Salop Design and Engineering Ltd have announced their desire to provide 60 apprentices with an opportunity to hone their craft inside their brand new facility in partnership with In Comm Training Services Ltd.
The new training academy opened two weeks ago and will take on apprentices from any Shropshire business. Salop Design have invested £300,000 into the facility as a huge statement for the manufacturing industry across the UK.
Salops Director, Christopher Greenough revealed: Weve got eight apprentices signed up and were aiming to get another 20 signed up in February. By next October, were hoping to have 60 apprentices a year running through our training academy.
This pledge to the local community is another huge building block for Salops relationship with local secondary schools and colleges. Although, Christopher stated: I think it needs to start at primary school level and get them in here early. We had cub scouts in here recently and they actually sprayed their own coaster and got a tour around the factory before watching their coaster come out of the drying oven.
Salops will introduce young people to engineering is based on their desire to provide people with the opportunity to work their way up within an engineering company. One of Salops directors Lee Pearson provides a glowing example, as Christopher explained: Pearson started his apprenticeship many years ago and has worked his way up from an apprentice in different companies to a director of a company now.
Apprenticeships provide young people with an opportunity to establish themselves within the work force of a company. Usually, apprentices that are provided with an opportunity to succeed and flourish remain loyal to the company that has taken them on. This is a key point, as the engineering and manufacturing sectors are synonymous with an ageing workforce.
Salops stunning facility provides the chance for thirty apprentices to be taught the basics at one time under the guidance of a teacher. As the training facility is so new, Salop intend on first becoming a reputable leader in apprenticeships in Shropshire, as Christopher concluded: Weve got to start interacting with colleges and get them switched onto the fact that there are careers out there in manufacturing and engineering. If you want apprentices to gather the key skills in an engineering apprenticeship then our new centre is what you need.