Assembly Apprentice Review

I am an assembly associate for Rolls Royce Motor Cars in Chichester and i work in the main plant on the assembly line. I work in a zone within a team on the line building and assembling certain sections of the car and fitting them to the car. This includes fitting the undertrays and support brackets under the car as well as working in the engine bay fitting the electrics and air boxes. Currently i am learning a new package within the zone so new people to work with and new things to understand. When not at the plant working on the line i am studying at Chichester college.

Since working on the assembly line i have learnt some new skills and have learnt more about cars in general. I have learnt how to assemble and fit various items to the cars and have helped me to understand more about how engines and cars work. I have learnt how to use certain tools and the reason for using certain torques and settings. i have learnt how to assemble air boxes, fit water pumps, route electrical connections just to name a few.

I enjoy learning new skills and working on the cars as it is a passion of mine and something ive always wanted to understand fully. This programme allows me to learn about the cars as well as gain skills on fitting parts to the cars and seeing them be built. At college i am enjoying learning new skills such as bench fitting exercises making new tools and items only using hand tools and am enjoying learning how to use the lathes and welding. All activities which are of interest to me and im getting paid to learn them.

Initially i found that it was difficult to find structure as it wasnt really set out what we were actually going to be doing. There was a lack of communication initially so we couldnt ask anyone what the plan was. The college side of things is structured well as there is a set course to follow so once they had figured out which paper was the most up to date we could set ourselves goals and know what to do. Sometimes in the factory we are used for tasks that dont really help us with the studying side of things. If we get taken off the assembly line to help with other tasks we then cant learn the package which is something that we need to end up writing about. A couple times i have been pulled off to do something else when i should have been getting assessed by my college lecturer. It can get frustrating at times as our one day a week is hard to learn as it is so when we get a week here we think its a good time to really learn but end up doing other things.

I do find that at times we are left to our own devices. There are a few people we can contact but we aren't always sure if they are going to be able to help or point us in the right direction. There were times that we didn't have a main contact so felt a bit stranded but most the support does come from college as we spend most of our time there. Im not sure there is anyone at the plant that is actually checking in on us regularly so the support is there if we need it but not always obvious. When working on the line we do get support from our process supporters or process leaders so i know i can ask them for assistance if required but they dont know much about the course we are on.

I have found the college to be very helpful towards my qualifications. I have found that all the lecturers have been able to assist me if i have needed it. With certain classes when we were learning new things i didnt understand at times i was able to ask questions and they would assist me. Even if i have needed help to understand what a question is asking me i know i can email the leturers and they have been there to help or point me in the right direction to find out the answer for the question or how to answer it.

I feel that there is quite a lot that cant really be applied to my role as we dont use things such as welding or tools such as pillar drills and the electronics are all pre built that we fit to the car so we dont need to know how they are soldered together or how to carry out the testing. We an apply the general safe handling practices and health and safety into it and know how to safely use equipment but i wouldnt say much can be applied as its an assembly line not a production plant so we dont need to know how the engine works as this is already built when it arrives in the plant.

Amongst the teams working on the shifts they may arrange actitivites such a go karting outside of work or team building/socialising. The company does get involved in actitivites that include local schools building minature race cars that we can opt to get involved in or certain tasks within the local area. Im sure we could find out more by looking on the company employee website or the noticeboards.

Yes

I feel the company has many diferent paths and potential for improvement and development within the company. I feel that you can find many different areas that may be of interest an once you have started you can meet a variety of people all learning and doing something new. There are so many roles and once in the company you can progress and develop into a role that you may not have known existed.

Go for it! Its a brilliant company that is known worldwide and it also features many benefits as an employee. You learn many skills that can be used and implemented into many jobs and once you have gained these skills they will help for many different roles. Its a great company with a great ethos and the fact they have some great products also helps. Its good to be able to say you work for them.