Budding motorsport engineer wins main title at the In-Comm Training Awards

A young apprentice that is helping motorsport teams achieve their best possible performance has been named as the Outstanding Apprentice of the Year for the West Midlands.

Precision Technologies International’s Joshua Peace beat off the challenge of more than 100 peers to secure the prestigious honour in front of 300 people at the In-Comm Training Awards in Birmingham on July 7th.

Judges praised the Tamworth engineer’s all-round stunning performance and a clear desire and drive to inspire others to follow a career in industry.

The high-profile ceremony, which was backed by main sponsor the Engineering Technology Group (ETG), saw ‘girl power’ come to the fore again, with Katie Mayo (PcP Gratings) and Kirsty Locking (Cross & Morse) sharing the Most Improved Learner of the Year title.

In addition to the young apprentices, companies were also in the spotlight for the way they back the next generation of talent and how they continue to invest in their workforces.

Assa Abloy and Brandauer won the Large Company and SME Awards respectively, with the latter impressing the judging panel with the way it has jointly invested £1m into a new Precision Tooling Academy to reverse the toolmaking skills drain.

(l-r back row) Stuart Berry (Brandauer), Isabelle Rowley (Churchill Integrated Services), Sam Marston (Aico), Wendy Weston, Matt Daly (both Assa Abloy), William Thompson (Torus) and Steve Giles (Metsec)
(l-r front row) Gemma Osborne (Leonardo), Kirsty Locking (Cross & Morse), Joshua Peace (Precision Technologies International), Katie Mayo (PcP Gratings) and Britney Biju (Collins Aerospace)

Bekki Phillips, Chief Operating Officer at In-Comm Training, was delighted with the quality of entrants: “It is fantastic to be able to shine the brightest possible spotlight on the vocational stars we have in our region, who are all doing amazing things on the shopfloor and across our offices.

“The standard of the finalists was the best yet and underlines what can be achieved when you get the mix right of companies, training providers and young people.”

She continued: “We are finally seeing the perceptions of apprenticeships change since Covid-19 and events like these are crucial to achieving that level of equality…encouraging the next generation to choose engineering and manufacturing.”

This was the twelfth year the In-Comm Training Awards have been held and gave over 55 finalists the opportunity to celebrate their achievements in front of their peers, mentors, and employers.

Other winners included:

• Steve Giles (Metsec) – Ambassador of the Year
• Isabelle Rowley (Churchill Integrated Services) – Business Support Learner of the Year
• Bruno Trezeguet (Rotometrics) – Leadership & Management Learner of the Year
• Gemma Osborne (Leonardo) – Quality & Continuous Improvement Learner of the Year
• William Thompson (Torus) – Engineering & Manufacturing Foundation Telford
• Britney Biju (Collins Aerospace) – Engineering & Manufacturing Advanced Telford
• Sam Marston (Aico) – Engineering & Manufacturing Higher Telford

Gareth Jones, Managing Director In-Comm Training, concluded: “We are doing everything in our power to support the increased appetite for apprenticeship and skills by making sure we are offering companies and learners access to the best possible support, advice, courses, and training facilities.

“Events over the last twelve months have underlined this commitment. We have centralised our Shropshire facilities into a £3m state-of-the-art Technical Academy in Telford, providing 20,000 sq ft of manufacturing training space that is fitted out with new equipment and industry-leading technology.

“This will cater for 350 apprentices and upskill 2500 existing workers and we’re already edging towards those figures after an unbelievably strong response from the local business community.”

He concluded: “Importantly, we have also delivered on our promise to launch the UK’s first Precision Tooling Academy.”

The In-Comm Training Awards were made possible by headline sponsor the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) and other sponsors, including Black Country Chamber of Commerce, the Black Country Institute of Technology, Collins Aerospace, Crowe LLP, EAL Awards, FBC Manby Bowdler, Gestamp and In-Comm TMG.

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