Investing in the future of its business in terms of skills and capacity as well as expanding organically and through acquisition is at the forefront of Chesterfield-based BG Engineering’s plans (www.bgeng.com).

This process has been accelerated since Cooper Brown Enterprises Ltd took a strategic stake in the business in 2017.

The company is actively recruiting apprentices and has just spent £75,000 with XYZ Machine Tools (www.xyzmachinetools.com) to create a machining cell for them to use.

Chris Brown, director of Cooper Brown Enterprises, said: “Training for the future of BG Engineering is very important to us; we firmly believe in growing and nurturing our own talent.

"We currently have four apprentices at different stages of training, plus three more who started in September.

The apprentice machine cell comprises an XYZ SMX 5000 ProtoTrak bed mill, with axis travels of 1,524 x 596 x 584mm, alongside an XYZ SLX 355 ProTurn lathe that can swing parts up to 360mm over the bed and turn parts up to 900mm long.

"Their ProtoTrak control systems will make apprentice training and the machining of one-off and small-batch parts straightforward.

Nigel Atherton, managing director of XYZ Machine Tools, said: “Education has always been a strong sector for XYZ, in terms of schools and colleges.

"It is encouraging that progressive businesses such as BG Engineering are investing in apprentice training and giving young people the opportunity to learn skills that will see them progress throughout their careers.”