Machining Maintenance Technician Review

I am an apprentice maintenance technician at BMW Hams Hall; here at Hams Hall we produce 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder petrol engines and we're also the only BMW engine plant to produce the i8 hybrid engine. I work in the machining side of the factory, there are three lines, Cylinder heads, Crank Cases and Cranks. We recieve crates of rough casting for each line and these castings are fed through the line and machined to the correct specification. Each line is unique and has different machines throughtout, however despite being different all of the machines work off a similar concept, PLC's and CNC. Whenever a machine breaks down, it's a maintenance technicians role to be ale to turn up to a breakdown, fault find, assess the issue, resolve the issue and provide feedback on how to prevent this from occurring again.

At school Design Technology such as metal work, wood work and graphic design were my favourite classes, aswell as the classes I excelled in most. Due to this it was clear i am quite mechanically minded, however Hams Hall has taken everything I thought I knew about engineering, and just expanded massively upon it. I feel as if I have learnt more in the last two years than I ever did at school. However it isnt justing engineering knowledge ive developed, I have also matured quite alot and massively developed my communication skills, good communication is key to a successfull business and we are taught that from day one; we are encouraged to ask questions (No matter how silly) and we are encouarged to show willingness to learn.

I really do enjoy coming to work, and not many people my age are lucky enough to feel that way. Everyone I've worked with is eager to show me the ropes, and it's brilliant working with such a variety of people and discovering there are hundreds of ways to do the same job. No two days are the same and this really makes the job interesting, one day could be quet and the next could be a total frenzy.

Our apprenticeship is 4 years long, first year is spent entirely at college, five days a week 9am-5pm. We spent the year studying 16 topics, there were te subjects we knew from school such as a maths and mechancial principles (Physics) and there were new topics we've never studied such as PLC's and Pneumatic Systems. Although we learnt a lot, it did feel very rushed becasue the organisation at the college wasn't great due to a number of factors, however all in all it was okay. The next three years are spent on-site at Hams Hall 4 days a week 7am-3:30pm and college on day release (the hours vary). We swap placement areas every 3 months and have regular meetings with our training advisor and palcement manages.

It is always stressed to us that if we ever need any assistance, dont be afriad to ask, "We're here to help" and being a teenager in a large factory, hearing this is very comforting. In terms of HR Services Hams Hall is great too, they are very helpful and whenever you need something or need to ask a few questions they're alwasy there to help.

Our trainging provider is BMet (Birmingham Metropolitan) College, at the college we have multiple tutors that are very helpful and alwasy go out of their way to give us the best possible learning experience; also they provide an on-site support officer at Hams Hall, we have regualr meetings with him regarding our NVQ work and job reports. Although the organisation at collge isn't the best, i can not fault the lecturers and the help they give us.

Everything we are learning through our qualifications directly contributes towards performance at work, without a doubt. It allows for 'qucik' learning at work, it means our colleagues (who are technicians not teachers) dont have to walk us through and explain every little detail as we already a basic understanding that provides a good foundation to build upon.

Yes, we are encouraged to participate in charitable activities on-site at Hams Hall such as cake sales for a charity chosen by the employees. There are also 5-a-side football tournaments every few months for charity, this usually draws together about 200-300 people all for a good cause. Also there is a 'Three Peaks Challenge', a challenge consisting of climbing three mountains with a team and competing against other teams from not just Hams Hall but MINI Oxford and MINI Swindon.

Yes

I love my job, not many 19 year olds can say that. My job is interesting and I'm constantly learning, all of the technicians I've worked with I've gotten along with really well, not once have i felt like an outsider or been made to feel uncomfortable. The large majority of the work force were all apprentices in the past too, and they have been in my shoes, they know it's daunting at first but they do a fantastic job of casting that feeling away.

I wasn't going to apply becasue I thought I wasn't good enough, my mum forced me to apply, and now here I am. The online tests are difficult but not impossible, just do some revision before hand. If you make it through to the interview stage, just be confident, make your passion to learn and to succeed visible to your interviewer, make them remeber you and give them a reason to hire you.