Brandauer aims to develop talent to beat skills shortage

MANUFACTURER Brandauer has embarked on a recruitment drive after it secured more than £1m of new contracts for clients involved in the automotive, life protection and renewable energy sectors.

Birmingham-based Brandauer, one of the largest contract presswork and stamping specialists in Europe, is looking for a team leader, a number of toolmakers and bench hands to cope with its expansion plans.

But because skilled staff are hard to find, the firm is also launching its own ‘Improvers’ scheme and trebling the size of its apprentice programme.

Rowan Crozier, sales and marketing director, said: “Like many SMEs we feel we offer a great place to work. There are lots of development opportunities, the chance to work across many markets/areas of the business and learn on the latest processes and technology.

“Despite all of this, we are struggling to fill a few key positions and feel part of this is down to people not fully understanding what they can achieve by working for a smaller manufacturer.

“It’s not the Government’s job to change their perceptions, it’s down to us and the rest of industry to play our part.”

Brandauer, which is a member of the Midlands Assembly Network (MAN), is also committed to addressing the long-term skills issue by planning an investment of more than £150,000 into an ‘Improvers Scheme’ and in ‘growing its own’.

The former involves targeting a mixture of industry professionals looking to up-skill and mature people considering swapping roles for a career in manufacturing.

This will be supplemented by its new apprenticeship programme. The company currently employs three apprentices and has plans to increase this figure to ten by the end of 2015.

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