.swf)
North West Manufacturing: Training focus drives Evoque’s success
THE global popularity of Land Rover’s Evoque model shows North West manufacturing at its very best.
In less than three years employment at the company’s Halewood factory has trebled to 4,500 as the so-called ‘baby’ Land Rover has become a major success story at home and abroad. Demand has been so strong that in August the plant switched to 24-hour working for the first time.
So far around 90.000 Evoques have been sold – 80% of which are exported as far afield as China and the US.
Around 1,000 new staff were hired last year in the run-up to the launch of the Evoque.
Mindful of issues around skills, all of JLR’s new production
operators now receive up to a year of training that will lead to an Intermediate (NVQ Level 2) Apprenticeship.
The company has a programme of educational initiatives to promote STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) within schools and colleges to help create the next generation of engineers and technologists. In 2011, it reached out to more than 233,000 children.
Mike Wright, JLR executive director, said: “It’s critical that we attract talented young people to become the next generation of engineers and technologists.
“We have a wide range of educational initiatives underway with the aim of
getting young people excited about engineering and crucially, to encourage them to make the right subject choices at GCSE level and beyond.”
