Training is seriously back on the UK timber industry’s list of priorities – which is why TTJ has decided to add a ‘Timber Trainee of the Year’ category to our annual awards. After the Timber Trade Training Association (TTTA) closed down a few years back the outlook did not look bright. All the industry seemed to be left with were a dwindling number of individual company apprenticeship and training schemes and more advanced courses for people who had been in the business a while. Timber companies could only cast envious glances at other sectors with structured industry-wide training programmes which enabled newcomers to get to grips with the basics of their business and then steadily progress their skills and knowledge.
Now however, the picture is changing. New courses are gaining momentum and the importance of training is being stressed across the industry. The Timber Trade Federation is putting its weight behind the issue and includes a clause in its new Code of Conduct telling members to “provide adequate training and instruction to employees and agents”.
TTF president Geoff Rhodes himself is a key figure behind the training push. “Since setting out my objectives on taking office in 2003, the question of training has been raised higher up the trade’s agenda – from encouraging the Forest Education Initiative for school children, to working closely with the Institute of Wood Science to review the industry’s training needs and also linking with universities such as Bangor and Napier at undergraduate level. The timber trade is big business and we need bright young people at all levels to join us and to develop their careers.”
IWSc Foundation Course
Another hugely positive recent development was the launch of the IWSc’s Foundation Course. This was designed expressly to plug the gap left by the demise of the TTTA. As IWSc president Jim Coulson wrote in the TTJ this year: “Our Foundation Course has met with success because it fills the industry’s needs for basic training and essential product knowledge.”
More individual companies in the trade are also developing and formalising training programmes, both for their staff and their customers’, so that the latter are better placed to sell timber in the marketplace. Notable examples are Finnforest (UK) with their Timber Academy in Boston, and Timbmet with its Oxford training college.
Another of the pacesetters here is TTJ Trainee of the Year Award sponsor SCA Timber (UK). Managing director Rob Simpson decided in 2000 to set up the company’s own course on softwoods and sheet materials in conjunction with specialist consultancy Technology for Timber. The scheme, for SCA and customers’ personnel combines classroom and distance learning, plus a visit to an SCA sawmill and forestry operation in Sweden. In 2001 it was accredited by the IWSc, so participants could gain the latter’s Timber Studies Award.
Mr Simpson believes structured timber sector training is vital: “Formal qualifications are a first step to establishing the professionalism of the industry and to promoting it as a viable career option for young people considering their future.”
He added that employees, as well as their employers, benefit from getting fully involved in training courses and programmes.
“Apart from applying the knowledge they gain, if they’re proactive and enthusiastic to learn and grab every opportunity to read about the industry and keep up with the news they will be noticed.”
Trainees’ views
But who better to confirm the value of training than the people who have undertaken the training themselves? We talked to some participants from recent training courses and they were all convinced of the benefits.
Clive Pattern at Snows Timber has been in the trade a while, but said taking the SCA/Timber Studies Award course was still a big plus. “It covered a vast range of different products and taught me things I didn’t know. Since completing the course I’ve used the knowledge I’ve gained and the notes I took extensively, both in answering questions from colleagues and dealing with customers.”
His colleague at Snows Steve Everard was equally positive: “I already had a lot of experience in softwood, but I found the sheet materials training very valuable. The hardwood section was also useful. We don’t sell so much hardwood ourselves, but the knowledge I gained enables me to deal with queries, so it helps us broaden our service to customers.”
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“Formal qualifications are a first step to establishing the professionalism of the industry” |
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SCA Timber (UK) managing director Rob Simpson |
He described the course as a “very good starting point” and said it had prompted him to take his training further, possibly with the IWSc certificate course.
Immediate benefits
Russell Fletcher, a trainee at SCA’s Scunthorpe office, said his experience on the course had produced immediate benefits in the workplace. “It’s given me greater confidence. When customers ask a question I’m not ‘umming and ‘erring. I usually either know the answer, or know where to find it.”
John Summers of SCA’s Warrington office said training had not only deepened his knowledge of timber and wood products, but also his enthusiasm. “I used to think of it as ‘just wood’, but not any more. The more I got into the subject, the more I looked forward to the next stage of the course. It’s like learning a language and wanting to practise speaking it. Now I want to apply the knowledge I gained.”
Andrew Ireson, who is also based at SCA’s Scunthorpe branch, had been in the trade only three months when he started training. “It helped me focus on what I want from my career. I’ve now just finished the IWSc Certificate and, after a bit of a breather, I hope to go on to the IWSc Associate course.”
Steve Coxon at Severn Timber said taking the Timber Studies Award brought home the value of training generally. “Getting good sales reps into this business and holding on to them is tough. I’m sure this sort of course will help keep people in the trade.”
His colleague David Taylor added that training was also a major benefit for customers. “Few of them now have apprentice schemes, so the people coming to the sales counter have less timber knowledge than in the past. We have to be able to give them the right advice.”
Karen Irving at Severn added that changing legislation and standards made ongoing training more important than ever. “We need to keep ourselves and our customers up to date with the latest developments.”
Timber champions
Steve Coxon agreed and said that Severn was trying to complete the training circle by encouraging customers’ personnel to take courses themselves. “David and I go out to customers and do a presentation about training. The aim is to persuade customers to have their own expert ‘timber champions’ on their teams.”
Peter Hall, the youngest trainee at Severn, added that the formalised training course had helped him clear up a lot of ‘misinformation’. “Over time you can pick things up as you go along and are told things, which, when you take the course, you find are a bit wide of the mark, or just plain wrong!”
Rob Simpson at SCA concluded that that the onus was now on every manager across the timber trade to promote training for the benefit of their business and the wider industry.
“It’s important to extend the hand of experience to younger people and ask how we can help them forward. We have a responsibility to the future viability of our businesses to bring on a confident professionally-minded generation to succeed us.”
