Largest ever apprentice intake at Heller

The five entrants will be joining others already progressing through the comprehensive training programme and the many Heller employees who have already completed it. The company has been operating an apprentice training programme for many years, and more than 20 per cent of its workforce started as a apprentices. Success of its training approach is demonstrated by its achievements in the Apprentice of The Year Scheme: currently five Apprentice of the Year winners are working at Heller. “Apprentices are the lifeblood of the industry” said managig director Geoff LLoyd, “without them, we have no future. But training programmes should not stop there, and at Heller they do not. While we make a 100 per cent commitment to the apprentice programme, we also make a 100 pe cent commitment to training for all our staff. The success of Heller is its people, whether it be the receptionist answering the phone, the skills of the engineers building the machines, the applications engineers or the service engineers. It is for that reason we wholeheartedly support and maintain extensive training programmes”. The Apprentice Training Scheme as operated by Heller is unrestricted. While following the formalised, national curriculum at the Heller manufacturing plant in Redditch, apprentices spend time in every department at the company, partly to ensure a good overall grounding and partly to allow each individual to identify and develop his or her own talents. Day release is given so apprentices can complete their HNC or City Guilds and the NVQIII in engineering. They also have the prospect of spending time at the parent factory in Germany to further develop their skills and becoming fluent in German. Each apprentice has a dedicated trainer, selected from Heller’s workforce to suit the temperament and needs of the individual. The trainer remains alongside the apprentice, and is responsible for all aspects of his welfare, until he or she becomes a fully fledged engineer. Once the apprenticeship is completed, there is no restriction on the apprentices’ career path: the company assists its apprentices through university should they choose to continue studying and has a policy of selecting the best person for the job when a vacancy arises and prefers to promote from within its existing workforce. Training does not stop with the completion of an apprenticeship, and Heller offers further training to every employee who chooses to take the opportunity. Ken Best, a long-time employee with Heller, has just achieved his NVQ level 5 in Health and Safety and is the first person in the country to have done so electronically.