Sue Withers, General Manager, Southern Domestic Appliances Ltd OPINION


March 2022 ertonline.co.uk


Is there a future generation of appliance and electricals engineers?


The future of home appliance repairs is in jeopardy, due to an ageing workforce and lack of training availability in the industry, says Sue Withers.


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he “Right to Repair” regulations came into effect in July 2021, making parts available for up to 10 years for products such as dishwashers, washing machines,


washer dryers, refrigeration and televisions. By promoting and facilitating repairs to appliances and home electricals, the Act hopes to bring a reduction in electrical waste going to landfill. With extended parts and service information


readily available, engineers should be able to overcome the built-in obsolescence apparent in some items, which will in turn give a choice to both the customer and retailer to repair or replace. Back in the heyday of independent service


centres, there were plenty of courses and engineers. Working in a small shop in the 90s we had 10 service engineers! When times changed and cheap throw-away items became more desirable, repairs dwindled. It became all about board changing in many cases – no longer repairing at component level. This outpriced most repairs and the service engineers’ skills weren’t needed in the same way. Eventually, training courses stopped and manufacturers gradually went back to national service hubs and away from the small workshops. Most of the engineers from these times were


either made redundant or had retired. Many that survived are very near to retirement age and leaving the profession, packing up their knowledge and skill sets with them. Schools, colleges and careers advisers aren’t


promoting the home appliance/electronics sector as an option for future engineers as they used to, due to the lack of knowledge of servicing as a profession, but also the lack of courses available. It’s easy to find electrician or plumbing courses, but not courses for TV or appliance repairs and installation. In my current business, the Owner and only


engineer needs to pass down his servicing and installation knowledge to eventually enable him to retire. Unfortunately, as a small business, we can’t afford to take on another member of staff. When the Government announced extra funding for taking on an apprentice back in October, we thought this would solve the problem, but unfortunately it came to light that there weren’t any apprenticeships in our industry available or running at this time.


I was eventually referred to an Apprenticeship


Standard, developed by the Heest Forum, which is represented by four major trade associations along with major manufacturers and industry experts. The Standard entitled “Electrical, electronic product service and installation engineer – Level 3” provides a very comprehensive training programme, covering all aspects of electrical repair and installation. It is very flexible in its approach, in that it can


be tailored to the differing needs of a company, or the apprentice’s interests. Unfortunately, this course is only taught in


seven colleges, and there aren’t any in Dorset where we are based, or in our bordering counties of Hampshire or Wiltshire. The only college providing the Standard to apprentices from our area is in Wales! Even then, this is only available through a remote online learning course, with eight week-long trips to the college over the course.


Although it sounds fantastic, attracting such


young students just out of school to an apprenticeship with four hours travelling time by themselves, and to stay for a week in a hotel and look after themselves, may prove difficult and not an attractive or practical proposition for the pupils or their parents. To prevent the extinction of this trade, we need


help now to provide courses to school leavers in as many locations as possible. The trade needs to be promoted and a broader range of courses to attract different students would also be helpful. Level 2 courses at shorter periods of 12-18 months,


rather than three years, would potentially attract more students initially and then hopefully encourage them to train further and stay in the industry. Of course engineers can train directly with the


manufacturers, or not train at all, but in the interest of consumer choice, speed of service, competitiveness and professionalism we need to offer training to a younger, wider audience now.


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