Awards Ceremony Recognises Future Engineering Talent

Three talented engineering apprentices have been recognised in the very first annual awards ceremony at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).

Harpreet Singh, aged 20, from Coventry, Jugjeevan Singh, 19, from Nuneaton, and 19-year-old James Watts from Kenilworth came top in the fields of automation, metrology and CNC respectively as the skills of more than 75 apprentices were acknowledged last month.

Harpreet, Jugjeevan and James received certificates and £100 each from Clive Hickman, trustee of the Hickman Education Foundation and chief executive of the MTC.

They are part of a 36-strong cohort that have just completed the second year of their advanced technician apprenticeship at the Lloyds Bank Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre (AMTC) on the MTC site.

The trio, who are at the cutting edge of technologies that seek to inspire and push the UK manufacturing industry, are now embarking on work placements with a view to securing prestigious roles in engineering.

Harpreet has joined Coventry-based MCS Control Systems, while Jugjeevan and James have secured positions in the MTC’s state-of-the-art workshop.

Other apprentices have gained placements with the likes of industry giants BAE Systems and Triumph, while a range of SME businesses including Coventry-based companies Arrowsmith Engineering and Exactaform have also taken on budding engineers.

Hickman said: “It was a privilege to recognise the outstanding talents of the apprentices and to witness the excellence being achieved by all of them.

“They will be a driving force for engineering and manufacturing in the coming years, taking their knowledge of latest technologies from theory to reality across a range of sectors in the industry.

“The Lloyds Bank AMTC and the MTC are leading the way in developing engineering apprentices of the future and it is a testament to all involved.”

The awards ceremony also included presentations from four teams of first year apprentices, whose projects over the past 12 months have included a soap box challenge; air motor development and working with Severn Trent at Draycote Water.

The MTC, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, recruits 40 apprentices each year from across Coventry and Warwickshire. The highly sought after places are designed to produce a ready-made world class workforce for the manufacturing industry across a wide range of specialisms.

MTC apprentices spend one year at college before returning to complete a second year specialising in a field of technology and utilising the cutting-edge equipment and drawing on the expertise of the engineers and technicians at the MTC. This is followed by the work placement.