Affiliates, apprenticeships and avoiding the ‘Clarkson’ issue

In this month’s column, Nigel Flowers introduces a new affiliate membership scheme and ‘steers’ clear of all things Top Gear…

You will be pleased to know that I intend to stay clear of the two most controversial issues currently in the news, the election and Jeremy Clarkson.

Instead, I would like to take this opportunity to bring you up to date with recent development at the PMMDA. As many of you will be aware, the association has been going through a period of positive change and to continue that theme the membership of the association has been ‘opened up’ to include affiliate members. What is an affiliate member? Well, this new category of membership is designed to attract companies who are actively supporting our industry but are not equipment suppliers. For example, equipment installers and freight companies, as well as oil and ancillary service providers, are just a couple of examples.

Affiliate members will enjoy many of the benefits that full membership brings, but, most importantly, provides the opportunity to network and shape our industry. If anyone would like further information please contact either Nikki or myself at: pmmda@pmmda.org.uk

There is a ‘little bit of politics’ that I would like to touch on, namely the recent figures from the ONS that reveal despite manufacturing enjoying the highest level of investment in over 10 years, there has been a steady decline in weekly earnings over the same period and that the fall was larger for low-skilled (minus 14 percent) occupations compared to highly skilled (minus 10 percent), which proved more resilient. 

For a successful and vibrant future for our industry, we need to see sustained and focused investment in training and apprenticeships. Apprenticeships make sense because they deliver added value – companies must be prepared to invest in people on this basis and not simply use training and apprentices as a source of government handouts.