Owning and running a successful family business is a big achievement for Rick and Sue Bell of Bell’s Transport Bendigo, and they are determined to ensure their business is ready now that their son Taylor has taken the wheel as General Manager for the company.
Established in the 1950s, Bell’s Transport Bendigo started out running a pet shop and transporting stockfeed, pet feed, horses and skins.
When Rick Bell was offered the chance to be a carrier for Orica Australia, he saw this as a great opportunity to grow the business.
Since then, Bell’s Transport Bendigo has gone from strength to strength, providing transport and logistic services to the chemical industry.
With 17 employees working in varying roles across the organisation, Rick and Sue were having difficulties finding relevant training to meet the needs of all the staff.
“For our company, the main issues we faced were in recruitment and training," Bell says.
"Trying to find qualified personnel and the cost and time of training was challenging as the onus was on us to ensure staff were able to complete daily tasks safely.”
“In the Transport and Distribution industry, safety is our number one priority so we wanted to make sure the training we provide to our staff is relevant to the work we do.”
The Bells were keen to sign on for Skills for Growth: the Workforce Development Program, registering in May 2009 after discussions with TDT Victoria — one of 25 Service Providers tasked to deliver the Program.
“Registering for the Program was a great way to up-skill our staff and receiving assistance from the Victorian Government was an opportunity we couldn’t overlook,” Sue Bell says.
The Program provides businesses with their choice of an independent specialist to work with business owners and their staff, at no cost, to review staff skills, plan for the future and identify training opportunities for employees.
“We wanted to develop the skills of our staff to ensure we were creating a safe workplace for current and future staff while learning to run our business operations more efficiently.”
In addition to training needs, the Bells were also looking to improve the current systems and procedures in place at their organisation — with particular focus on reporting and record keeping.
The Bells needed an outsider to look at the business and identify areas where improvement was necessary.
The independent specialist assisted Rick and Sue to develop a Business Diagnostic and Action Plan which entailed an onsite assessment with special focus on workforce planning, staff training needs and skills development.
By itemising the strategic priorities of the business and identifying barriers to business performance and opportunities for improvement, Bells Transport now has a customised training plan for all employees and make referrals to relevant training programs.
“Through the Program, all of our staff will now undertake training in areas like Logistics Management, Occupational Health and Safety, Business Administration, Transport, Logistics and Training and Assessment," says Rick.
"This will enable Taylor to train onsite in the future and will save him a lot of time and stress.
“We look forward to seeing the business progress and expand in Taylor’s hands as a direct result from participating in the Skills for Growth Program.
"We are very pleased with the assistance that has been provided to us and highly recommend it to other operators in the transport industry.”
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