Renishaw apprentices an inspiration

Sixteen apprentices from global engineering company Renishaw attended the MACH 2012 show last month to help encourage more young people to consider a career in engineering. They were supporting the efforts of the exhibition organisers to inspire the next generation of British engineers by taking groups of 14- to 16-year-olds on tours of stands with the latest-high-tech engineering products.

Renishaw has a long-standing commitment to the development of young engineers, and it was quick to offer the organisers help from people at various stages of their apprenticeships. They included Tom Silvey — a third-year apprentice recently named as Gloucestershire’s Apprentice of the Year — and Roxanne Pollard, who last year represented the UK at the International Science & Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. Human-resources manager Peter Bowler said: “This was a great initiative that aimed to plug the increasing skills shortage within the engineering sector. With so many negative myths around the manufacturing sector, what better opportunity to inspire young people than to highlight the latest technology on show?”