Electrical News
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Malcolm Duncan has been the managing director of Super Rod since 2007.
Despite his dad being an electrician, he decided aged 16 he didn’t fancy working in the field and worked in production and journalism at a newspaper – but five years later he decided to turn to the electrical industry, where he has worked ever since.
Malcolm believes there should be more clarity as to what apprenticeships can offer young people as a different option from going to university.
SPARKS: How did you get into the electrical industry?
Malcolm Duncan: My dad was an electrician, which is how I got into the game in the first place. I decided I didn’t want to work in the field at 16 – it was too much like hard work! But I came back into it five years later, after working for a newspaper doing production and journalism for the music pages. I went to work for a wholesaler and ran that for ten years – one branch, two branches, multiple branches. Then I went to work for a manufacturer, in various roles, for about ten years. Ultimately, I took over Super Rod and that’s where the fun begins!
SPARKS: Tell us a bit about how you got involved in Super Rod.
MD: The original guy from Super Rod brought me some basic products to look at. Using the experience I’d gained from working with my dad, we got quite heavily involved in the design, which led to me taking over the business and really growing Super Rod to what it is now – both in the UK and across Europe and the States as well. The key driver has always been to eliminate wasted time – everything we looked at and designed, we looked at taking the frustration and time out of the job for the contractor. Klein Tools took a stake in my business a couple of years ago.
SPARKS: What are your thoughts on the current state of the electrical industry?
MD: It’s interesting at the moment. The overall industry is a little bit flat, but I think people who are delivering innovation, doing things differently and have their finger on the pulse continue to grow – that’s certainly true in our case. Some of our competitors are struggling, but the market isn’t doing us any favours, there’s a huge amount of uncertainty around Brexit. My big concern is there’s going to be quite serious labour shortages – we are already seeing that in certain parts of the country. People aren’t recruiting apprentices, and ultimately that will leave us in a bit of a mess for years to come.
SPARKS: Why do you think companies aren’t recruiting as many apprentices?
MD: I just think people are nervous about taking them on. We started our apprenticeship programme where we issue tools and we’ve helped around 6,000 in the last three years. That’s nearly 6,000 apprentices who’ve started their lives off with a Klein Tools kit, in association with JTL. That’s something we’re quite proud of; we want to encourage people to take on apprentices. The big discussion point I’ve got is that we need to attract smarter individuals into the apprenticeship game. Some guys working at JTL are phenomenal. Going back 20 years, you only had three wires to think about but it’s now a lot more complex. I don’t think as an industry we do a great job of saying what a great place it is to work.
SPARKS: Why should people take up apprenticeships?
MD: I don’t think it’s right for everyone, there needs to be an informed debate about apprenticeships versus university degrees. You can get an apprenticeship to be an architect, accountant or lawyer – it’s not just the traditional routes of electrician and plumber. There is a huge lack of clarity which makes it difficult for parents, students, young people, difficult to make an informed choice. I have two daughters: one has been to university, one who hasn’t as she’s 14. It’s not a clear route for them to take. I don’t think the apprenticeship is widely understood outside the core trades.
SPARKS: Do you think there is a gap between training and the industry?
MD: I think when people go down the apprenticeship route, they are a lot closer to what the employer is looking for, they’ve been part of the process to shape the individual. If someone’s done a degree, they are a little remote from the employer going through that process.