Manchester Solutions

Dear Chamber Members,

As our valued members, I wanted to write to thank you for your continued support of the Chamber and Automotive and Logistics Solutions, and I'd like to use this letter - and others which will follow - to develop our relationship with you.

 I would also like to use this opportunity to remind you of what your membership entitles you to, and encourage you to get in touch with us if you think we can help or advise in any way.

 As the Sector Director for Automotive and Logistics Solutions, it's important that I keep you up to date with developments at the Chamber and more importantly, on what is happening in your sector and how we can help you as a business. We deliver a huge range of services on behalf of Greater Manchester Chamber and through us, you can access all the Chamber's membership benefits, plus a host of other services to help you grow your business.

 A recent and major improvement to our sector offer has been to bring Automotive and Logistics together into one much larger sector. This seemed a sensible move as many of the industry issues are common and we can offer the current business support to logistics companies with the minimum of fuss. Many of the sector offers, particularly insurance and waste removal are being further developed to broaden their appeal. The addition of CPC training is a first step to providing the sort of services that we believe employers are looking for but we welcome any feedback from members that may enable us to further develop our services.

Firstly, may I tell you about some new member benefits? 

• Our partnership with Swinton Commercial, the business insurance division of Swinton, to provide discounted motor trade insurance to Chamber members continues to provide real and substantial savings for our members. We know that insurance for business is expensive and this partnership with Swinton has shown real benefits and has already saved lots of our members and customers large sums of money. If you are interested in finding out more, please feel free to contact us for details. 

• We're also talking to Swinton about arranging a new deal purely for the haulage industry and we'll let you know more details on this as soon as we have them.

  

• We have developed a partnership with Credential Automotive, who are providing our members with a high quality waste management service at considerable cost reductions. They are part of the larger Credential Environmental Group and as such will be able to offer a wider waste management service to the whole of the logistics sector. This partnership offers competitive discounted prices for Chamber members and gives complete peace of mind that waste is being disposed of in a safe manner that complies with legislation. They also offer a one stop service for all of the industry waste disposal streams.

  

• New to the sector membership package is our ability to offer the full range of CPC Transport Manager and CPC Driver qualifications through Bolton University. Chamber members will be offered a discount of up to 25%.

 

• Bolton University also offer a host of Health and Safety qualifications all at discounted rates to our members.

 

• You may also have seen Apprenticeships in the headlines recently or even seen our own campaign which we are currently running. It's a big time for young people right now and for employers, taking on an apprentice these days is easier than ever. We offer a free recruitment service for employers and 1,200 of you already do this with us. We have a range of automotive industry apprenticeships available and what's more, full funding is provided for most Apprenticeships. Customer services and Parts and Distribution qualifications have recently been added to our offer and I intend to add sales advisor qualifications in the near future.

  

• In addition to the traditional apprenticeships offer adult (over 25) apprenticeships plus Train to Gain qualifications which offer NVQs to those over 19.

  

• I'd also like to make you aware of our SkillCentre in Trafford Park which we have invested heavily in, providing access to state-of-the-art training facilities for young people, adults and businesses. The SkillCentre embraces our aspirations to improve the quality and provision of flexible training in Greater Manchester and we use it to recruit and train many of our apprentices. Light Vehicle apprenticeships and also body and paint apprenticeships are currently available at the SkillCentre and all other qualifications can be delivered via our partner colleges across England. A one day refrigerant handling qualification is also available which can be booked for most Fridays.

  

• Did you know that you can now get your own free Regus Goldcard if you visit the homepage of our website www.gmchamber.co.uk This will give you unlimited, walk-in access to 950 global business lounges - including seven across Greater Manchester - complimentary internet and refreshments, plus 10% discount on meeting rooms. This will be particularly helpful to you if you travel the North West or the UK and need to arrange meetings or just catch up on emails and calls. Simply follow the links to request your card today.

We want to make our vast and varied offering of services available to you in a simple way, through one sector contact and one organisation, Greater Manchester Chamber. If you would like any further information on your membership or any of the services above, please email me directly at ian.watson@automotive-solutions.org.uk or contact me or my team directly on 0161 876 3300.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Watson