Automotive lighting specialist provides training to apprentices
Automotive lighting specialist Osram recently offered training and advice to apprentices at North London Garages GTA.
With apprentices being a significant part of the future of the automotive aftermarket, Osram says it is dedicated to assisting in their education, which is why representatives from the business recently conducted a training session for 32 apprentices.
Taking place at North London Garages GTA in Enfield, more than 30 apprentices, including some from the RAC, took part in the training day to learn about bulb technology, business opportunities when it comes to upselling and fitting bulbs and the importance of fitting quality products.
Lighting marketing manager, Terri Clark, was one of the two representatives delivering the training on the day. She said: “We were pleased to see so many apprentices there and were encouraged by how engaged they were in the material we were presenting them. Many of them stated that they wanted to one day own a garage, and bulb sales can provide a fantastic profit margin, especially if they’re charging for bulb fitment, replacing in pairs and offering an upgrade bulb – tasks that we encourage every garage and technician to do.
“There’s a lot of money to be made in bulbs, but we don’t see many workshops taking this opportunity, which is why we want to teach the apprentices in the industry why they should be charging for this and how it benefits them, as well as their customers.”
Marketing director for Ring (Osram’s UK subsidiary), Henry Bisson, conducted this training alongside Terri and he commented: “We heard about Colin Denton, who is Chief Executive at North London Garages, through another company in the industry, Schaeffler, and their work with Colin and his apprentices. Once we saw them providing training, we thought we should offer to help as well. These apprentices are hopefully the ones who are going to be in our industry for the next 40 years and to give up a few hours of our day to speak to them and offer them some advice, information and guidance is the least we could do.
“Our industry is crying out for trained technicians and as there’s a programme in London that’s training apprentices and helping them find jobs, we should be supporting these kind of programmes because without them, our industry will dwindle rapidly. We’re thrilled that our training was so well received by the apprentices, as well as the staff at the garage, and we hope to continue to help in this way.”