Warwickshire-based materials manufacturer, Automotive Insulations has beaten off stiff competition to make the final shortlist for a national award which recognises investment in workplace training.
The Semta judging panel, which is made up of industry experts, are looking for evidence that nominees and their staff have benefitted from investing in training and development.
CEO of Automotive Insulations, Jim Griffin explained: “People are the most important asset in our business; machines don’t operate themselves.
“We believe that it is as important to invest in our people as it is in technology, and so we have committed time and resources to an extensive training programme throughout the company. Operating in such a competitive industry, we need to ensure that our staff have the right skills to fulfil our customers’ needs.”
Automotive Insulations is one of just three companies in the running for the SME Investment in Skills category at the annual Semta Skills awards.
The category is open to manufacturing and engineering businesses that employ up to 250 people, with the awards aiming to promote the importance of training and development within industry.
The award winners will be announced at a gala dinner on February 10 at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel in London, hosted by BBC Breakfast business presenter, Steph McGovern.
Recent training initiatives that Automotive Insulations has undertaken include helping staff qualify to teach, training personnel as NVQ assessors, and rolling out a range of NVQ programmes.
In addition, permanent new roles such as talent manager, training co-ordinator and factory trainers have been created as part of its training strategy.
Cheryl Bradbury, talent manager at Automotive Insulations, added: “The current skills strategy is to ensure that learning and development activities are aligned to our business objectives to ensure a measurable impact.
“The best way to do this is for development to take place as close to the job as possible.”
As part of the judging process, a film crew visited the firm at its Rugby headquarters on January 7, creating a video to showcase how the company has put training and skills development into practice.
