115 apprentices and sandwich-course students will start their training with the Power Systems business unit of Rolls-Royce this autumn, 84 of them at the company’s Friedrichshafen facilities (www.rolls-royce.com).

In addition to the training programmes that enable apprentices to qualify as industrial mechanics or mechatronics technicians, this year sees the first apprentices and students entering the company to start on their professional careers as future computer scientists.

Martin Stocker, head of training, said: “We are looking forward to helping these young adults get off to a good start in their careers.

“In future, we intend to train the qualified specialists we need in the company ourselves.

“An important field for us, for example, is computer science, so we have included this subject in our range of training programmes.

“After all, a million euros have been invested in training, and a new training workshop has been added, which we will be officially opening this year.”

Rolls-Royce is celebrating 100 years of MTU (high-speed engines and propulsion systems) training in Friedrichshafen this year. To mark the occasion,

Some 230 former and new apprentices, instructors and invited guests recently “sailed off together into the start of the next 100 years of training” on board the MS Vorarlberg — powered by two MTU Series 2000 engines — on Lake Constance.

At three other German locations of the Power Systems business unit — Magdeburg, Augsburg and Ruhstorf — there are 12 apprentices about to start their careers.

In Bergen (Norway), 13 young people have taken up training or are beginning their studies, while in the USA there are six.