Engineering-based manufacturing demands a highly skilled workforce to deliver excellence and UK-based manufacturers of all sizes are investing heavily in training apprentices to ensure the next generation of engineers are equipped with a comprehensive range of STEM skills to meet the demands of the future. 

As a Trade Association representing a broad range of the UK’s core manufacturing technologies sectors, we strive to encourage the next generation of engineers into the workforce. We have made it our mission to support our membership and the wider manufacturing community to take on apprentices. We offer our membership grants and loans to help them take on apprentices and expand their workforce. And we’re always looking for new opportunities to help support the next generation’s training needs and ensure UK manufacturing has a bright future.

We see ourselves as a gateway to ensure big business and academia come together and create a positive working relationships. Last year we put Close Brothers Group, a leading merchant banking group and the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre together.

We helped them to create the 'Close Brothers SME Apprentice Programme' through which Close Brothers contribute to the cost of apprentices for 20 SMEs who might otherwise be unable to afford to take on a new apprentice.

With the support of the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre and MTA, the programme has helped SMEs in the South Yorkshire area recruit and train a new generation of advanced engineering workers.

Under the scheme, Close Brothers have helped to pay for 20 apprentices to learn their skills at the AMRC Training Centre. Close Brothers has funded half of the new recruits’ wages during the first year and a quarter in the second, meaning participating SMEs won’t have to bear the full cost of employing the apprentices until they are making a positive contribution to their business. The first intake started in September 2015 and reports from the first term are very positive. 

The objective is to recruit a further 20 apprentices in year 2016 and 20 more in year three, meaning up to 60 apprentices in the scheme at full capacity in what is a banking first. This initiative offers smaller firms the chance to be at the forefront of securing those skills for their futures. They, no less than larger companies, need to increase investments in technology and skills on a side-by-side basis to be globally competitive and meet customer demands for versatility. This scheme is helping them do just that.

That brings me on nicely to my final point, you will be able to see some of the apprentices who are being trained by the AMRC at MACH 2016, in our Learning and Development Zone. As well as showcasing new technologies and the latest products, MACH 2016 will also be welcoming the next generation of talent to the exhibition. 

As with previous exhibitions there will be a dedicated Learning and Development Zone acting as a base for student visitors as well as some key exhibits and a showcase of MTA Members' apprentices and graduates at work. At MACH 2014 over 2000 students visited the exhibition and we are looking to further expand on this in 2016. We feel the way to encourage students in to the manufacturing industry, is to capture their imagination and show them the exciting possibilities an engineering-based career has. And we feel one particular exhibit in the Learning and Development Zone will do just that: The Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) is a unique, high-technology project to design and build a car that will break the 1000mph barrier and set a new world land speed record. That’s a pretty inspiring British project to get behind and galvanise young minds to the possibilities of advanced manufacturing.  

There is plenty still to be done, but we will continue to work hard on behalf of the UK manufacturing technologies sector, to ensure a new generation of highly skilled engineers enters the UK workforce.

•  MACH 2016 takes place at Birmingham's NEC, 11^th to 15^th April. IP&E will include a detailed preview of the event in its next issue.