Posted 30 May 2014
It’s been a good start to the year with the new home automation cables launched at the ISE exhibition (Integrated Systems Europe) in Amsterdam. The show had record attendance with excellent UK visitor numbers and serious interest for our export company FSC Global. It’s always good to talk to customers face to face but in such a fast changing market as home automation it’s essential.
At the beginning of February we moved the office staff into a new 12,000 sq. ft building next door to our existing 55,000 sq. ft warehouse. This gives us the opportunity to take on more people, both experienced and apprentices. Youth unemployment is a major problem with around 3 times the national average of unemployed people being under 25. We hope to take on six apprentices before the end of the year, whilst it won’t cure the problem, every little helps!
2014 looks to have all the ingredients of being a good year. Not great, but good. The media is now talking about a recovery which helps confidence which in turn leads to investment which is what a recovery is all about.
The potential stumbling blocks for many companies are shortages of both skills and materials.
We embarked on an apprenticeship recruitment programme early in 2008 and this has paid dividends with a group of people that have worked in all parts of the company and understand what we are capable of and how best to meet customer needs.
Many customers are reporting a positive start for 2014 with some looking for us to hold dedicated stock for them, delivered on a next day basis. Properly organised this can offer significant advantages both in terms of cost savings and guaranteed supplies.