Red Hill Brewery recently welcomed Member for Flinders Greg Hunt MP, who toured the brewery to see the benefits that had been achieved thanks to a $9,000 Australian Government Industry Skills Fund grant.
Proprietor Karen Golding, who runs the Brewery with husband David, said they had used the grant to move to more sophisticated financial systems and to upskill staff in new technology and brewing practices.
“We used the grant to train 10 staff members in cloud-based inventory, point-of-sale and accounting software,” Mrs Golding said.
“This means the whole business now has access to real time stock, sales and financial information, which was previously only available in our business via one terminal and required a lot of data input. Now it’s all live and everyone contributes to keeping it up-to-date, making it much more useful.
“We have also enrolled our brewer in a nationally accredited brewing science certificate to further his knowledge of brewing, which will ultimately improve our own systems and product quality.”
Mr Hunt said the funding had allowed Red Hill Brewery to upskill staff and move into new domestic markets.
“This is a great example of how local businesses on the Mornington Peninsula are using the Australian Government’s Industry Skills Fund to support growth and competitiveness by boosting the skills of new and existing employees.”
The Australian Government has also introduced Trade Support Loans of up to $20,000 each to help apprentices with living costs and the purchase of tools while undertaking an apprenticeship. Financial incentives are also being offered to more than 80,000 employers each year who take on apprentices.
For more information on the Industry Skills Fund, visit www.business.gov.au or call the single business service on 13 28 46. For more information on the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network visit www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au or call the referral line on 13 38 73.