Sheffield Company at Forefront of Apprenticeship
Drive
An engineering company that has survived near closure
and devastating floods to achieve global success is today
announcing another major intake of apprentices, which takes the
total to nearly 10 per cent of its workforce.
Dr Graham Honeyman, Chief Executive of Sheffield Forgemasters
International Ltd (SFIL) is due to reveal its record number of
apprentices to Skills Minister David Lammy today as he tours the
Sheffield-based headquarters and hears how the company’s dedication
to skills and training has helped to turn around its fortunes.
Mr Lammy is spearheading the Government’s drive to see 500,000
apprenticeships in the UK by 2020 and last night he met employers,
including Dr Honeyman, at a private dinner in Sheffield to hear
their views on the development of work-based training. Lammy says:
“Sheffield Forgemasters is a good example of how having a workforce
with the right skills can not only help a company survive
adversity, but also thrive and have a successful business. I am
urging more employers to follow their example and develop
apprenticeships through their Sector Skill Councils. Yorkshire is
experiencing some serious skills challenges that are hindering the
region’s productivity and economic future. Employers need to
realise that, by upskilling their workforce, they will experience
significant business benefits.”
The Yorkshire and Humberside region has one of the lowest
proportions of its workforce educated to degree level, at 26 per
cent compared to 20 per cent in the UK overall. In 2005, 22 per
cent of employers reported skills problems amongst their current
staff – the highest proportion in the UK, where the average is 16
per cent.
In 2005, SFIL, a 200 year-old company, was literally hours away
from closure before a successful management buy-out, led by Dr
Honeyman, transformed the business. In June this year, Forgemasters
suffered £16m damage in torrential floods that destroyed equipment
and saw staff having to be rescued by boat and helicopter.
SFIL Director Peter Birtles said: “It is no understatement to
say that had it not been for the skill and commitment of our
employees, we would not have been able to recover as we have. We
didn’t lose any client confidence and we now have full order books
stretching over the next two years and worth £100m.
“However, it’s one thing to recover from a crisis and quite
another to ensure that our success is long-term. That’s why
apprentice training forms a key part of our succession planning
strategy to ensure we have the skills we need for the future.”
The business looked closely at the number, age, and skills of
its workforce and realised that many of its employees were
approaching retirement age. If it didn’t act fast, it would not
only lose skilled workers – it would lose their skills.
Dr Honeyman said: “We had to move pretty quickly so that our
older, experienced workers could teach their skills to young people
before they retired. Simply taking youngsters from college or
poaching them from other firms wasn’t the answer. We needed to
train our own apprentices to work on equipment, technology and
business unique to us.”
Bringing in 16 to 20 year-old apprentices has had a significant
impact on the company’s age structure. Having taken on 21 new
apprentices in the last few months alone, it now has more than 60,
bringing the average age of the workforce down from 49 to 41.
“The other key factor in this development is that we took our
specific training and skills needs to SEMTA and its subsidiary
MetSkill who helped us devise the training exactly tailored to our
needs and skill areas, “ said Dr Honeyman.
MetSkill, the strategic skills body for the metals industry,
selects and provides training options for its apprentices who can
work towards qualifications like NVQs and go on to learn more
specialised skills through the BTEC and City and Guilds
qualifications combined with a work-based skills programme linked
directly to their job.
"A lot of employers don’t see the value of this long-term
commitment to skills training and the benefits of working with
their SSC but it is absolutely essential that companies see this.
In today's global market we need to have a highly competitive
workforce. We face growing competition in our industry from
countries like China and India who can undercut us in labour costs
but it’s in the high quality, added value areas that we can make a
difference,” added Dr Honeyman.
During his visit, Mr Lammy will meet former apprentice engineer
Gareth Barker who has recently been appointed Forgemasters’
youngest ever divisional director at the age of 30.
The promotion takes Gareth from general manager to operations
director for the south machine shop after working his way up from
apprentice status with SFIL at the tender age of 19.
Gareth has responsibility for more than 130 staff and takes on a
more strategic role with the engineering specialist.
And the apprentices have also shown their commitment to
Forgemasters. A recent share buy back scheme issued by the company
attracted 11 out of 26 apprentices to buy shares in the
company.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Journalists are invited to Sheffield Forgemasters between 8 and
10am on Thursday 8th November. There will be photo opportunities
and interviews can be held with David Lammy MP and Dr Graham
Honeyman.
Skills for Business is the UK-wide network of 25 Sector Skills
Councils funded and supported by the Sector Skills Development
Agency. Independent and employer-led, they are uniquely placed to
drive forward skills development and productivity throughout the
UK.
As the UK’s leading source of labour market intelligence and
insight, the Skills for Business network is an authority on skills
issues, helping to shape public policy and practice Each Sector
Skills Council is licensed by the governments of England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales and receives funding from both public
and private sources (www.skillsforbusiness.org.uk)
Semta is the SSC for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing
Technologies in the UK. The sectors it represents are: Aerospace,
Automotive, Bioscience, Electrical, Electronics, Engineered Metal
Products, Maintenance, Marine, Mathematics, Mechanical and Metals.
Its role is to raise skills levels and competitiveness in the
75,000 businesses and 2million-strong workforce that make up these
sectors
MetSkill is the strategic skills body for the UK metals industry
and is part of Semta.
PR contact: Dawn Vinall on 0114 237 3474 or d.vinall@semta.org.uk
SFIL is the world’s largest independently owned forgemaster. It
manufactures large-scale bespoke steel components for diverse
industries, including offshore components for nuclear submarine
build. Exports account for 80% of its business. Operations include
melting, forging, casting and machining. SFIL continues to supply
an increasing global demand for crucial, high quality engineered
products to key industries such as defence, oil and gas
exploration, power generation, marine and construction. It has a
turnover of £100m; sales for 2007-08 are anticipated to be the
highest ever; it is winning influential contracts with Chinese and
Indian companies.
It operates an award winning apprenticeship scheme with record
breaking application levels for vacancies. It also has a range of
graduate opportunities re-establishing specialist steel skills for
the British industry.
PR contact: Abby Worsnip, HR Media: 0114 221 0230 or
abby@hrmedia.org.uk
Press enquiries
Rachael Campey, Head of PR and Communications, Sector Skills
Development Agency: 01709 765435 or Nico de Klerk or Rachel
Jones, Bell Pottinger, on 020 7861 3843
NdeKlerk@bell-pottinger.co.uk;
RKJones@bell-pottinger.co.uk