Apprenticeships initiative
December 1st 2011 The British Industrial Truck
Association (BITA) and City of
Bristol College have announced a new
strategic partnership, with the aim of
ensuring the continued availability of
qualified engineers for the forklift
truck industry, while also boosting
awareness of valuable engineering
career opportunities for young
people.
Working together, BITA and City
of Bristol College have created two
much-needed services. First of all, a
BITA Programme Training Manager
has been appointed to create a
management link between the
academic community and the
materials handling sector. Karl Baum,
City of Bristol College's business
development manager in Transport &
Engineering Technology, will be
heading up the operational team.
Secondly, a new training facility,
the BITA Academy, has been created
at the City of Bristol College's
Transport Technology for Fork Lift
Trucks facility on the Parkway
campus, north of Bristol. Apprentices
pursuing the College's Institute of the
Motor Industry (IMI) accredited
Diploma in FLT engineering may
now graduate with a BITA-branded
'IMI Quality Assured' certificate.
Recruitment will begin in December
2011.
"We need to see significant
numbers of apprentices joining the
forklift engineering sector to replace
retiring employees, if we want to
reverse our current ageing profile,"
comments Tim Waples (pictured),
president of BITA. "That's why we
committed to create an Industry
Apprentice Manager at our AGM in
May 2011. Thanks to a great deal of
hard work by BITA Board member
Bill Goodwin who has led this
project, we have negotiated a
partnership with City of Bristol
College that has met—and
exceeded—our goals." More articles from BITA: | 
