Apprenticeship success continues for KNAPP

Corey (20) and Andy (21) – both based at the site of KNAPP customer, John Lewis, in Milton Keynes – will graduate in June with HNCs in Mechatronics. Their qualifications have been achieved through a combination of study at Toyota’s Apprentice Development Centre in Burnaston, provided in partnership with Burton and South Derbyshire College, and on-the-job training as part of the resident engineering team at John Lewis’ Magna Park Campus.

Jason Clark, KNAPP UK’s site operations manager at John Lewis said: “Andy and Corey have worked very hard to complete their apprenticeships and have already proven themselves to be great assets for our company in serving our client, John Lewis.”

KNAPP UK is delighted with the continuing success of its apprenticeship programme, which it has been offering for over 10 years now. Having completed an apprenticeship himself at the start of his career, Jason is clear about the benefits of this approach to training and recruitment.

“It’s win-win. The young people we employ have the opportunity to achieve recognised qualifications and begin a career with a successful company. Meanwhile, we benefit from their talent and are able to ensure that they acquirethe precise skills that we – and our clients – need. In my experience,” he added, “apprentices value our input highly and reward it with loyalty.”

A recent report from Engineering UK estimated that the UK needs 1.8 million new engineers by 2025.

“It’s a huge target,” said Jason, “but the apprenticeship levy scheme, introduced back in 2017, is definitely helping to boost the availability of apprenticeships, and the cost of higher education generally has also helped raise the attractiveness of apprenticeships with young people and their families. We’ve found that apprenticeships are a great way of plugging the skills gap that exists in intralogistics today, particularly in customer service. We now have 12 resident service sites across the UK and Ireland, so the opportunities are widespread.”

KNAPP deploys resident service teams at customer distribution centres in Bradford, Burton-on-Trent, Corby, Derby, Dublin, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Preston, Stoke-on-Trent, Street and Welham Green.