Forests NSW wins gold in Premier's awards

Forests NSW has won a gold award in the 2005 NSW Premier’s Public Sector Awards for a new system to streamline the delivery of plantation timber to customers.

Forests NSW won the award in the ‘Business, Management and Financial Performance’ category for its ‘Market Supply Modelling System for Plantation Forest Products’.

Director General of the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Barry Buffier, said the award recognised work by Forests NSW to improve its business performance and assist the state’s timber processors maintain their competitive edge.

‘It is a great achievement for Forests NSW to be selected for a gold award from 110 nominations from a wide cross-section of public sector agencies,’ Mr Buffier said.

Mr Buffier said the award winning system used sophisticated technology to analyse swathes of information and distil it to a weekly plan that enabled Forests NSW to deliver plantation logs, to specification, on time to its customers.

‘The new system will position Forests NSW to continue to operate effectively and efficiently in an industry that is expected to grow by 70 per cent in the next five years.

‘The recent roll-out of the new market supply modelling system in the Forests NSW Hume Region - around Tumut, Batlow and Tumbarumba - is the culmination of three years of work by a team of people from various parts of the organisation.’

Forests NSW chief executive Peter Duncan and resources forester Jules Crawshaw accepted the award from NSW Premier Morris Iemma.

Forests NSW was also involved in an award winning initiative of TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre Aboriginal Corporation. The project won a bronze award in ‘The Environment and Natural Resources’ category.

The initiative was a partnership between Yarkuwa, the Deniliquin TAFE and Forests NSW to establish the North Deniliquin State Forest as a community resource for cultural preservation and education.

Mr Buffier congratulated NSW staff involved on their achievement.

‘It is always pleasing to see the good work of the department being recognised in this way,’ he said.

Media contact: Sarah Chester on 02 6036 2110 or 0417 207 669.