Composite Technician Apprentice

Summary

This Apprenticeship is the perfect place to start your engineering career. You will have the unique opportunity to work on projects with world leading organisations such as Airbus, Rolls Royce and GKN. You will also gain exposure to a range of exciting advanced projects, processes and technologies.

Wage: £15,500 a year
Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)
Training course: Composites technician (level 3)
Hours: Monday to Friday with a 45 minute lunch
37 hours a week
Possible start date: Monday 1 September
Duration: 3 years
Positions available: 2

Work

As an apprentice, you’ll work at a company and get hands-on experience. You’ll gain new skills and work alongside experienced staff.

What you’ll do at work

Our three-year Composite Technician Apprenticeship combines on-the-job training at the NCC’s world-leading research and development facility in Bristol, and classroom learning at Weston College. You’ll be engaged in a variety of processes in the production and creation of materials and components that are used in a range of applications including airplanes, cars, boats, turbine blades and trains.

Composite technicians provide specialised knowledge and skills that support manufacturing programmes and projects and may be deployed in the areas of design, tooling, moulding, lay-up, curing, machining, inspection, testing, repair and material production.

Training:

Combining formal classroom and on the job training; developing knowledge, skills and capabilities of composites manufacturing techniques.
Learning fundamental engineering and manufacturing practices and theory.
Working with the research, engineering and workshop teams on practical and theoretical day to day projects.

On the job:

Having direct contact with customers and making sure their needs are met.
Continuous assessment of technical development by manager and mentor.

Practical technical work:

Laminating
Testing
Machining
Tooling

Where you’ll work

National Composite Centre Bristol & Bath Science Park

Feynman Way

Emersons Green

Bristol

BS16 7FS

Training

An apprenticeship includes regular training with a college or other training organisation. At least 20% of your working hours will be spent training or studying.

College or training organisation

WESTON COLLEGE OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Your training course

Composites technician (level 3)

Equal to A level

Course contents

Review drawings, instructions, or information to understand task.
Plan work. Identify and organise resources.
Identify hazards and risks in the workplace.
Apply health and safety procedures in compliance with regulations and standards.
Apply environmental and sustainability procedures in compliance with regulations and standards.
Apply sustainability principles for example, in choice of materials, minimising waste.
Prepare and use mould tools.
Select and check hand tools, equipment and machinery including calibration record.
Use or operate hand tools, equipment, and machinery.
Store mould tools, hand tools, and equipment.
Select, check, and prepare materials for example, weigh resins, cut reinforcement.
Follow quality control processes during manufacture for example, check for contaminants, record batch numbers or expiry dates.
Apply laminate to mould for example, cut, add darts, corner definition, orientation, position, and order.
Complete preparation for and start curing process for example, select and apply consumables for example vacuum bag, infuse with resin, add heat or pressure.
Extract product from mould (break out).
Conduct final product quality assurance procedure. For example, conduct grading parameters checks (size, appearance, weight), and take samples for laboratory testing.
Identify issues for example, de-laminations, inclusions, surface defects, surface imperfections, and maintenance requirements.
Escalate issues outside limits of responsibility.
Segregate resources for reuse, recycling, and disposal.
Record or enter data - paper based or electronic. For example, process and production records, traceability records, and quality assurance records.
Interpret data for example, defect data and geometrical measurements. Use data to validate suggestions.
Investigate a problem to identify the underlying cause. Identify a solution to the problem.
Apply continuous improvement techniques. Devise suggestions for improvement. For example, improving the energy consumption or waste profile of processes and procedures to improve the sustainability or carbon footprint of a product, process, or task.
Apply team working principles.
Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
Communicate in written form in the workplace for example, handover notes or emails, non-conformances, design change requests.
Use information technology for work tasks. Comply with GDPR and cyber security regulations and policies.
Plan how to meet personal development needs. Carry out and record planned and unplanned continued professional development (CPD) activities. Evaluate CPD against plans made.
Review drawings, instructions, or information to understand task.
Plan work. Identify and organise resources.
Identify hazards and risks in the workplace.
Apply health and safety procedures in compliance with regulations and standards.
Apply environmental and sustainability procedures in compliance with regulations and standards.
Apply sustainability principles for example, in choice of materials, minimising waste.
Prepare and use mould tools.
Select and check hand tools, equipment and machinery including calibration record.
Use or operate hand tools, equipment, and machinery.
Store mould tools, hand tools, and equipment.
Select, check, and prepare materials for example, weigh resins, cut reinforcement.
Follow quality control processes during manufacture for example, check for contaminants, record batch numbers or expiry dates.
Apply laminate to mould for example, cut, add darts, corner definition, orientation, position, and order.
Complete preparation for and start curing process for example, select and apply consumables for example vacuum bag, infuse with resin, add heat or pressure.
Extract product from mould (break out).
Conduct final product quality assurance procedure. For example, conduct grading parameters checks (size, appearance, weight), and take samples for laboratory testing.
Identify issues for example, de-laminations, inclusions, surface defects, surface imperfections, and maintenance requirements.
Escalate issues outside limits of responsibility.
Segregate resources for reuse, recycling, and disposal.
Record or enter data - paper based or electronic. For example, process and production records, traceability records, and quality assurance records.
Interpret data for example, defect data and geometrical measurements. Use data to validate suggestions.
Investigate a problem to identify the underlying cause. Identify a solution to the problem.
Apply continuous improvement techniques. Devise suggestions for improvement. For example, improving the energy consumption or waste profile of processes and procedures to improve the sustainability or carbon footprint of a product, process, or task.
Apply team working principles.
Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders.
Communicate in written form in the workplace for example, handover notes or emails, non-conformances, design change requests.
Use information technology for work tasks. Comply with GDPR and cyber security regulations and policies.
Plan how to meet personal development needs. Carry out and record planned and unplanned continued professional development (CPD) activities. Evaluate CPD against plans made.

Your training plan

You will be pursuing a Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard as a Composite Technician
As part of this program, you will attend college each week, and an assessor will conduct on-site observation to evaluate you progress (3 days in college per week in year 1, 1 day per week in year 2 and 3).
At the conclusion of your program, your qualification will be assessed through an End Point Assessment

More training information

The NCC is a supportive and interesting place to work, with an opportunity for you to get involved in a range of exciting projects across different industries and sectors, including aerospace, automotive, energy, construction and sustainability.

All of our apprentices have a mentor, who is on hand to offer you support and guidance throughout your apprenticeship. As you progress, you will be given responsibilities and the change to take ownership of projects and areas of work.

Completing the Composite Technician Apprenticeship offers you the opportunity for further study if you wish, including a HND, HNC or a university degree. There are endless possibilities!

Many of our apprentices have made lifelong friends through completing this course, so this is much more than gaining work experience and qualifications.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

Any subject (not including Science or Maths) (grade 4/C)
Any subject (not including Science or Maths) (grade 4/C)
Any subject (not including Science or Maths) (grade 4/C)
Maths (grade 6+)
Science (grade 6+)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Attention to detail
Problem solving skills
Team working
Committed
Self-disciplined
Willingness to learn
Passion for engineering
Passion for manufacturing
Self motivated

About this company

The National Composites Centre was created as the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Composites Research and Development following the inclusion of this disruptive technology into government industrial strategy. Our task: to be recognised as a world leader in composite technology, accelerating the development and uptake of digital technologies for sustainable composites and growing the market for composites by driving innovation through collaboration and partnerships.

https://www.nccuk.com/work-with-us/apprenticeships/ (opens in new tab)

After this apprenticeship

Apprentices can expect to join one of the engineering team and progress in roles such as a Technician, Machinist or Associate Research Engineer.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

WESTON COLLEGE OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Chloe Webb

chloe.webb@weston.ac.uk

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000301061.

Apply now

Closes in 15 days (Monday 10 March at 11:59pm)

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