A businessman from Newcastle-under-Lyme, who attracted national media attention by calling for an apprenticeship in smartphone repairs, is now urging potential industry partners to support his bid to set one up.
Adam Whitehouse, owner and founder of TMT First, was interviewed on the BBC about how to meet the growing demand for specialists to carry out the repairs.
Adam, whose company was founded in 2006 and is a Samsung authorised repair centre operating across the UK, has set up his own in-house training academy leading to 58 jobs being created.
On average they repair between 8,000 to 10,000 mobile phones every month but that figure is continuing to rise. The need for repairs is so high he has doubled his workforce in the past two years.
He said: “Statistics show that there are around 71 million mobile phones in the UK alone and around 40 million cars on the roads.
If our cars break down, we get them fixed, fixing a mobile device should be the norm rather than the exception. It shouldn’t be a case of if your mobile breaks, you instantly think about getting a new one.
“There needs to be the resources in place to make repairs a go-to option – it’s better for a customer’s pocket and is certainly much better for the environment.
“There are around 600 apprenticeships operating in the UK including car mechanic ones, but there isn’t one for digital device repairs. It doesn’t make sense. If we want to keep technology alive for longer then that has to change.”
He added: “As it stands there just aren’t enough skilled technicians available to repair all the devices that need fixing.
“We’re doing all we can through our in-house academy but going forward as the number of devices grows across the UK, the skills shortage will only increase, as their simply won’t be enough mobile device engineers to repair them.
“We want to change that and are calling for a nationally recognised Digital Device Repair Technician apprenticeship to be created.
“If there are any manufacturers or industry partners who would like to support the creation of the apprenticeship, I’d urge them to get in touch with me directly so we can push forward with it together.”
