City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby visited the Leicester headquarters of international engineering firm Nylacast to meet the next generation of engineers on the company’s successful apprenticeship programme.
The apprenticeship programme is a key part of growth plans at Nylacast, which employs more than 400 people worldwide and specialises in the development of bespoke polymer components, from design to manufacture and testing.
Sir Peter and Deputy Mayor Rory Palmer, were given a tour of the company’s manufacturing facilities which included the Nylacast Engineering Training Academy and sat in on live lessons that form part of the apprentices’ training.
The apprenticeship programme, established five years ago, is an important element in plans to double the size of the business. The number of participants has grown year on year, boosted by last year’s launch of the Engineering Training Academy, which also provides training courses for more senior staff. It will be recruiting more trainees in the summer.
Sir Peter said: “It’s so great to see the machines and apprentices in action. Any programme that gives the young people of Leicester a chance to create a career for themselves is wonderful.”
Mussa Mahomed, Nylacast Group CEO, said: “We are so pleased with our apprenticeship programme and value all our participants as star apprentices. They each bring different skills and qualities that we can build on. We believe local recruitment is so important and it’s great that we can give something back to Leicester by investing in the next generation of talent. There is currently a deficit in engineering skills worldwide, and we’re pleased to be able to help fill that gap and show other young people that there are exciting career paths in engineering out there that they might not have considered.”
Nylacast apprentices are trained in mechanical, quality and maintenance engineering, and the firm prides itself on a traditional ethos that sees apprentices learn in a manual machine room as well as a CNC programming room. This allows the trainees to understand the manual process, machine speeds and feeds and the techniques needed to undertake different procedures, before learning how to CNC program the machines to undertake the work. Last year’s unemployment figures for Leicester were 6.4%, and the company is proud to be providing work for local people.
The firm plans to recruit six more apprentices in the summer. Details and application information can be found at www.nylacast.com or www.apprenticeships.gov.uk