Promoting the industry with a Hollywood-style approach FOUR ROAD transport
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operators have teamed up with the National Skills Academy for Logistics (NSAL) to shoot a film that will be used to promote the industry to young people.
The idea came from a local forum of logistics employers, established by Midlands business implementation manager for NSAL Richard Brewer. He said: "Our central advisory board was set up 15 months ago and consists of half a dozen local logistics companies. We discussed the possibility of creating a film to attract young people into the sector and got in touch with North Warwickshire and Hinckley College to see if their media students would like to get involved — and they did."
Maxim Logistics, TNT, Walkers Snack Foods and White Logistics have provided vehicles for the opening sequence, filmed recently at Throckmorton airfield in Worcestershire [pictured]. The next stage of the filming commences this week.
"The idea is that this film introduces young people to logistics, showing that it's not just about trucks and warehouses, but that all sorts of different roles and opportunities exist," said Malcolm Pickup, head of people perform ance and development at TNT.
The film will be made up of around 15 interviews with employees from all four companies.
"We want to show that people from different backgrounds work in the industry in varying functions. The film will feature them telling their success stories and giving their views of the opportunities in logistics," added Pickup.
One of the interviews will be with an accounts apprentice at White Logistics who had been offered a university place for accountancy. The funding required frightened him, so he turned it down to look for an apprenticeship.
Another interview will be with a driver at TNT who came into the industry late as a second career, while Walkers has put forward its network support manager, a vehicle maintenance young apprentice and a traffic planner.
Dan Holland, operations director at White Logistics, told CM: "We all need to look after the future of our industry. We know that the average age of drivers is quite high, so we have to try and bring in the younger generation."
The aim of the initiative is to have the logistics film ready to roll out in September. Brewer added: "We want employers across the industry to use the film to promote the sector."