Despite gloomy predictions of national unemployment and recession, South Derbyshire-based Carfulan Group (www.carfulan.com), is bucking the trend by launching a recruitment drive for its next batch of apprentices to work alongside its team of experienced engineers in Foston. The company is currently experiencing high demand for its world-class manufacturing technologies as the sector begins its fightback against the impact of COVID-19.

Those successfully completing Carfulan’s three-year engineering apprenticeship programme can expect to be offered a permanent role within the group’s sales, service or applications teams, each of which is dedicated to providing cutting-edge solutions which help businesses to improve their production performance.

Carfulan Group managing director Matt Fulton said: “For the past three decades we have been providing technologies that optimise performance at every stage of the manufacturing process, empowering businesses across multiple sectors to make the best products they possibly can, in the most efficient way available.

“That focus on working smarter has intensified during the coronavirus crisis, with almost all UK firms forced to rethink their strategies to ensure they will be fit for purpose moving forward.

“We have been far from unaffected, but our passion for innovation has led to the introduction of a fresh business model where we can now be confident of continued growth.

“We have been blessed in the past with some extremely dedicated apprentices who are now forging successful careers with us, so we have high expectations of the next set. We are looking for people with strong GCSE grades in the core subjects who stand out from the crowd.”

Across four divisions - OGP UK, SYS Systems, Zoller UK and Vicivision UK – the Foston-based Carfulan Group’s work covers supplying and servicing for multi-sensor inspection equipment, 3-D printing and tool pre-setting and measurement, as well as turned-part measurement solutions.

Its workforce has more than doubled since 2013 and it now provides services for more than 700 customers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic it put its range of on-site 3-D printers to work, with the aim of creating hundreds of face masks a week and getting them to those in most need – including at the Royal Derby Hospital.

It has now made its 3-D printers available for additive manufacturing services as a new arm to its operations, alongside a subcontract component measurement service supporting companies requiring extra capacity during their quality control processes.

More information is available at www.carfulan.com/apprenticeships and anyone interested in applying should email a CV with covering letter in the first instance to Matt Fulton ().