CarnaudMetalbox celebrates gold at The Skills Show
For the third successive year, CarnaudMetalbox Engineering apprentices have won gold at this year’s Skills Show organised by WorldSkills UK.
CMB apprentices Andrew Joyce, Isaac Khan and James Thomason won gold in the Manufacturing Team Challenge, and the team will now go through to the selection process for the UK World Skills competition to be in the final squad to represent the UK in the forthcoming international finals in Kazan, Russia in 2019.
The team’s new project is to develop an electric wheelchair, and they have the next 18 months to develop their skills and work on their brief. CMB will provide support to the team to help guide them through the process of getting to the selection, but also the finals in Russia if selected.
During the three-day event, almost 500 young apprentices and students, competing in 55 disciplines – as diverse as aircraft maintenance to 3D game design, cabinet making, plumbing to beauty therapy and cyber security – took part in the National Finals.
Commenting on the efforts of this year’s apprentices, Karl Hatfield-Waites, CMB Engineering’s marketing manager, commented: “Congratulations to Andrew, Isaac and James,” he said. “To win gold highlights the skillset of our young apprentices, but also showcases the importance of our apprenticeship schemes to the manufacturing industry in the UK.
“It has been a terrific year for CMB; appearing in this year’s Parliamentary Review, having apprentices representing us on the world stage at the WorldSkills finals in Abu Dhabi, and now gold at the Skills Show competition is the icing on the cake.”
Dr. Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK added: “This has been a wonderful showcase for UK skills.
“The competition was fierce and the standards very high – all the finalists have done brilliantly well just to get this far. All their hard work and dedication has been rewarded and we at WorldSkills UK salute you.”
To highlight the increasing importance of skills to the UK economy, Minister for Skills, Anne Milton MP, who attended the event with several other Cabinet colleagues said: “You have something amazing – WorldSkills UK is without doubt one of the most important organisations within my portfolio. Skills have never been higher on the Government agenda.”
The CMB apprentices will be hoping to emulate this year’s WorldSkills representatives, Jake Green, Alex McClusky and Jacob Parker, in representing TeamUK at the WorldSkills competition. Although the team didn’t medal in the final competition, where they finished eighth in the world out of 59 countries, this was a great achievement in representing CMB on the world stage. More importantly for the boys, the skills they have learnt along the way will be hugely beneficial to their future careers within the industry.
Dr. Bentley, added: Congratulations on Alexander, Jacob and Jake’s success at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. It is a great achievement of which you and your organisation can be very proud.
“I recognise the commitment that you have shown in preparing for the competition, and that this has been fitted around their employment and training commitments. I am also aware that without CMB’s continued support, the team wouldn’t have been able to enter the WorldSkills competition, so thank you for your commitment.”