Toshiba Air Conditioning has become the lead sponsor of SkillFRIDGE, the national UK skills competition designed to reward excellence and drive up standards across the ACR industry.

David Dunn, director and general manager of Toshiba Air Conditioning and CIAT Ozonair (pictured), said: “SkillFRIDGE is a fantastic initiative that incentivises and rewards aspiring apprentices and trainees – the industry’s standard bearers and potential leaders of tomorrow – in pursuit of excellence. We are delighted to be involved and will be giving the events across this year and next our wholehearted support.”

Over this year, SkillFRIDGE has been undertaking regional heats across the UK to identify the best up-and-coming ACR industry talent around the country. The highest scoring competitors have been invited to take part in the national finals, which takes place at The Skills Show at the NEC, 17 to 19 November.

The event provides a national showcase for the brightest young talent emerging in five skills sectors: Engineering and Technology, Media and Creative, IT and Enterprise, Hospitality and Lifestyle, Construction and Infrastructure. The winners in each field may go on to represent the UK in the WorldSkills championships internationally.

David Dunn added: “As a global leader in high efficiency, high performance air conditioning, a key part of our role is to support and encourage the industry to improve the level of technical knowledge and skills. We as a company are committed to this cause, and have invested in a national network of air conditioning training centres to provide high quality technical and hands-on training for customers.

He added: “It is obviously in everyone’s interests to raise the bar, from the quality of design and installation through to commissioning and ongoing servicing throughout the equipment life-cycle.”

Toshiba’s support for SkillFRIDGE is part of a long-term programme the company has been pursuing to raise skill levels and standards among installers and service engineers. In addition to its award-winning network of training centres, it recently launched a pioneering warranty scheme that provides levels of cover in line with the installer’s competence rather than size of spend.

Toshiba also supports installers in upgrading their installation and servicing tools by including state-of-the-art equipment as a key component in the benefits and incentives package offered to customers.

The company’s commitment to safeguarding the environment was demonstrated by becoming the first UK air conditioning supplier to be certified as Carbon Neutral. Toshiba is equally concerned about minimising the impact of refrigerants on the environment, and has developed a unique suite of technologies to detect and manage refrigerant leaks in working systems.

“We very much look forward to the forthcoming national SkillFRIDGE finals in Birmingham. In previous years, trainees with Toshiba customers have featured among the winners. However, in true Olympic spirit, we will be cheering on all contestants to excel in their own competitions!”