Specialist OEM course will lift apprentices to next level
Firms are ensuring they’re fully equipped for future, writes Katherine Donnelly
WHEN Irishbased, specialist equipment manufacturing companies with a global reach and reputations for innovation decide to create their own apprenticeship, it is time to pay attention.
Firms such as Combilift, Co Monaghan and Dairymaster, Co Kerry are among a group from different parts of the country that have come together to offer the Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) apprenticeship.
Others include Dennison Trailers, Co Kildare; McHale Engineering and Major Equipment, both Co Mayo; Multihog, Co Louth; MacFab, Co Monaghan; Alltech/ Keenans, Co Carlow; SamCo, Co Limerick; Mergon, Co Westmeath; and Dromone Engineering, Co Meath.
This is a vibrant sector, with strong, confident companies – from SMEs to large indigenous and multinational firms – but many report shortages of qualified employees. The decision to create the OEM apprenticeship was driven by a need to have a pipeline of staff with the skills to move the companies forward.
The apprenticeship is a vote of confidence by the companies in their own futures. The employers involved have committed time and effort to developing the programme and the roles fit into wider staff expansion plans aimed at building and bolstering multi-disciplinary teams to design and execute new business ideas.
The apprenticeship, which will lead to an internationally recognised qualification, had
Skills combine mechanical, electronic and robotic technologies
its first intake this month. The consortium heading it up is also processing applications from other interested companies, which, in time, will see an even greater spread of opportunities.
The consortium is led by Martin McVicar of Combilift, a company that sells into 85 different markets. It is a world leader in two particular types of forklifts and has a growth strategy built on ongoing innovation and developing even more markets into which to sell products.
Combilift, which is 20 years old, has more than doubled in size in five years, and plans to double again over the next five. It employs more than 600 people and that is set to grow by another 100 employees within the year.
McVicar says the apprenticeship is about training employees capable of designing, assembling and trouble-shooting machinery for the future, with skills that combine mechanical, hydraulic, electronic, software and robotic technologies.
The other companies in the consortium all have their own success stories, whether it is Dennison’s leading role in container transport and significant growth in other markets including construction, timber, steel and oil industries; or Dairymaster, serving customers in more than 40 countries with its high-tech dairy equipment.
McVicar predicts strong career opportunities throughout the country and internationally for those who complete this apprenticeship.
Over the course of the three years, apprentices will spend a total of 46 weeks training and the rest of the year on the job, applying their new-found skills in the workplace. In each of the first two years, there is 16 weeks off-the-job training with 14 weeks in year three.
The education partner for the OEM apprenticeships are education and training boards (ETBs), currently Cavan and Monaghan ETB or Limerick and Clare ETB, either of which can provide all the details about the OEM.