the Structured Workplace Learning program, ABB joined forces with the Enterprise & Career Education Foundation, a fully-funded initiative of the Commonwealth Government that develops and supports partnerships between businesses, schools and the community. Its purpose is to build alliances that equip young Australians with the information and skills to make a successful transition from school to work. "ABB has a long history of community involvement," said Mark Southey, Senior Vice-President, Asset Management and Service Division. "We recognise that it is more important than ever to ease young people’s transition into the workforce and to introduce a philosophy of life-long learning into the workplace. This bridge between school and work will reap multiple benefits for all well into the future." ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering their environmental impact. ABB has 155,000 employees in more than 100 countries.