Launched in 2004 as a one man band, Winch Solutions has developed over the years to be a leading distributor of winches, hoists and generators across the UK and Europe. Having recently relocated to a new premises, Winch Solutions is expecting growth and expanding into new markets.
To deal with new demand in orders and support the growth of their business, the company put two of their Warehousing Apprentices through Fork Lift Truck licence training through St Helens Chamber’s Business School.
Gary Povall, General Manager, commented: “The most beneficial side of things is that we have more people now that can drive fork lift trucks if we have sickness or holidays. We have more people within the business who can operate the fork lifts and take on the deliveries, unloading, loading and maintaining the warehouse in an organised fashion.
“Previously, without George and Craig having a licence we were relying on two people, so if one had a day off it wouldn’t work out as we needed two people to handle a delivery.
“The staff at the Chamber have never said no to anything we’ve asked them to do, they have bent over backwards and made the course bespoke to our needs.
“I think for our Apprentices the best aspect has been the supportive nature in the way the training is delivered. Although they were doing the course at the same time, the two lads are very different in learning style, and the trainer adapted to get the best out of them. The training was delivered in a timely fashion, nothing moved on until everyone reached the same level of competency, Mike was never afraid to go back over old ground to make sure it all sunk in.”
The Chamber provides forklift driving training on company premises using company equipment, with both one day refresher courses and five day novice courses available.
Gary added: “The fork lift training has been brilliant, what I’ve seen from the Chambers training team I’m 100% happy with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend St Helens Chamber. There was no down time in the warehouse which is fantastic from our point of view. Being able to maintain our current levels of work and output while the guys were getting trained on site was invaluable.
“I’m glad the Chamber is there to engage with, it’s so diverse in what’s on offer. I think a lot of businesses don’t understand what the Chamber does. We’ve taken time to find out and the benefits of what’s on offer from the Chamber have been phenomenal. Anybody who doesn’t talk to them is missing a trick, we’ll be using the Chamber for everything we can to support our business and develop our staff.”
For more information about Business Training from St Helens Chamber Business School, contact our Workforce Development Team on 01744 742333 or email workforce@sthelenschamber.com.
