A new programme is changing the way apprentices learn about the automotive industry and ensuring they are better prepared for the challenges they will face in it.

Driving the move is the recognition that the industry has become more dependent on computers. And HWP, in conjunction with the National Training Board and the Bermuda College, is working to ensure apprentices are schooled to current industry needs.

"We have two or three people within our management team that are closely involved with the National Training Board and with the Bermuda College in actually helping to design the training programme," said HWP president and CEO Jonathan Brewin.

"I think that's the big issue whereas, maybe in the past, it's been producing students to a certain standard but that standard hasn't always matched what the industry needs. When you consider the technology that's developed in the last ten years, it's just outstanding.

"Our mechanical shops for instance, most of our guys are using laptop computers to analyse the health of a car. It's no longer taking a hammer or a spanner to it. It's really plugging in and seeing what the computer's saying. So it's a science that's changing the whole time."

The CEO made his comments in the wake of several new management appointments within the HWP Group, stating that the promotions bore out the intent behind the training scheme ¿ ensuring talented Bermudians move forward.

Mr. Brewin named Harry Andrews as vice-president of Customer Service; Allan Ilderton as vice-president of Group Parts; John Corday as acting assistant vice-president of Automotive Sales; Michael Rawlings as senior sales manager of the Cycle Division; and Craig Earls as sales manager of the Automotive Division. And he welcomed Calvin Iris to the company as the new manager of Bermuda Shine.

"Having a strong management team is essential for the successful operation of our business and I am delighted to be announcing these promotions today and to welcome Calvin to the company," the CEO added.

"One of our corporate goals at HWP is to hire and promote highly-skilled professionals who share our vision for excellent customer service. I am confident that the combined experience and leadership that Harry, Allan, John, Mike, Craig and Calvin bring to their positions will have a positive impact on our company as we move forward."

The company was incorporated in 1948 and its strong ties to Bermuda are evidenced by its faith in the local workforce.

"The shareholders always had this commitment to the Bermudianisation of this company," Mr. Brewin explained. "I think we're running, at the moment, with 180 staff and I think of that 180 we've probably got 16, 17 (people on work) permits.

"They tend to be in the technical areas and that's where our difficulty lies. Mechanical engineering's getting so much more sophisticated and we haven't previously had the home-grown talent that we could draw from to develop, send away, etc., so that we'd have adequate number of mechanics to look after the cars and the motorcycles that are brought here."

The CEO said a number of initiatives are now in place in addition to HWP's partnership with the NTB and the Bermuda College.

"We're now really active in trying to understand what our needs are going forward. We've already established a new apprentice programme ¿ we have five apprentices at the moment.

"We went through an exercise last year which was quite expensive in terms of, not just the money to put it on, but also the time away from work," he said, in explaining that 20 of the company's managers undertook an AMA management course in conjunction with the Bermuda College.

"The other thing we're really pushing home now is an international standard called Investors in People. It's a whole management culture in itself. We were already accredited under that programme back in 2003 and we're building up for re-evaluation, probably early in the New Year.

"We also have our own in-house training manager, Lenny Henderson, who is specifically tasked to train mechanical staff. He acts as a liaison with all the manufacturers we work with, but he literally puts in place training programmes for the individual technicians and the apprentices.

"And we have an online facility where they can go up into their training room and they can actually learn about new developments sitting at a computer. So there's quite a lot of things happening here to try and continue the efforts of promoting from within.

"Of the management promotions (announced), all but one are Bermudian or a spouse of. We're really delighted that we've seen (employees) come up through the organisation through not just their momentum, their initiative and their wish to take on more and more responsibilities, but through us developing them as they've gone along. I'm really excited. There are a number of people around me who I can see, in due course, will have the skill sets to take on more and more senior roles."

Part of his role is to ensure that staff remain motivated to meet the company's goal of satisfying the customer. Mr. Brewin acknowledges that HWP's reputation hasn't always been the best in that respect but says he has seen a significant turnaround in recent years.

"I think in any organisation you're always going to get a certain number of people who would prefer to be somewhere else but in the main I believe that our employees enjoy working for HWP and they're hoping to see us continue to develop further and further," he stated.

"Certainly, when I became CEO back in 1999, our (public) perception was pretty horrible. People felt that we really didn't pay any attention to customers' service needs.

"I think we've worked very hard to try and address that. Of course people's expectation levels now have ramped up considerably since 1999 so we're trying to keep ahead of that gain but I think we're doing a lot more to not just train our staff - in fact they developed the customer service principles and standards that we use."

Each staff member is assessed according to how they treat customers and/or their colleagues.

"We put everybody through customer service training and we do our best to ensure that it's part of their annual appraisal system from which we then derive their personal development plans, their training plans - and that happens for every member of staff.

"The complaints I get now are really to do with us not always following up. And that's something we're hitting very hard ¿ making sure that we keep people up to date with what's happening with their car or their bike or their appliance."