BITA Opinion Handing over the reins
As he prepares to pass the presidential baton to the next incumbent at this month’s AGM, BITA President Tim Waples, reflects on developments during his two years at the helm, including the rise of apprenticeships up the agenda.
At the BITA annual general meeting on 11th May, I will hand
“I believe that the close involvement of employers in fork lift truck apprenticeships is a crucial success factor for the industry”
over to my successor, David Rowell of Hyster. Looking back on my two years in office, the outlook for the forklift industry is looking much healthier than when I took up the role. Back then, the industry was still reeling from the after-effects of the recession with sales orders for industrial trucks falling off a cliff. As an indication of the bleak situation those of us in the industry faced, I took office not long after BITA had announced that sales orders had in the previous year, 2009, dropped to a record low. Happily, the economic situation, while still challenging for members, has improved considerably following two years in which sales orders have experienced strong growth. Indeed, the industry has now clawed back 60% of its recessionary losses.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The improving economic outlook is not the only change I have witnessed during my time as President. Over the past two years we’ve also spent a great deal of time helping the industry get to grips with the broad and far-reaching implications of the new Machinery Directive, compliance and surveillance issues. And while that’s still an important aspect of our work, I’m pleased to say we
have also become far more vocal in communicating the exciting and rewarding job opportunities available for young people in our sector. At a time when more and more youngsters are priced out of a university education and others leave university unable to find work, we have deliberately stepped up our efforts to highlight the value of forklift engineering apprenticeships. They are not just a proven route into employment but lay the foundations for a rewarding career all the way to management level. Plus, a fresh supply of new engineers is vital to ensure our products keep working safely and efficiently. Accordingly, the undoubted highlight of my Presidential term has been overseeing the opening of the BITA Academy in November last year. This branded centre of excellence for forklift engineering training, based at City of Bristol College, welcomed its first apprentices in January.
DEVELOPING NEW TALENT
The development of the BITA Academy is clear evidence of our commitment, as an industry, to training and developing young people. It would not be right of me to talk about the BITA Academy without mentioning the sterling work of my colleague Bill Goodwin, a key member of the BITA board and the driving force behind the establishment of the BITA Academy. The support from within the industry has been
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a ringing endorsement of the BITA Academy, with fork lift truck apprentices being sponsored by leading employers such as Linde, Barloworld and Jungheinrich and receiving high-quality vocational training, both on placement and in the classroom. Indeed, I believe that the close involvement of employers in fork lift truck apprenticeships is a crucial success factor for the industry. There has been outrage in recent weeks at private training in other sectors, which allegedly involves apprenticeships with little or no work experience and inadequate training. That short-changing of youngsters is sad to see and is the complete opposite of what we have established at the BITA Academy. However, it is very gratifying to see a growing appreciation of quality apprenticeships at a national level and at a governmental level, with the Prime Minister stressing their key role in preparing people for the workforce. A recent Ofsted report reached a similar conclusion. It gives me great satisfaction as I step down from the BITA Presidency to know that we’ve done something really positive to help assure the future of the industry’s vital engineering workforce. I know that, under David’s Presidency, BITA will resolve not only to promote apprenticeships, but to continually strive to improve the programme. n
www.bita.org.uk Storage Handling Distribution May 2012 21
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