TRAINING & RECRUITMENT
TRAINING FACILITY
MGTS
MGTS OFFICIALLY OPENS NEW TRAINING FACILITY
FOR FOOD INDUSTRY
Leading engineering training provider,
MGTS (Midland Group Training Services)
had its brand new, purpose-built facility
for engineering food maintenance and
food process manufacturing at its Redditch
training centre officially this summer by
Rachel Maclean MP.
This doubles its capacity to train apprentices
in the food industry sector from 50 to 100.
Rachel Maclean MP said: "It was a real
honour to open MGTS' new centre today. I
was inspired by the apprentices I spoke to
who are a real credit to MGTS. They are our
future workforce and it's fantastic to see
young people in Redditch being trained
locally, giving local businesses a highly
skilled, high quality pool of talent to choose
from."
The company specialise in engineering
training, with three sites across the Midlands.
The investment in the Redditch training
facility has seen an area of 355 sq m (3,821
sq ft) devoted to apprenticeship training
for the food industry, refurbishing and
equipping this space with industry standard
equipment.
Food industry engineering training was until
now only provided at its Reasheath College
site.
David Bridgens, MGTS chief executive said:
“This investment follows discussions with
our food industry partners. The UK needs
skilled engineers so we’re developing the
necessary skills and supporting industry to
recruit a trained workforce. For apprentices,
it really is a fantastic time to pursue a career
in food process manufacturing, with plenty
of exciting opportunities. It’s a win-win for
everyone involved.”
MGTS train apprentices for some of the
country’s leading food manufacturers, such
as Müller, Arla, Ferrero, Dairy Crest, Morrisons
and Heineken. This expansion will help
the whole of the food and drink industry
to recruit much needed, highly skilled
engineers.
James Cubbin, Senior Manufacturing
Manager at Morrisons said; “Morrisons are
excited to be the first company to send
apprentices to the new MGTS Redditch
facility where they will deliver the fantastic
Food and Drink Engineering apprenticeship
scheme.
We are also looking forward to working
closely with MGTS in setting up the new
Morrisons training academy where all
engineer training and development courses
will take place. The proactive support from
David Bridgens (chief executive) and Steve
Palmer (operations manager) is hugely
appreciated and I'm sure this will lead to a
successful partnership moving forward.
Joseph Clark, an apprentice from Pilkington
Automotive, based in Kings Norton said:
“Coming here straight from GCSEs was
a challenging step up, but the support
provided by MGTS has been fantastic. The
actual training facilities here are excellent,
we get hands-on experience with industry
standard machines which means it’s not
such a massive jump when I return to the
company.”
MGTS already train 800 apprentices at any
one time across the whole of the engineering
industry.
The company have been helping to create
‘Engineers of the Future’ for more than
50 years, working in partnership with
a diverse range of local, regional and
national engineering companies, from the
automotive, aerospace, medical, food and
drink, and manufacturing sectors.
MGTS is now delivering the new standards
apprenticeships for the engineering and
manufacturing sector, as well as the new
engineering technician standard, in product
design and development, mechatronics,
toolmaking and machining.
www.mgts.co.uk
Issue 40 PECM
183