Human Factor Critical in Delivering Business Success
30 Jan 2008
BAE Systems isn’t just about technology – it’s about people, too. Producing world-class defence systems requires much more than hardware and software. It needs thinking skills, loyalty and commitment from its workforce. The human factor is the most critical of all.
Engineering excellence is at the heart of BAE Systems’ capabilities. The business is diverse and global, and its customers demand innovative and affordable solutions and services. This provides the company with both challenges and opportunities – it has to constantly excel, but its exposure to a wide range of competencies allows it to draw on best practice from all over the world.
BAE Systems’ apprentice programmes reflect this passion for developing and nurturing a skilled, high-quality workforce. The company works hard to encourage its people to realise their full potential. Only by investing in mentoring talent today will it underpin the future success of it business.
One way in which the company is demonstrating its commitment to training and apprenticeship is through the “Engineering Developing You” programme. This provides a framework that helps to map out an individual’s abilities and aspirations and match them to the engineering capabilities required by the business. It helps to deliver the right development solutions and so to grow engineering capability and remain successful.
BAE Systems’ apprenticeships allow the company to provide people with the opportunity to gain qualifications through both on and off-the-job training. Its modern apprenticeship training programme is one of the largest schemes in the UK.
The company’s Surface Fleet Solutions business, a major provider of warships for the Royal Navy, typifies its commitment to investing in the skills of a future workforce. At its base on the River Clyde in Glasgow, more than 220 young people are working towards completing modern apprenticeship in either a technical or craft based trade group.
Those joining the programme study at college, and are set both practical and academic targets. The course takes three years to complete and involves real work as well as learning and developing new skills.
The quality of the programme was recognised at Scottish Enterprise’s Modern Apprenticeship Awards in 2006, when BAE Systems won the prestigious Large Employer of the Year Award. This recognised the investment and outstanding level of work put in by the company in recent years. It is significant endorsement of its ongoing commitment to invest in education, training and the long term future of its business.
At graduate level, too, the Surface Fleet Solutions business has a strong culture of training recruits and developing excellence. A total of 20 graduates recently joined the company – the largest number ever taken on in one intake – with nine direct entry graduates joining the engineering function.
Other BAE Systems businesses are equally enthusiastic in their approach. In the latest influx of talent at Lancashire based Military Air Solutions, more than 100 people recently joined the apprenticeship programme. This intake includes a mixture of business, craft and technical apprentices.
Andy Leahy, head of operations and general manager at BAE Systems’ site in Warton, says: “We constantly develop our business training in line with the business need. We were one of the first four companies in the country to be classed as a centre of development excellence by the Learning Skills Council.”
He adds: “Our apprentice programme allows us to shape people to have the skills and knowledge sets required for the future. It’s about more than giving individuals technical skills for a particular job. It is also about developing them as individuals. They take part in activities which get them working in teams and communicating effectively.”
The programme includes participation in an outdoors adventure course in the apprentices’ second month of training. They also become involved in the company’s community support and corporate responsibility programmes. “It’s not just the quality of the programme that is recognised – it’s the talent of the apprentices too, “ states Andy.
“ We have some very impressive people, and I’ve no doubt that they will play their part in the future success of our business.”
Further north, at the Submarine Solutions business in Barrow, there is further evidence of
BAE Systems commitment to world-class training. This business manufactures Astute class nuclear powered submarines, among the UK’s most complex and challenging engineering programmes. It has just recruited 97 new apprentices, with a further 48 joining next month, representing the biggest apprentice intake at Barrow for nearly two decades.
The focus on quality of training increases year on year. Today, thanks to a partnership with Furness College, apprentices can learn in a submarine compartment mock-up during off-the-job training. This allows them to apply the skills they have learned to a specialised marine environment.
Paul Rennie, apprentice training manager, says: “The aim is to capture the importance of quality at the beginning of the development process and therefore to encourage a quality approach to employees’ work, from the start.”
Engineering, specifically in the fields of science and engineering, is extremely important to the future sustainability of BAE Systems’ business. The company invests heavily in the training and development of employees at all levels. Training helps its people continuously develop their skills and capabilities, enabling them to keep pace with changing technologies and improve customer service.
For further information please contact:
John Neilson, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384795
john.neilson@baesystems.com
Issued by:
BAE Systems, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6YU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384710 Fax: +44 (0) 1252 383947
24hr media hotline: + 44 (0) 7801 717739
www.baesystems.com