NEWS EXTRA MOVING FORWARD
BMF Chairman Richard Hill took to the stage at BMF Members’ Day to highlight some of the achievements and latest plans.
“YOU MAY WELL be familiar with this, but it bears re-emphasising that it is at the core of everything we do,” BMF Chairman Richard Hill said, showing delegates the strategic roadmap which demonstrates the BMF’s forward plans for the next few years. For each area there is a board member responsible, who reports back to the rest of the board on the progress in their particular area. They are Tim Rowbottom on Member Value; Frank Elkins for skills development; Mike (Wavin) for supply chain co-ordination and Shanker Patel for government influence.
Hill thanked the BMF Board members for taking on those extra responsibilities. “So far
they are doing a very good job. Your expert efforts are much appreciated”. He also highlighted the fact that each of the strategic points is being engaged with my the team at Coventry, working hard to deliver the required outcomes.
“As we do this work, we can all see that it is beginning to develop and grow our trade federation and as a consequence, I genuinely believe that we will be able to deliver more value to you, our members.”
At the same time as working on the roadmap objectives, the BMF has been actively engaged in relaunching the Institute of Builders Merchants. “It’s still early days, but we are starting to see
momentum gathering on this,” he said. I think the opportunity that IoBM represents for all of us is huge. It will take some time to get there, but rest assured we will because it really is so worthwhile once the IOBM has developed to its full potential.”
He then moved on to reflect on the BMF’s participation on the Construction leadership Council, the CLC. “When I think what they at the beginning knew of us, and our sector - merchanting and materials supply - I think they didn’t really appreciate the importance of us and our sector. “When I look at some of the core issues that concern most of our membership, being merchant manufacturer or service supplier,
those issues of recruitment, sills, staff retention etc, and if we add on top of that appears in three of the four areas on our roadmap. So I do think that we are at a moment in time when we as the BMF have an opportunity to really promote and champion this sector and do it for the benefit of all of us. And so, at our last board meeting we did agree to start out next very big project. This is a project that will require input from merchant members suppliers members and service members, and it is to launch a marketing campaign of some size, to build awareness of our sector to all and also to build the pride of those that work in the sector. It’s a big challenge and a big piece of work but I believe it is very very timely. So the board has agreed a feasibility study, the results of which will be presented at the December Board meeting. If approved, the aim is to have something to launch in the Summer of 2023. “Building awareness and building pride is at the root of what we will aim to do. Build awareness of our sector within the wider construction sector and also with schools and colleges, and also to build pride, pride of those of us who work in the sector and know how good it is to work in the sector. “ BMJ
BUILDING EXCELLENCE
BMF CEO John Newcomb expanded on the achievements of the BMF over the past year and highlighted some of the next steps.
“EVERYTHING WE ARE doing is to underpin our role which is all about helping our members to build excellence in building material supply.” That’s what John Newcomb, CEO of the BMF, told delegates, in his address at Members Day.
“The strategy was first launched at Members Day last year and since then, we have been very busy building a detailed implementation plan, with milestones and KPIs to make sure that each element is actioned,” he said. “Each theme has been assigned not only a staff member
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but also a board member to oversee its progress as champions of their area.”
The key achievements so far include the extension of the engagement programme into supplier and service members, with better articulation of those benefits and a dedicated resource allocated to meet the needs of that category. Newcomb said: “We’ve also devised a new scoring system which will allow us to measure better the levels of engagement with every member. Rest assured that the team is constantly looking for new
ways to build excellence for our members and next year we will be focussing on three major initiatives. We will be reviewing each of our key membership services, equipping our regional managers with new tools setting up a new three-strong member engagement team, based at head office, we will also be updating and overhauling our website, improving the member touchpoints and digital engagement as well as providing the platform for us to better engage with Government.” Newcomb said that there will
be more focus on the role that the BMF plays to attract, retain and train a diversity of talent in the industry. Kerry Wilson, who joined the BMF from Travis Perkins has been actively working to strengthen recognition of the apprenticeship programme and staff training. “Our on-going focus in this area will be the skills gaps review and continuous improvement of our training offer with the ambition of achieving and interactive career path for all trainees,” he said.
Newcomb expanded on Richard Hill’s earlier announcement of
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net October 2022
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