A new training programme from Gates has helped boost sales revenue across its range of replacement parts by 11%.

The Power Grip Kit products, which have been available since 1996, have seen the highest increase in sales.

“Gates has a new training programme in place for the Power Grip Kit range that teaches garages to fit the whole kit, rather than just the belt,” explains Philip Firth, Gates’ regional sales manager.

So far, 60 training sessions have been carried out, all organized by Gates together with independent motor factors distributing its products.

Firth says: “Between 10 and 40 garages are represented at each training session. We are looking to treble the amount of programmes next year and to increase our sales revenue by a further 9%.”

In order to help achieve this target and strengthen the training portfolio, Andrew Vaux has been appointed to head technical support and training for Gates in the UK and Ireland. He started in the role, which was newly created by Gates, in May.

Meanwhile, Gates is continuing to expand its product range having announced a joint venture with Winhere Automotive earlier this year. The new company will allow Gates to increase its product coverage of replacement water pumps for passenger cars, light trucks and heavy duty vehicles, which will be on sale in early 2007. Manufacturing operations will take place at an existing Winhere facility in Yantai in north-east China.