GKN doubes intake of apprentices in 2013

An Open Evening at the end of January marked the start of the recruitment of this year’s intake of apprentices at GKN Aerospace in Bristol. This year, the company will start 44 apprentices on their training programme, almost doubling the figure of 23 apprentices taken on a year ago.

GKN Aerospace’s apprentice scheme at its Filton and Western Approach sites has grown every year since the company bought the Filton manufacturing operation in 2009, when just 10 apprentices started training with the company.

This year, of the 44 apprentices that GKN Aerospace will take on in Bristol, 38 will be doing advanced apprenticeships and six will be doing higher apprenticeships.

GKN Aerospace has a world-wide reputation for its engineering innovation and technological expertise, and this is very evident at the two Bristol sites, which are at the centre of the company’s global wing structures business.

Today, the workforce at these sites designs, manufactures and assembles critical structures for the latest military, civilian and business aircraft.

Current work includes providing: moveable wing surfaces for Dassault’s new mid-size business jet; precision-machined titanium structures for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter; wing structures for Airbus’s A330 and A320 aircraft programmes, as well as its double-deck A380 passenger airliner; and primary all-composite wing structures for the A400M military freighter and Airbus’s latest addition to the family — the A350XWB.

Steve Colebrook, general manager at the Western Approach facility said: “Today, at both Filton and Western Approach, our wing structures engineering and manufacturing skills are second to none.

"Having started my own career as an apprentice, I know that the contribution of the young people who join this scheme will be critical to our long-term business success. It is a true pleasure to see each individual develop and grow in confidence through this apprenticeship programme.”