National employers from TNT, Office Depot, Wincanton and Lafarge-Tarmac joined regional logistics companies alongside many local SMEs to look at the Sector Growth Plan for logistics and distribution in the LLEP region.  Hosted at the Scania Technical Training Centre near Loughborough, discussions stretching from Magna Park in the South to Donington in the North focused around roads and infrastructure issues for business growth.

Arriving at the logistics spotlight event in a brand new Scania truck driven by truck instructor Mark Agnew, the Sec of State for Education Nicky Morgan was amongst the truckers to showcase education and recognise the top logistics apprentices in the region.
Attracting the right people to the industry is a key aim of the sector and the apprentices honoured are already setting the standards for others to follow.

Sec of State, Nicky Morgan MP then presented awards to recognise apprentices in logistics.

Loughborough Scania Motor vehicle apprentice, Ciaran Blakemore was one of those recognised.

Ciaran is an outstanding and knowledgeable team player with a hunger to learn, his cool professionalism is a credit to him. A self-driven individual who is well motivated to add value to the Scania organisation, Ciaran is able to translate the bigger picture into meaningful objectives that enhances the company bottom line.  His can-do attitude is an inspiration to all he works with. His technical knowledge since starting with Scania is at a high level – he has set the bar for future Apprentices and Technicians alike.

Hoping her new qualification will help her career is warehouse apprentice with Office Depot Simona Kundracikova

She has recently completed her 12 month Apprenticeship Programme in Storage and Warehousing through the Logistics School of Excellence at Office Depot in Leicester. Throughout the programme, Simona grew in confidence and has since taken on additional responsibilities that has enabled her to apply for a Team Leader position that has become available. “I found this Apprenticeship Programme extremely informative and not only has it assisted in my day to day role but has enhanced my self-development at Office Depot.”

A driving career beckons for driver apprentice Anthony Smith who has already impressed his bosses at Trucklink.

Anthony recently gained his Category C Licence to drive rigid Heavy Goods Vehicles through the Leicester and Leicestershire Driver Development Programme.  As part of the programme, he was interviewed by Trucklink of Ashby de la Zouch, a member organisation of the Pall-Ex network. They were so impressed that on completion of the training with Data Academy, Anthony was offered a position as a Class 2 Driver. Since starting with the firm in January, Anthony has shown excellent progression in his driving skills on the local roads around Leicester and Loughborough and has now progressed onto his Intermediate Driving Goods Vehicles Apprenticeship with Train Together.  “Anthony has bags of enthusiasm! He has a great ‘can do’ attitude and he wears the Trucklink colours with pride. Anthony is proving to be a valuable asset to the company,” said Nigel Todd, Managing Director, Trucklink.

Employers joined forces for a round table discussion groups.

Welcomed by European Scania boss Laurence Medina, it was standing room only for employers and local economic development experts as LLEP officials hosted a frank exchange of best practice views, led by LMU logistics professor Tracey Worth. Key speakers followed, looking at current topics of concern in the sector.

Andy Cliffe, LLEP board champion for logistics and distribution spoke about the LLEP commitment to logistics. Leicestershire has a central location and an airport, critical growth for economic prosperity lies in logistics performance. LLEP has geographic strength and we want an ambitious plan where logistics contributes strongly into the economy.

Carl Lomas Institute Couriers chairman, spoke about the e-retail logistics focus on the middle England location of the golden triangle of East Midlands. Demonstrating excellence he showcased a pineapple, 6,000 miles to the event, by road, air and sea logistics and talked about the new BIS courier Trailblazer apprenticeship.

Paul Walker DVSA was on hand to talk frankly about road transport logistics in the region. 98,000 goods vehicle operators across the UK, 9000 public service vehicles, 1 million commercial vehicles tested a year of which 400,000 are heavy truck, 155,000 roadside inspections, more than 22,000 serious faults found and many were brake part issues

David Higginbottom, founder and Chief Executive of Driver First Assist (DFA), explained how significant improvements in road safety and reductions in traffic congestion can be achieved. ‘DFA, a not for profit organisation created in partnership with the emergency services, provides drivers with the skills to manage the scene at road traffic collisions and deliver life-saving first aid. Evidence suggests that the DFA approach could result in fatality reduction by as high as 46% and a recent survey revealed 76% of professional drivers would be willing to train as DFA members.’

Tracey Worth, Professor of Logistics at LMU chaired the key round table discussion groups for employers to input vision to the LLEP future strategy for logistics and distribution in the region.

It’s not too late to have your view, LLEP want your answers, surf the web to a ten minute survey that will put your voice into the future strategy of logistics in the LLEP region.

Survey Monkey address… to make you opinion count today.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XV7HTSG

Matthew Watson, Scania GB, organised site tours to finish. Split into small groups guests were given full details on the apprenticeship training at the centre as they walked the spotless white tile floor of the workshop, between the wagons, alongside the buses and coaches, practical and theory balanced between interactive classrooms and best of the best workshops.