The Garage 347

TRAINING
Gain, train
and retain
The Autotech Group year in numbers
by Simon King
Managing Director, Autotech Group
Supporting the automotive aftermarket and creating
solutions to bridge the talent gap has continued to be
the overriding objective of Autotech Group in 2022.
Suffice to say – it’s been a busy year.
A
key highlight of Q1 was our Talent Recharge: ‘How to gain,
train and retain talent’ event in March. Over 200 senior
leaders from OEMs, dealer groups, independents and the
tyre, paint and body sectors united alongside automotive industry
trade bodies and representatives from the education sector to
kickstart the skills conversation.
Unequivocally, the event was a resounding success and, over the
course of the year, each of our divisions, created in response to
the needs of the industry, witnessed a significant rise in demand as
businesses put the gain, train and retain mantra into practice.
Putting training into high gear
Not too long ago, electric vehicle training was vastly regarded as
a requirement for the garage of the future, but, as the number
of EVs on UK roads increased, the aftermarket woke up to the
opportunities having EV-skilled staff could yield. This year alone,
our Autotech Training division has delivered IMI electric vehicle
training to over 1,000 delegates and, following the addition of IMI
EV Heavy Vehicle courses to our portfolio midway through the year,
over 100 delegates have achieved this accreditation.
EV training hasn’t just been limited to the aftermarket though,
and the Autotech Training division has major contracts in place with
EV production facilities, vehicle refurb companies, local authorities
and emergency services. The message that employers will be liable
if their employees are not trained to work around electric vehicles
which are, to all intents and purposes, giant batteries, is finally
filtering through.
Our EV training reputation, along with our purpose-built EV
Training Suite, has reached a global audience this year too – with
delegates travelling from the Caribbean, the Falkland Islands,
Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa for training. But it isn’t
all about electric vehicles. Upskilling across all areas has increased
and we have seen an uplift across our entire course offering. Over
200 MOT managers have now been trained, while Automotive
Air Con Refrigerant and Handling courses remain popular with
hundreds of technicians trained and over 50 IRTEC, REACT and
ADAS courses delivered.
While this success is largely underpinned by reputation, what
has clearly set the Autotech Training team apart is flexibility. Over
70% of training has been carried out on the premises of a garage or
business with our experienced trainers collectively travelling over
150,000 miles this year.
With Colin Gleghorn at the helm as Managing Director, and a
team which has grown over twofold in 12 months, Autotech Training
will continue to go from strength-to-strength next year with many
new initiatives in the pipeline.
Plugging the gap
The foundation of our business – our Autotech Recruit division –
has continued to plug resource gaps throughout the industry this
year with over 350,000 hours filled by our network of temporary
vehicle technicians, and 150,000 MOTs carried out by our MOT
testers.
From this network, contractors who are trained under our
Manufacturer Led Programme (MLP), helped to accrue over £11
million in additional revenue for manufacturers including Volvo,
Toyota, Ford, VW, and BMW.
While testament to the reputation of our contractors, demand
for their services is also a reflection of the skills gap within the
industry and the reliance on temporary technicians to provide
26 THE GARAGE
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