Following a period of investment in new machinery and as part of its growth plans, Birmingham based Tooling 2000 have appointed three new Apprentice Engineering Technicians.
Following a competitive process, Jade Edmead, Luqmaan Iqbal and Owen Smith were successful in gaining the roles.
Tooling 2000 specialises in prototype and production tooling manufacture, 3- and 5-axis machining, 5-axis laser cutting and jig & fixture manufacture.
In order to boost its capacity and capabilities the company has invested over £750,000 in new Hurco CNC machinery and will be able to offer turning up to 550mm in diameter and 1m long by the end of January.
Founded in 1996, Tooling 2000 offers an end-to-end in-house service to customers including Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Glen Dimplex.
The injection of young talent is part of a longer-term strategy devised by Managing Director Gary Williams to ensure the future prosperity of the business.
“As a former Apprentice myself, I recognise the importance of investing in young people and nurturing the next generation of talent within the business. We have ambitious plans that include significant investment in new technology and diversification into new markets and recruiting the three Apprentices very much goes hand in hand with where we are taking the company”, he says.
“We had over 30 applicants for the three roles in total and it was an extremely competitive selection process. Jade, Luqmaan and Owen have done exceptionally well to gain these Apprenticeships and I am sure they will go on to be a big success at Tooling 2000. We look forward to helping them develop the required skills to become well rounded engineers within the company moving forward”.
Tooling 2000 used its involvement with Next Gen Makers to find the best young engineering talent for their roles. Jade and Owen will now commence the level 4 Engineering Manufacturing Technician standards delivered by Dudley College and Luqmaan commences a Level 2 Engineering Operative standard at Make UK before progressing on to level 3.
“We have been members of Next Gen Makers for around 12 months and our company has been promoted widely to engineering students at local Colleges during that time. Once we decided that we wanted to invest in new Apprentices, we felt that it made sense for us to use the platform that we had via Next Gen Makers to attract and identify the most relevant individuals for the roles” adds Gary.
Next Gen Makers managed the recruitment process for Tooling 2000, liaising with local Colleges and Training Providers in their network to promote the role and identify best fit.
The three new Apprentices now have a pathway mapped out to develop and progress within the business, with opportunities to experience various departments whilst working to Apprenticeships that have a defined end goal.
Gary concludes: “We feel it is important to have a career path evident to our Apprentices, so they have a view of where they could be if they apply themselves. Jade, Luqmaan and Owen have great Apprenticeships ahead of them at a company seeking to invest time and energy into their development and following the successful completion of that, know that they can progress and enjoy a great career with us. We are pleased to have him them all on board, and that they share our excitement for the future with us”.