Machining Maintenance Apprentice Review

I work on the shop floor shadowing the maintenance teams, this consists of placements in different process lines working with a wide range of technicians. I currently work shifts so i am working with one maintenance team for my placement on the lines and this is my second time on the lines.

So far i have learnt many useful skills, these range from maintenance techniques to logical approaches to breakdowns. I have also seen my manual dexterity skills improve inline with my knowledge. My confidence has also benefitted from the program due to the number of technicians i have to interact and work with.

Currently i am really enjoying the apprenticeship program, to date it has been everything i had expected it to be and is something i thoroughly enjoy doing. I enjoy working with the various technicians and picking up skill from them as well as seeing how they approach and have their own techniques on breakdowns.

As a whole i believe the program is well structured but would benefit from being better organized. Sometimes there is a lack of communication to the apprentices. The college is less organized however that isn't down to the employer. Overall i do think its organization does need some improvement.

The employer as a whole is good at giving support, we have meetings every quarter with our apprentice manager to check in a assess our targets, where we are at and what they can do to help or support us to achieve this. There is also support from the maintenance and higher management.

The college are less supportive, its more about meeting the deadlines then giving support with the actual work itself. Although i have learnt skills from the college a little more support or guidance would not go a miss. The college are also no great when it comes to communicating with students.

I think that the qualifications and skills gained from our provider has allowed for me to think about breakdowns and problems at work with an engineering mindset, this allows for me to understand what is going on and how to approach the situation to fix it and put ideas forward.

I believe there are these opportunities at other BMW locations for apprentices however i am not aware of any extra-curricular activities available to get involved in at Hams Hall. This may help build relations between the different year groups in the workplace as i think this would benefit all the apprentices.

Yes

I would recommend BMW to a friend for an apprenticeship as it is a good employer to work for and everyone employed wants to help you and teach you new skills. The more people you get to work with the more ways you get to see a job being done, to which you can adapt to make your own.

If i was to give advice it would be to make sure engineering is what you want to do, if so make sure you show an interest in the workplace and make sure to always ask plenty of questions if you are in a situation where you are unsure of what is going on.