Bed manufacturer Silentnight welcomed its local MP to the Lancashire site during National Apprenticeship Week (14-18th March), following the ongoing success of its award-winning apprenticeship scheme.
Andrew Stephenson, Conservative MP for Pendle, met with the board of directors and got an insight into the work of the apprentices, specialising in areas including management, customer services and logistics.
The company’s decade-long commitment to apprenticeships is key to its wider aims to champion and remain at the forefront of the UK manufacturing industry. The scheme allows the company to source and retain some of the best talent in the trade.
He was also there to congratulate and present an award to one of the company’s promising young apprentices, Tom Firth, 23, following his acceptance onto the prestigious Furniture Makers’ Company Young Professional Industry Experience programme.
Tom, a higher apprentice in furniture manufacture and design at Silentnight, will embark on the course this spring, after being awarded one of only eight places available nationally.
Dr Julie Dix, people development and training co-ordinator at Silentnight, says: “We were delighted to have Andrew visit the company and meet our apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week. Tom’s success reinforces the message that we want to get across to young people - that apprenticeships are a great way to launch your career. We are very proud of Tom for attaining a place on the esteemed programme and look forward to seeing what the future holds for him in the world of furniture making.”
The Young Professional Industry Experience is an intensive three-week programme, taking place over five weeks starting in May, where young professionals are given an unrivalled opportunity to experience and understand all areas of the furnishing industry supply chain. Participants will learn about raw materials and components, the complexity of manufacturing, buying criteria, pricing, marketing, and the merchandising of finished products, right through to aftersales customer service.
