Hoppecke Industrial Batteries has taken on the first two employees to pass through its apprenticeship programme.
Colin Williams was a battery builder working in the warehouse before his apprenticeship in battery engineering, working with a mentor, service manager Tony Robinshaw. He will now become an on-the-road service engineer repairing batteries and fork lift chargers, and could become a service manager.
Williams said: “The job I’m doing now is more technical than being a battery fitter, and it’s something I wanted to do since I started working here.”
Hoppecke Industrial Batteries’ UK sales and operations director David Millett says: “The logistics sector affects everybody’s lives – what they eat, what they wear, transport systems – but it doesn’t get the attention that, say, the manufacturing industry receives. We really need to see a much stronger emphasis on apprenticeships in logistics.