Earlier this month, Westinghouse continued its tradition of celebrating UK National Apprentice Week with an action-packed agenda led by the apprentices.
Westinghouse’s UK Apprentice Training Centre has produced approximately one-third of our current UK workforce throughout its 60-year history, including the majority of the current UK-led team. It is located at the company’s Springfields site, which produces more than 15 percent of the UK’s electricity demand.
This year’s celebrations included Westinghouse hosting the National Skills Academy for Nuclear’s Regional Board meeting. During the meeting, apprentices gave a tour of the Apprentice Training Centre and insight into life as a Westinghouse apprentice to approximately 30 key nuclear skills leaders. Feedback from the visitors was extremely positive. The apprentices did a fantastic job of showcasing the excellent apprenticeship program, which produces many highly skilled nuclear professionals for not only Westinghouse, but also external companies across the North West of England.
We also welcomed Nuclear Engineering apprentices from British Aerospace’s Barrow base, which was beneficial for both companies’ apprentices, who discussed the similarities and differences in their apprentice programs. The visit was an excellent example of the importance of apprenticeships in the UK and the benefits of the career paths, which can lead employees all over the world.
Some of the UK-led team members who are former apprentices at Springfields visited the Apprentice Training Centre to talk with the current apprentices, offer advice, share experiences and inspire Westinghouse’s future leaders. Both the apprentices and the lead team took a great deal from the visit.
The week concluded with an apprentice charity fundraising day where the apprentices undertook multiple activities to raise money for the UK Charity Partner, Kidneys for Life.
Creating Value for Shareholders, Customers and Employees is one of our core values. For more than six decades, the UK Apprentice Training Centre has provided free education to the UK workforce, supported industry growth and ensured a highly-skilled pool of nuclear employees. Whether our program graduates work for us, our customers or our competitors, we know that they’re leading the way in generating clean, safe, reliable energy.
We look forward to UK National Apprentice Week 2020!
