Get information about our TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS and ELIGIBILITY.
» How to apply
Latest Success Stories
Electrical contractors keep ahead of current trends
16/07/2008
Coalville electrical contractors, Electract Ltd, have been in business since 1950 and have seen changes in technology and customer’s requirements. They know that to keep as market leaders, they need to invest in new skills and innovation.
Electract specialises in electrical installations in schools, apartment blocks, hospitals, warehouses and new homes sites. They have a £12million turnover and 116 staff, and currently invest in the training of up to 25 apprentices.
New, faster working practices, require sophisticated communication systems, enabling plans to be shared electronically and to be available to contractors on site as the press of a computer key so they turned to Leicester based East Midlands New Technology Initiative (NTI) for a grant to purchase the equipment they needed, and to source staff training.
Now design work is produced on computer software and can be shared by internet or CD between contractors and clients – saving a considerable amount of time and paper.
Electract director, Richard Malpas says the training, laptops, software and necessary licences have changed the way they work: “We have been able to quote more work in-house, our engineers can log onto the main computer and view the plans while out on site, and we are able to communicate much quicker with all the parties involved in our work. As plans were previously printed on massive A0 size paper I feel we are saving the rainforest and the environment by dramatically reducing the amount of printing we need to do.”
Electract is enrolling employees on Computer Aided Design system courses. Richard added: “We continually embrace latest technological developments and advances, offering these to our valued customers, with the emphasis on providing maximum efficiency and value for money. That can only be achieved if our staff , and the new generation of engineers – our apprentices – have the opportunity to keep up to date with latest skill developments. The NTI people were able to talk through the process and give us the information we needed.”