An apprenticeship initiative by one of the world’s largest makers of mechanical seals – with operations in the USA – has prompted a British Member of Parliament to call for more to be set up to support UK engineering.
“Don’t write off British manufacturing and British engineering, but we do need more apprentices,” said Denis MacShane, MP for the industrial town of Rotherham, a centre for advanced engineering in Yorkshire.
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He was launching the $2.028m (£1.25m) program created by AESSEAL plc and now under way at its Global Technology Centre in Rotherham.
The company, which employs some 1,500 worldwide – including the USA, where its HQ is in Knoxville, Tennessee – is ploughing its own money into the five-year initiative. It could be expanded, but at least 30 apprentices will have been taken on over that period, and the first 10 are already on board.
“I want to see more examples of this around the UK,” Denis MacShane said, arguing that it would make Britain a stronger economy and help tackle youth unemployment. “In Germany, a quarter of all employees are in apprenticeship schemes. It means quality is better right across their economy, and that is one reason Germany is more competitive.”
AESSEAL managing director Chris Rea said the program was important to the future of the company, whose other US operations include Corpus Christi and Addison, near Chicago. Production and personnel director Richard Cook, a former apprentice himself, shaped the training and is implementing it with local organisation Brinsworth Academy of Engineering.
“This is a significant investment for the company and for the region. We need well-trained young people in manufacturing,” he said. “It’s a local and regional problem, but also a national and even international one. But unless we tackle it our European neighbours could steal away the high-value end of manufacturing that’s so important to this country.”
AESSEAL’s commitment to quality training was recognised at the launch by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering. IMechE business development manager Denis Healy presented the company with a certificate marking its incorporation into the IMechE Accredited Apprentice Scheme.
For further information, contact:
Clark Herron, AESSEAL, on 07714-597530 or +44 114-250-9774; or at clark.herron@aesseal.co.uk
