A friend of the family who manufactures and fits anything from high-end furniture for expensive apartments in the smart parts of London, to reception desks and other bespoke furniture and fittings for even smarter hotels and designer stores globally, had a perfect start to 2018... He's being trained up to operate the company's CAD equipment.

As well as the lure of 'moving up to the offices' (as if his skills on the shop floor aren't quite as valuable as office work) he's excited because this means he's going to be the only one in the organisation who's able to both design and manufacture the company's wares.

Now I don't know much about CAD systems and perhaps they've moved on a lot since I was shown how they operate at a manufacturer's press launch almost two decades ago, but wouldn't an operator require at least the carpentry and joinery basics before being let loose on designing something that may end up costing the client some tens of thousands of pounds? Just imagine the problems if they made something, shipped it overseas and then found that it didn't quite fit, or perhaps that there wasn't room to open the doors on the units?

It's long been said that the best managers will have worked their way up from the very bottom of an organisation, since they have a greater understanding of what's required of everyone's roles. When it comes to the manufacture of intricate furniture and fittings that have to be able to function as well as fit, I'd have thought that starting at the bottom would have been a prerequisite.

I'll wait to be corrected... and in the meantime, may I wish you a happy, safe and prosperous 2018? With KBB Birmingham and the awe-inspiring Ecobuild looming, we have quite an exciting time ahead of us, don't we?

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs