Apprenticeships
Earn-while-you-learn is a real benefit
Apprentices Lloyd Barber and Saul Ashton have learned from the cream of Staffordshire’s engineering talent – by combining on-the-job experience at Unilathe while receiving expert training at The JCB Academy.
Following a successful 12-months assessment, the two have now commenced full-time as machinists at Unilathe and will be assessed on an ongoing 12-week basis by a work-based coach visiting them from The JCB Academy.
Both say the earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship experience has been the best path to take and has helped them, both in terms of finances and career progression.
Saul, 20, said: “It has really helped me gain the practical skills and hands-on knowledge I need for a job in engineering. Both Unilathe and The JCB Academy are experts in their field, so I have learned from the very best. I have plenty of ambitions to progress in my field and this has stood me in really good stead.
Lloyd, 17 said: “The apprenticeship really helped with my finances as it meant I was actually earning money straight away after leaving school. That is a real benefit compared to other kinds of further and higher education.
“I have learned so much in just a year and I’m looking to take the next steps forward with the help of a great team here at Unilathe.”
Through the training provider partnership, both Lloyd and Saul worked one day a week at Unilathe while undergoing practical and theoretical studies at the Rocester-based academy for four days a week.
Returning employee
The fundamentals remain
Sean Flatley came full circle when he joined Unilathe for the second time. He originally joined from school as an engineering apprentice in the 1990s. But after a few years, he left for a job in production engineering in Holland and then Germany.
Eighteen months later he was back in the UK applying for jobs – and Unilathe was only too happy to re-recruit their former apprentice.
That was in 2001 and he has stayed ever since. Sean has progressed through the ranks and is now a production supervisor, passing on his knowledge to younger colleagues and the current crop of apprentices.
“It was great to go and work abroad – you pick up a lot and mature as a person,” he said. “But it was also great to be welcomed back to Unilathe. It was a smooth transition and returning was like putting on a pair of old slippers.
“The apprenticeship route served me really well back then, and even though the machines and the operating processes have changed, the fundamentals of learning and engineering remain.
“And, certainly, it’s nice for me to be in a position now working with the apprentices and passing some of that knowledge on to the younger lads.”
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Apprenticeships
Earn-while-you-learn is a real benefit
Apprentices Lloyd Barber and Saul Ashton have learned from the cream of Staffordshire’s engineering talent – by combining on-the-job experience at Unilathe while receiving expert training at The JCB Academy.
Through the training provider partnership, both Lloyd and Saul worked one day a week at Unilathe while undergoing practical and theoretical studies at the Rocester-based academy for four days a week.
Following a successful 12-months assessment, the two have now commenced full-time as machinists at Unilathe and will be assessed on an ongoing 12-week basis by a work-based coach visiting them from The JCB Academy.
Both say the earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship experience has been the best path to take and has helped them, both in terms of finances and career progression.
Saul, 20, said: “It has really helped me gain the practical skills and hands-on knowledge I need for a job in engineering. Both Unilathe and The JCB Academy are experts in their field, so I have learned from the very best. I have plenty of ambitions to progress in my field and this has stood me in really good stead.
Lloyd, 17 said: “The apprenticeship really helped with my finances as it meant I was actually earning money straight away after leaving school. That is a real benefit compared to other kinds of further and higher education.
“I have learned so much in just a year and I’m looking to take the next steps forward with the help of a great team here at Unilathe.”