Herbert Shift Fitter Jack Pelleri has won the silver medal for fitting and turning in a prestigious national competition.

Jack won the award at the national finals of the 2023 WorldSkills Trade Training Competition, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in August.

 He was among 450 competitors across 55 trade skills at the three-day event.

This was Jack’s second WorldSkills competition; he also made the national finals in 2021.

He said he was thrilled to do so well at the 2023 event.

“The competition went really well for me, I had more experience behind me this time around and I knew what I had to work on and where I had to put most of my time,” Jack said.

“When my name was called out for the silver medal I was so happy, it was unreal,” he said.

Jack did his fitting and turning apprenticeship at Wilmar’s Herbert mills, finishing in December 2022. He now works at Macknade Mill as a Shift Fitter.

Training and Development Manager Scott Young said he was proud of what Jack had achieved during his apprenticeship.

“Jack has been a very good advocate both for himself and the Wilmar Sugar apprenticeship program. He’s a great example of how hard work and dedication pay off. He’s also a testament to the robust trade training we offer at our mills.”

The WorldSkills National Championships competition is Australia’s biggest vocational education and excellence competition.

Scott said he looked forward to Wilmar’s apprentices taking part in the 2024 Regional WorldSkills competition in August next year.