Investment for the future in training
Date: 08 September 2010
Engineering and graduate apprentices
Nine teenagers are starting careers in engineering with Baker Perkins. They will train to become skilled engineers, making machinery that produces bread, biscuits, cereals, confectionery and snacks - machines that will be used in customers’ factories around the world.
A four year programme combining specialised training courses and practical engineering leads to nationally recognised BTEC and NVQ3 qualifications. Apprentices will also be encouraged to continue with their studies to a higher level which can lead to careers throughout the Baker Perkins business, typically in design, sales and management.
Seven of the new apprentices come from local schools including The Deepings, Jack Hunt, Orton Longueville, and Prince William, Oundle; and also Thomas Deacon Academy, Arthur Mellows Village College and Ken Stimpson Community School.
The managing director of Baker Perkins, John Cowx says, ‘We are taking on more apprentices now than for many years; we have also re-started our graduate training programme with two recruits, and taken on our first ever IT apprentice. This is a major investment for us, and a sign of the confidence we have in the future.’
He also stresses how important the people are to the success of an international business. ‘We have to maintain the highest international standards of engineering design and manufacture to win orders in a highly competitive business environment. Most of the machinery we make is exported and the future of the company lies in the skills and abilities of our people.’
Baker Perkins, now based at Paston, has been a major employer in Peterborough for over a century. It has provided first class engineering training for the past 60 years - the company’s apprentice school at its old factory in Westfield Road was acknowledged to have the country’s finest engineering training facilities, and 2, 500 young people qualified there for engineering careers
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