Having manufactured in the UK for 103 years, Boneham & Turner are fortunate to have both long-serving members of the team and apprentices. That’s why the company thought it would be interesting to hear from a long-standing employee, of 58 years, Micheal Northing who is a Shim Section Chargehand and Toolmaker.
A day in the life as Micheal
Michael commences by overcoming manufacturing challenges from the previous day, often providing solutions to difficult tooling concepts. He then reviews the production schedule to ensure priorities are worked on in-order and any previous open production orders are completed. Michael guides the rest of the team on any production challenges or techniques required.
Why Micheal believes people should work in Manufacturing
Michael absolutely relishes the challenge presented by engineering puzzles. After all these years he still feels immense satisfaction when a product has gone from drawing to reality under his team, safe in the knowledge that the customer couldn’t get a better-quality product anywhere else.
What skills do you need?
Michael believes you need a good understanding of mathematics, have the ability to work with your hands, communicate effectively with a team, both in terms of technicality and idea generation, and lastly patience, not everyone grasps first time what you have explained or interprets instructions the same way.
How is Boneham & Turner is supporting jobs & skills within the sector?
Boneham and Turner are very passionate about nurturing the talent of today and the future, it is a firm belief of the company that there should be a continuous progression in manufacturing skills within the local area to help elevate job opportunity and quality, whilst keeping pace with a very fast-paced manufacturing and technology sector. One of the company’s core values is “Growth through engineering education”, the leadership team firmly believes in providing the right climate to train, learn new skills, and above all, offer flexibility to innovate and expand. Boneham and Turner have always been a great advocate of apprenticeship schemes and STEM learning, running many different apprenticeship programs. In-order for the sector to have a successful and pioneering future, the Boneham Team continuously invests in machinery and people.
Made Futures was created to encourage people to get jobs in manufacturing, in support of those who have lost their jobs over the course of the 2020 pandemic. There's still time to sign up and be part of the exhibition by filling in the form here.