Apprentices explore 'Lean manufacturing'

Jon Radford, engineering trainer at the AMRC Training Centre recently ran a course as part of the technical support apprenticeship pathway to teach the apprentices about Lean manufacturing.

The course, entitled "Conducting business improvement activities" educated the seven technical support apprentices who took part, on how they can achieve product delivery schedules through the use of continuous improvements and the '5S and '8 wastes methodologies.

The apprentices, from Joseph Rhodes, ATI Allvac, Chas A Blachfords, Rolls-Royce, MTL Group and Tinsley Bridge will now be able to go back to their employers and implement these lean production practices to eliminate waste and improve customer value.

One of the apprentices that attended the course said, "I learnt useful methods of making measurable improvements to workshop processes and how it can be applied to other aspects of the business."

The course ran over a two week period which concluded with the apprentices creating and delivering a final presentation to over 20 people including Training Centre trainers, the Training Centres head of training and the new April 2014 cohort of apprentices.

Roger Davis, senior trainer at the Training Centre, was really pleased with the level of interaction and interest from the apprentices that took part. He said "what the apprentices have learnt during this course will really add benefit to the companies they work for, hopefully we are teaching them how to make improvements in their workplace from the very beginning."