The Future is Bright for Firth Rixson Apprentices

Firth Rixson have welcomed 18 young apprentices who will work across their various sites around Sheffield, Rotherham and Derbyshire. Employing over 1500 people, Firth Rixson have become a larger and more competitive provider of rings, forgings and metal products worldwide. Through acquisitions in the USA and UK, growing operations in continental Europe and China, and a new closed die forging facility under construction in Savannah, Georgia they continue to invest in the future.

Firth Rixson have selected Brinsworth Training to assist them with the training for the majority of the new engineering recruits.

Alison Bettac, Firth Rixson’s Group Learning and Development Manager said: “Firth Rixson consider the Apprenticeship Programme to be a critical part of our key strategic growth plans and have already experienced the success of what these types of programmes bring to the business. We intend to continue to develop links through Brinsworth Training, sector groups, education partnerships and local schools, to ensure that we capture the bright and enthusiastic talent of our region to build on our success”.

Pictured: Brinsworth staff with the Firth Rixson Apprentices

Commenting on the partnership, Brinsworth Training Business Development Director Paul Reeves said “We are delighted that Firth Rixson are giving so many young people an opportunity to begin their careers in the engineering industry working through our apprenticeship programme.”

This news will be welcomed by the sector as a whole as recent studies have found that a generation of recruits has been lost during the recession as engineering companies’ trimmed costs and cancelled apprenticeship and graduate recruitment schemes over the last 18 months.

Paul Reeves added "It's very important that the engineering industry gets behind apprenticeships more so now than ever before as it needs capable young minds which can be developed into tomorrow's business leaders. We've got some of the most exciting and sophisticated products being engineered in this country, so it should follow that we have a workforce which reflects this. Apprenticeships give us the chance to do exactly that”.

For details on how apprenticeships can assist your business visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk