Latest Siemens apprentice, 17-year-old Rob Haley, knows exactly what he wants to do when he graduates: work in heavy industry.
Recruited last September as part of Siemens' ongoing commitment to training tomorrow's engineers, Rob has certainly been influenced by the engineering culture he has been exposed to at Siemens' Leeds factory, which assembles, maintains and repairs mechanical drive units for many of the UK's biggest and most successful industries.
Rob is back at the Siemens Leeds factory now, having completed 36 weeks training at Bradford College, where both theory and practical training is carried out. Rob is currently studying for his ONC in mechanical engineering and manufacturing (two year-course), and will then study for a further two years to gain his HNC in the same subject. On completion of his 36-week period at the college he will return to the Siemens factory, getting valuable supervised first-hand experience of engineering at work. He will then attend the college on a day-release basis.
Rob is in good company; Siemens Mechanical Drives currently has four apprentices learning their trade, and all agree that the most varied work is to be found on the heavy industry side, where they can be working on anything from a huge wind turbine unit to a food industry gearbox or a coupling for an
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Rob commented on his role: "I have really enjoyed my first year's apprenticeship at Siemens. The work is varied and challenging and it gives me valuable engineering experience alongside my college course."
As the course progresses, Rob will spend more time at the Siemens factory, working on live projects. He is due to graduate in three years' time, continuing a tradition at Siemens of training tomorrow's finest engineers.