Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week with Teledyne CML Composites

This year marks the fourteenth year of National Apprenticeship Week and the theme for 2021 focuses on how apprentices and employers are working to ‘Build The Future’. Working with Teledyne CML Composites, we’re exploring the positive impact of apprentices on their business.

About Teledyne CML Composites

Teledyne CML Composites is an advanced engineering company that manufactures a wide range of carbon fibre composites parts and assemblies for the commercial and military aerospace customers worldwide.

Enjoying a period of significant growth, we a supply a range of composite products onto some of the world’s most advanced aircraft including the Airbus A350 long range jet, the Airbus A400M military transporter, the BAE Systems Hawk Jet Trainer and the Lockheed Martin F-35 military jet.

Located in Bromborough, our manufacturing facility utilises state of the art 5-axis machine centres, autoclave ovens, 13-axis robotic non-destructive testing equipment and high specification cleanrooms & laboratories.

For decades, the use of composites in the aerospace sector has continually expanded as designers develop enhancements to performance, range and payload through the weight reduction of new generations of aircraft.  Modern long haul aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 jets now comprise of over 50% of carbon fibre composites.

What impact do apprentices make to your company?

Since the first intake of apprentices into Teledyne CML Composites in 2015, each year we have welcomed new entrants and with them, developed the apprenticeship programme together with the National Composites Centre and the Engineering College. We seek to provide an exciting and fulfilling experience, where upon completion, each candidate achieves a nationally recognised vocational qualification.

To date, none of our intake of apprentices have ever left the business so one can regularly see either apprentices or former apprentices running 5-axis machines, manufacturing complex aerospace parts in our assembly cells, carrying out non-Destructive Testing, working in a Laboratory or number crunching in the accounts department.

Apprentices can be found working and learning in all areas of our business and their impact on our business has been outstanding.

How have apprentices helped your business throughout the pandemic?

As part of the apprenticeship programme, all apprentices spend time working in the different areas of the business.  Typically, this provides a broad understanding of the different skillsets required and helps them to identify a role they might enjoy when they complete their apprenticeships.

During the pandemic, this broad knowledge helped support the business on a number of occasions when colleagues found themselves having to self-isolate.  With a number of apprentices able to carry out different duties with minimum supervision and to a standard expected from colleagues with many more years’ experience, there were asked to step in to support our production requirements.

What is a benefit of employing an apprentice?

Apprentices offer countless benefits to any company not least the energy they bring, an enthusiasm and a willingness to learn that can often challenge a long standing status quo, by simply asking “why” or offering up questions or ideas that others might not think or be inclined to raise.

At Teledyne CML Composites, a good example is our MEQN process, this is a mechanism for anyone in the company to raise a question to the engineering department that might improve how we manufacture parts.

Our apprentices are not only over represented by about double compared to the general workforce, but they also have a better “Hit” rate in terms of actionable ideas. It shows they are engaged and focused on our business.

Interested in finding out more about Teledyne CML Composites?

You can find out more about Teledyne CML here