The Power of Apprenticeships - Penny Engineering

The UK has a proud engineering heritage dating back to well before the industrial revolution, and continuing that tradition from its factory in Clowne, Chesterfield, is Penny Engineering.  

With nearly 50 years in the industry, Penny Engineering is forging its own path by way of both cutting-edge work and maintaining strong relations with suppliers, customers and community stakeholders.

As participants in the Close Brothers SME Apprenticeship Programme, which is run in partnership with the AMRC training centre, we spent some time with three of their team members (Archie Smith, Tim Penny and Sam Dobson) gathering their insights into the power of apprenticeships.  

The apprentice’s perspective: Archie Smith

Archie is currently eighteen months into a three- and half-year apprenticeship, having joined as part of the 2023 cohort.

We first asked Archie why he decided to take the apprenticeship route as opposed to joining his school's sixth form, something he said was very much encouraged as the ‘sensible option’ by his teachers. He told us, “Hands-on work is what I prefer and is the best career path for me; sitting in a classroom is not what I thrive in.”

Archie works with Sam at Sidetracker Engineering, trading since the 1970s, which was recently acquired by Penny Engineering to manufacture multidirectional forklift trucks. Throughout the interview Archie regularly touched on the importance of being able to see how his input is crucial in producing a final product, mentioning the ‘pride and satisfaction’ he feels when a forklift truck he has helped build is finally shipped off.

For Archie, the engineering industry was an entirely new experience. Speaking about what the most challenging part of his work was at the start of his apprentice journey, he joked: “To be honest, it was waking up on time; I can’t drive so my parents have to give me a lift!

“But the best part of being an apprentice at Sidetracker is the people I’ve met. Getting to know more people, making friends and understanding that people are there to help you if you need it has been amazing.”

To conclude our conversation, Archie once again took us back to school: “All the time at school builds up into a few days of exams and if you have a little slip then that's quite a few years that have potentially been lost. With an apprenticeship, even after the end point assessment, I still have so many skills I can use further on in my career.”

He also posed an important question to others who may be considering pursuing an apprenticeship, asking if they would rather “carry on working from a textbook, or be hands-on and see what you are working on and how it contributes to the bigger picture”.

The employer’s perspective: Tim Penny, Services Director and Sam Dobson, General Manager at Sidetracker, a Penny Engineering subsidiary.

To better learn how apprentices benefit businesses and local communities we spoke with Tim and Sam who employ Archie as an apprentice at Sidetracker.

Both started our chat by emphasising just how vital apprenticeships have been to their recruitment process in what is an increasingly specialised engineering industry.

Sam said: “We’ve always championed apprentices as our main form of recruitment because we are so specialist and need to constantly pass on our knowledge to ensure we maintain a skilled workforce.”

Tim reiterated this by adding: “Our relationship with the AMRC is nine years old and it has rapidly become the go-to and only effective recruiting tool for engineers on the shop floor.”

They also spoke of the positives of the AMRC programme and how beneficial it is to hire apprentices straight from school. Tim explained, saying, “We have the privilege of moulding them at the very outset of their careers, which has its challenges but is very rewarding.”

Tim continued by offering some advice to young apprentices starting out on their journeys, “There are some real basics at the beginning, like being on time, and being in the correct place at the right time. The next two skills are learning to identify things that need doing so you can work independently and then learning from your own experience because none of us have the privilege of coming into our first jobs with any experience.”

Another point of agreement between Tim and Sam was how rewarding passing on their experience to apprentices is, with Sam saying: “We often see them on interview day as young people and watch how they grow into great professionals who often end up teaching their own apprentices one day.”

Tim added: “It gives our senior employees the opportunity to mentor and be regarded as an expert in their field.”

When asked what advice Tim would give to other employers who might be considering taking on an apprentice, he said: “Don't underestimate the contribution an apprentice can make in your business at a very early stage. And don’t consider it a training programme from start to finish and expecting that apprentice to be there in 20 years’ time - it needs to be an ongoing process.”

To illustrate his point, Tim shared a story of an employee at Penny Engineering who joined as an apprentice on the shop floor. After years of building expert knowledge on the products used day-to-day, they joined the aftersales team and today utilises the product expertise they built as an apprentice, in another department.

“We are an engineering business, but we also have accountants, health and safety, a sales team and credit controllers, so you have to be open to that,” he said.

Tim also explored the benefits he believes apprenticeship programmes have for the local community, something Sam also touched on. “Sometimes an apprentice wants to spread their wings elsewhere and you should be glad of that because you are contributing to the local community in that sense. Be flexible in what you can offer apprentices.”

Tim explained to us that Penny Engineering takes its responsibility to the local community seriously, “We have a commitment to them in all sorts of respects. Our corporate and social responsibility includes a commitment to develop young people in the local area and working with the AMRC is a fabulous way to do that to a very high standard.”

Sam also recognised how important high-quality apprenticeship programmes are for providing young people a valuable alternative to sixth form and university, telling us, “Schools ‘push’ people to go to university but for many people apprenticeships are the best option and we like to provide them with a place to go to.”

Finishing up, we asked Sam and Tim what advice they would like to pass on to young people who might be undecided on whether to choose an apprenticeship. With the benefit of having seen both sides of the coin, and attaining a degree before pursuing a degree apprenticeship, Sam answered: “I got my degree and I also got £46,000 of student debt. I did my Masters alongside an apprenticeship and earned along the way - you don't have to live like a student until you are 21. I would definitely say go the apprenticeship route.”

Tim chose to touch on the confusion many young people feel when they are faced with making the all-important decision of which career to pursue saying, “When we were young we all wanted to be a Formula One driver or a spaceman, but it's not always going to happen and we have to find our way, and apprenticeships are a great way to do that.”

It was a pleasure to catch-up with Archie, Sam and Tim, and we wish them all the best in their future.