Training for profit
Issue: Spring 2010
Geoff Dossetter, of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), says that professional training is an essential investment leading to increased efficiency and profits
Tradition has it that one of the first victims of any recession is the training budget. Companies looking to carefully manage expenditure frequently succumb to the temptation to suspend all external training until times improve on the assumption that this will save money and maximise staff productivity. It is a false assumption. Properly trained and efficient staff are the most valuable asset of most companies.
The logistics industry is one of the most complex operations on the industrial landscape. Inevitably, its personnel need to learn and understand not just the operation of the storage and distribution process itself, but the application of that process in terms of the many thousands of different items, with different storage characteristics and life cycles, which have to be taken care of. The range goes from food and drink and hygiene associated items, through to dangerous, poisonous or explosive goods, to abnormal loads, to toxic waste, and to everything else that needs to be moved.
The sector employs some 2.3 million people and it is not surprising that there is now an enormous choice of task-specific qualifications, together with the training options designed to achieve those qualifications, across the whole of the logistics industry. Some of these qualifications are a statutory requirement, others a desirable signal of specialist expertise which provide increased expertise for individuals, enhancing the performance of their job, whilst developing that individual and providing him or her with valuable evidence of their particular skills.
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) is the logistics industry’s professional organisation with a membership of some 20,000 individuals who have achieved a mix of academic training, professional development and on-the-job experience. CILT provides information, advice and guidance on all stages of career development with a comprehensive range of training courses and a complete Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme, together with a mentoring service and graduate schemes. Membership of the Institute, ultimately leading to Fellowship, is the recognised signal of professional status within the logistics and transport industry.
The Institute works in partnership with other trade and professional associations , government agencies, training providers and employers, to ensure that the qualification and development programmes it delivers meet the needs of member organisations and are applicable in the real world.
The Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) is, of course, the key qualification required by individuals within companies requiring an Operators’ Licence in order to carry goods in connection with a trade or business. Regulations require specific CPC holders to manage a transport operation for a company designated by the traffic areas which manage the process. But training towards qualification for the CPC itself is regarded as a helpful management skill and many companies build that into their staff development programmes. Many organisations, including CILT, offer training programmes targeted at achieving the CPC.
Transport regulations are constantly changing – the transport and logistics industry is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the UK. Prudent operators are therefore wise to take advantage of the variety of update seminars and courses regularly available. The CILT itself offers a CPC Refresher course which both reminds delegates of overall regulations and pays particular attention to recent developments.
Other CILT courses covering individual disciplines include the Management of Dangerous Goods, Warehouse Management, Supply Chain Awareness and Project Management.
In March 2010 the sector skills council for the freight logistics industry, Skills for Logistics, was relicensed by the Government. Skills for Logistics is tasked with identifying the skills and productivity needs of the logistics sector and to promote the careers opportunities and training facilities available.
Welcoming the relicensing, CILT Chief Executive Steve Agg said: “Skills for Logistics plays a vital role in developing the expertise of our current workforce… and makes a contribution to the maintenance and progression of skills and training to the benefit of both employers and employees.”
Training is not a luxury indulgence to be taken only in the good times. It is an investment in the substance of any company – the personnel. The better the training, then the better the performance. And the better the profits!
For further information, contact The Chartered Institute of Transport in the UK on Tel: 01536 740100, Fax: 01536 740101, E-mail: enquiry@cilt.org.uk or visit: www.ciltuk.org.uk
Published: 27/04/2010
