LANGUAGE / COUNTRY
LANGUAGE / COUNTRY
User Profile
Looking for product documents?
Try our Document Finder
Who is USG Boral
About USG Boral
Blog
Careers
Contact Us
Products
Ceilings
ACOUSTIC PANELS & CEILING TILES
ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION SYSTEM
DRYWALL SUSPENSION SYSTEM
Ensemble
Plasterboard
SHEETROCK® Plasterboard
TECHNICAL Plasterboard
Multi-Application Boards
Water-Resistant Plasterboard
Finishes
Jointing Compounds
Specialty Plasters
Adhesives
Primers
Joint Tapes
Steel Framing
USG Boral Steel Stud & Track System (New Zealand)
Rondo® Metal Components
Cornice
SHEETROCK® Cove
Decorative Cornice
Plastering DIY
DIY Cornice Adhesive
DIY Patching Plaster
Total Joint Finish
Stud Adhesive
Tools & Accessories
Insulation
Industrial Plaster
Solutions
Segment Solutions
Wet Area Solutions
Healthy Workplaces
Health Care
Education
Bushfire Protection
Multi-Residential
Plasterboard Systems
Systems+
CinemaZone®
Fireclad® Fire-rated External Wall System
Firewall® System
IntRwall® System
Multiframe™ System
NeighbourZone™ System
OutRwall® System
Partiwall® Separating Wall System
Quiet Living™ System
Science
Acoustics
Fire Performance
Seismic
Inspiration
For Architects / Designers
We believe we can change the way buildings are designed, built and occupied by delivering innovations that help you work smarter, do more and build better.
For Builders / Installers
Proudly Supporting those who Build, every step of the way.
For Homeowners
Our plastering products, tools & accessories are designed for the home renovator/builder making minor alterations or repairs to plasterboard walls & ceilings.
Resources & Tools
Acoustic Ceilings e-Estimator
Systems+ Plasterboard Systems Guide
TecASSIST™ - USG Boral
What's New
News & Promotions – USG Boral
LANGUAGE / COUNTRY
LANGUAGE / COUNTRY
User Profile
Looking for product documents?
Try our Document Finder
When Jim Browning, Technical and Training Manager at our Pinkenba facility in Queensland, retires in June 2018 after almost 62 years, it will be the end of an era for our industry as well as the company.
In December 1956 the 16-year-old Jim (who’d already put in three years in a retail despatch department) started training as an indentured plasterer with Stucoid, a company of fibrous plasterers in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. Offering a weekly wage of 4 pounds, nine shillings and sixpence in the old currency, his plastering apprenticeship entailed two years of manufacturing fibrous plaster sheets and a further three years installing them in domestic and commercial premises.
But Jim stuck with it, advancing to Leading Hand, Foreman and Site Supervisor – witnessing the change in technology from fibrous plaster to plasterboard. In 1979, seeing Sales as the next stage in his career, he made the move from installation to the manufacturing side.
“I didn’t think being a Field Sales Representative would be a very different role,” Jim recalls. “But it made a hell of a difference. Some jobs don’t ever seem to finish, but just become bigger ones.” Jim progressed to Trade Sales Manager before taking his current position in 2003, and it is with relief that USG Boral executives accepted Jim’s offer to continue to be available beyond retirement to help with training matters and other invaluable info we could only tap from his vast industry experience.
Over the next few years, Stucoid Pty Ltd became a subsidiary of API, then Derite, and is now USG Boral Interior Linings, our contracting arm. On the manufacturing side, the plant Jim worked from changed names from API (Victor Board) to AGL and went on to become Boral.
Jim has kept his finger firmly on the pulse as a highly respected member of the plasterboard industry – serving on Association of Walls & Ceilings Industries (AWCI) Technical Committees, contributing articles to On the Surface magazine and elected AWCI Life Member.
On his 50th anniversary with Boral Plasterboard, the AWCI journal wrote in tribute: “Jim has always represented the industry with integrity and has promoted a fair deal and level playing field for the plasterer. He has recognised that information is a key and has spent many years on maintenance reduction by putting together plenty of information into easy-to-understand plasterers’ language.” Jim worked on the AWCI Trade Guidelines and many other industry publications.
So what has changed the most over his long career?
In his role as Technical and Training Manager, he’s seen the training time greatly reduced from that of his own five-year apprenticeship. “Each week I had technical classes two nights a week, plus a day of practical training each month.”
Working conditions are also much improved. “There was a lot more involved in plastering then. We had to reinforce ceilings in the roof. Although ceilings were higher back then, we often had to work in confined spaces.”
“Fibrous plaster was very heavy. Even plasterboard was heavier than today’s when it was first introduced in Australia. The AMES tools we used then weighed around 50kg when fully loaded.” Jim reckons that the introduction of lightweight SHEETROCK® with the USG Boral Joint Venture and lighter mechanised tools make the installer’s job considerably easier. “I might even make a comeback!” he jokes.
Actually, Jim has never really left the job… and not about to lay his trowel down now. He has always been his family’s own in-house handyman, going as far as to learn other trades in order to build their home. Nowadays he’s go-to for the next two generations. “If there’s a project on in the family, I’m there,” he says.
If building and renovation doesn’t fill the days of his well-deserved retirement, Jim is a passionate restorer of old Ford and Holden cars. He’s also a keen gardener, with extensive rainforest to care for on his property.
Those of us at USG Boral – and we’re sure many others in the industry – deeply appreciate Jim Browning’s enormous contributions over the years and join in wishing him a very happy retirement.
Read more industry perspectives in this occasional blog series.