The company’s apprenticeship manager, Warren Page, who also serves as a member of the City & Guilds sponsored Industry Skills Board, said: “I was thrilled to receive this award on behalf of Xtrac in the same year that we celebrate our 25th anniversary of developing world-class apprentices and student engineers. Xtrac demands high-level skills from its employees, and the success of our training is reflected in the high retention of apprentices and undergraduates that remain with the company in the long term. We are very proud of this achievement, which significantly underpins the company’s commercial success.”
Xtrac is a world-leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance transmission systems and driveline components for top level professional motorsport and high-performance automotive applications including hybrid and electric vehicles. It supplies virtually all the world's top motorsport teams.
Peter Digby, president of Xtrac, added: “Our training schemes are essential to enable our young people to make the most of the opportunity arising from our £22 million investment programme, which is equipping us with additional state-of-the-art specialist gear manufacturing equipment. Advanced technology training is fully integrated into all aspects of the programme, which is given the highest priority to support the future success of the company. By empowering our employees and actively promoting from within, we can ensure that we have the best people generating the best ideas to deliver innovative solutions to all our customers.”
Today, Xtrac receives over 100 applicants annually for its apprenticeship programme, which is approved by The Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance known as Semta, a not-for-profit organisation responsible for engineering skills for the future of the UK's most advanced sectors.
Jane Gilham, head of human resources at Xtrac, added: “Since its inception, 60 apprentices have undertaken our Semta approved advanced apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and additionally 67 undergraduates have studied at UK universities. With Xtrac’s financial backing so they don't have excessive student loans to repay, these young adults work hard for nationally recognised qualifications including engineering certificates, degrees and even doctorates. The impact on our innovative business model is a steady flow of skilled technicians and professional engineers for our cutting-edge design and manufacturing operations.”
