Midlands Enterprise Awards 2021

73 | Midlands Enterprise Awards 2021 Qualitrain is a leading, matrix-accredited training provider on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) that delivers both funded and full cost training which encompasses engineering and manufacturing as well as business improvement techniques, powered equipment, warehousing and storage, quality and management. Its clients include companies such as Bombardier (Alstom), BCA and Amazon. Qualitrain’s core values are respect, support, honesty, integrity, inspiration and loyalty. Each of these are weaved into the close work it does with customers to develop and deliver training programmes through its expertise in real- world environments. Having trained and qualified thousands of candidates across the whole of the UK, it aims to obtain a deep understanding of each business’ needs, offering a bespoke service for the organisation and their learners. The target is on achieving tangible, quantifiable, bottom- line benefits shown in quality, cost, delivery, and health and safety. In addition to this, Qualitrain provides assessment support for competency management systems as well as training on core competencies. Qualitrain’s highly qualified training team has many years’ experience working within the sectors it serves. Their wealth of knowledge and experience are invaluable to the learners they teach. Also, Qualitrain is ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 27001 (Information Security Management) and accredited Silver investors in people. While these are not compulsory qualifications for the business, these contribute to its industrial credibility. The Midlands is the perfect central hub for Qualitrain. As well as being a fantastic location geographically, there is a strong manufacturing and engineering base in the Midlands. Derbyshire in particular has a strong rail and automotive presence, which include some of the company’s biggest customers. While its trainers and assessors work throughout the county, Qualitrain currently has two facilities based in Derbyshire – one at Pride Park in Derby and another office in Alfreton. Qualitrain operates a lean culture, which is zero blame and solution-oriented. All of its people are Best Performance Improvement Training Provider 2021 avid problem solvers and they have the ability to deliver training in an industrial setting. This quality ensures its trainers have the relevant experience and knowledge of doing the job they are teaching, a truly valuable asset to learners. These solution-oriented and problem solving qualities also meant that the team had the drive and competence to do all they could to help the business make it through the pandemic. The pandemic effectively brought an end to face-to-face learning overnight, and like many businesses the first national lockdown of March 2020 resulted in a huge and sudden revenue drop. As a company, it knew that to survive it would need to change the way it worked and the way it delivered education to its learners to ensure they received the best possible learning journey in the safest way possible. Over the next six months, Qualitrain changed almost everything; from its e-learning platforms, right through to the resources and practical activities it uses to train and coach. Everything had to be redone and it couldn’t afford to outsource it, so its team had to do it themselves. With the support of its whole team and IT partners, it built exactly what was needed to thrive. Its documents are now electronic and the vast majority of them don’t need human interventions, which has dramatically reduced the administration time needed for the team. When teaching began online, it wasn’t an instant success, as the company had hoped. It was a lot of change to get used to and the initial feedback was critical, however the team continued working towards its goal. It experimented daily, quickly fixing any problems along the way and continuously listening to customer feedback. Now, over 18 months from the start of the pandemic, the way Qualitrain operates is barely recognisable. The opportunities that technology provided enabled effective teaching, both online and face-to-face. Instantaneous customer feedback shows that over 80% of customers rate the company and its services between 8 and 10 out of 10! Qualitrain is now working with some of the biggest and best customers in the world. It is incredibly proud of the team’s achievements and is committed to continuously growing and improving. Richard Bates, Qualitrain CEO said, “We’re proud to say that our continuous improvement efforts have meant we are coming out of the other side of the pandemic stronger than ever. In October 2021, we will be opening our own engineering training division based in Alfreton. Covering the East Midlands, we will be using this setting to deliver level 2 and level 3 engineering, as well as welding and fabrication apprenticeships and short courses.” Company: Qualitrain Ltd Contact: Richard Bates, CEO Email: [email protected] Website: www.qualitrain.co.uk Aug21858