North Staffordshire engineering firm KMF Group has welcomed a new cohort of apprentices as its industry-leading apprenticeship programme enters its 10th year.
The Newcastle-under-Lyme-based business invests in young people every year and, over the last decade, has seen 100 apprentices come through its scheme – including 12 adults.
And this year the firm has welcomed five new apprentices to the business.
Shay Johnston, Aiden Sneyd, Oscar Evans, Kelly Palin and Kyle Marshall will complete an engineering operating level 2 apprenticeship at KMF over the next four years.
Keith Nicholl, commercial director at KMF Group said: "Young people have been put in a really difficult situation this year, but we think it's vital that we continue to invest in them.
"There is a significant amount of talent locally and we want to provide opportunities to these young people who are the future of the business.
"It would be so easy to say, let's just leave it for this year, but we see the fruits of the programme four years down the line, and we don't want to lose a year of that.
"We're also pleased to have Kelly Palin with us as we always actively recruit female apprentices. It's so important to give women opportunities in the engineering and manufacturing industry, they bring such a great approach, with a different dynamic and various skill sets which always work well here."
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KMF supports young people in developing their careers from an on-site, purpose built training centre based at its High Carr Business Park headquarters.
The students complete both their theory and practical work at the EAL-approved facility, which boasts four on-site qualified teachers.
Keith added: "We have had many success stories that started out at apprenticeship level, and many of our senior members came through that route. They progress through the business and find roles suited to them from programming engineers, engineering planning, to business development and customer services roles.
"We're not prescriptive as to the role they have to fill. We put a lot of time and effort into our apprentices and it pays off tenfold as we now have a strong workforce comprising of staff that are hard-workers and do a great job."