The engineering sector is in urgent need of skilled engineers as it encounters its biggest skills shortage for a generation. Major companies have seen a large talent gap across key sectors, which has been caused by a continuing decline in government incentives for apprenticeship schemes in the last decade. Ensinger has been directly impacted by the skills shortage, and find it harder and harder to source skilled workers. The needs of the industry are changing, and training is essential to young aspiring engineers to ensure a flow of highly skilled workers progress through the correct channels.
Ensinger has responded to this issue head on by investing £150,000 in an internal apprentice school. Ensinger are developing state of the art machining schools at Ensinger Precision Engineering and Trig Engineering; their two machining facilities in the UK.
The school prepares and develops young engineers for work in the engineering sector. In conjunction with Newport and District Training Association and Bridgwater and Taunton College, apprentices are able to acquire work based training, whilst securing the qualifications they need to progress in the industry. After successful completion of the course, working 4 days at the Ensinger apprentice school and studying 1 day a week at college, apprentices are awarded with an NVQ level 3 in Mechanical Manufacturing Engineering.
The program is split into modules for each year group. The first year focuses on introducing apprentices to the foundations of machining and developing their manual engineering skills in milling and turning. The second year introduces the apprentices to modern machining, studying automated CNC methods and working on a range of multi axis CNC machinery.
Ensinger has invested in 4 manual lathes, 2 manual milling machines, a CNC milling machine, a CNC turning machine, and has employed a full time Apprentice Trainer to ensure the apprentices get the best out of their learning. Currently, at this early stage, Ensinger already employs 4 first year and 3 second year apprentices, with plans to add 4 more this September. Gino Abramo (Apprentice Trainer) plans to develop the program further in the second year, employing mentors on the machine shop floor to give apprentices access and exposure to more complex machinery such as; 4-5 axis CNC machines, coordinate measuring machinery and various other inspection equipment.
Technical Director, Gary Davies, believes the program is set to be a success, and Ensinger are continuously investing in the school to make it a viable pathway for aspiring engineers. “Gaining high quality experience and relevant qualifications, Ensinger sees the potential in apprentices and is dedicated to investing its time and effort into highly skilled individuals. This not only creates the future stars of the company, but also enables us to remain at the forefront of complex geometry, tight tolerance machining”.
Ensinger UK
Phone +44 1443 678400
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