Engineering Apprentice

Summary

A four- year academic and on the job apprenticeship to achieve the Food & Drink Multi-skilled Engineering Maintenance Apprenticeship including the OAL Level 3 Diploma in Food & Drink Maintenance Engineering. On successful completion of the apprenticeship you will have the opportunity to apply to join our engineering team on a permanent basis.

Wage

£20,500 a year

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Starting salary £20,500 increasing every 6 months by £2,500.

Training course

Food and drink maintenance engineer (level 3)

Hours

Monday - Friday, Whilst at training provider 8:00 - 16:00.

40 hours a week

Start date

Monday 1 September 2025

Duration

4 years

Positions available

3

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you’ll do at work

As part of the engineering team, you will be responsible for maintaining and improving the performance of all plant and equipment to achieve maximum machine availability targets. Through both planned preventative maintenance and reactive breakdown repairs you will work to minimise disruption to production targets, whilst ensuring that all equipment adheres to relevant legislation and so that a safe working environment is always maintained for yourself and other colleagues.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Complete all college work to an excellent standard to pass each classroom module
Complete on the job training at the Milton Keynes Site. This will include assisting with machinery maintenance, servicing, breakdowns, and process improvement
Learn how to input data, open and close jobs, and complete basic reporting.
Maintain excellent attendance and timekeeping
Any other task as reasonably requested by their line manager

Site Culture and Ethos:

At Cranswick Milton Keynes we have 3 goals we are striving to achieve together. We want to be the largest sliced cooked meat manufacturer in Europe, to be a Net Zero business, and to improve the living standards in our local community.

Our site values which we demonstrate every day are:

We inspire and motivate
We take ownership and empower others
We are respectful, we listen, and are open & honest
We take time to learn from our mistakes & successes, and encourage feedback
We will be better tomorrow than we are today.

All colleagues are expected to adhere to all policies and contractual obligations as set out by Cranswick.

Health, Safety & Environment:

You have a responsibility to ensure that you fully comply with the company policy on Health, safety and Environment Per ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 management systems in all aspects of your working environment.

You have a duty of care to those employees working with you in your area to work safely and as such your duties will include:

Involvement in the Risk Assessment process to include the reduction of risk
Report any damaged or faulty equipment to the management team
Report any unsafe activities
Report accidents and near misses by following the correct procedure
Wear the correct Personal Protective Equipment and clothing for the work being carried out always
Follow the correct procedures – inclusive of the lock off and tag off, working at height, hot works permit and safe working procedures.
Use all the equipment in a safe manner.

Food Safety:

You will be working in a food manufacturing area and are required by law to produce a safe and legal product. Cranswick have also entered into contracts with its customers and as such you are required to ensure the agreed quality expectations of the customer are matched or exceeded. For the company to meet these requirements you must follow all company policies and procedures to the letter, and follow any reasonable instructions given.

Where you’ll work

Steinbeck Crescent
Milton Keynes
MK4 4AE

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

MIDLAND GROUP TRAINING SERVICES LIMITED

Your training course

Food and drink maintenance engineer (level 3)

Equal to A level

Course contents

Read and interpret task related information and data. For example, work instructions, SOPs, quality control documentation, Service Level Agreements, specifications, engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information, work instructions, and operation manuals.
Plan work. Identify and organise resources to complete tasks.
Identify hazards and control measures to mitigate risks.
Comply with food safety regulations and procedures.
Comply with health and safety regulations and procedures.
Comply with environment and sustainability regulations and procedures: safe disposal of waste, re-cycling or re-use of materials and efficient use of resources.
Select, check the condition, and safely use maintenance tools and equipment. Store tools and equipment. Complete or arrange maintenance of tools and equipment including calibration where required.
Follow standard operating procedures and quality procedures.
Follow site isolation and lock off procedures (lockout, tagout) and re-instatement of equipment with system checks and handover.
Apply mechanical and fluid power system maintenance practices and techniques. For example, check levels, parts wear, pressure, and sensors, grease and lubricate parts, replace, fit components, and calibrate equipment.
Apply electrical and control maintenance practices and techniques including use of electrical testing equipment and instruments. For example, panel risk assessment, fixed wire installation testing, fault finding, thermographic surveys, and checking protection settings.
Apply reliability engineering techniques to prevent or reduce the likelihood or frequency of failures. For example, condition monitoring, oil sampling, thermography, vibration analysis, and ultrasound.
Install and configure instrumentation or process control systems.
Install and configure electrical systems. For example, add distribution boards to circuits, single and three phase motors (AC and DC).
Assemble, position and fix equipment or components. Complete commissioning checks.
Disconnect and remove equipment or components. Complete storage measures to prevent deterioration.
Read and interpret equipment performance data.
Fabricate, drill, and join to produce basic parts, spares or components to measurement and tolerance specification.
Apply down-hand (flat) TIG welding techniques: butt and tee.
Apply mathematical techniques to solve engineering problems.
Produce and amend electrical and mechanical engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information. For example, for new component parts or change in circuit diagram or panel.
Apply fault-finding and problem-solving techniques for example, using PLC data to diagnose issues and locate faults on industrial network.
Apply continuous improvement techniques to understand current performance; collect and record data. Devise suggestions for improvement.
Restore the work area on completion of activity.
Resolve or escalate issues.
Use information technology. For example, for document creation, communication, and information management. Comply with GDPR. Comply with cyber security.
Record work activity. For example, asset management records, work sheets, checklists, waste environmental records, and any business or legal reporting requirements.
Communicate verbal and written. For example, with colleagues and stakeholders. Use engineering terminology where appropriate.
Produce reports for example, equipment performance reports.
Provide guidance or training to colleagues or stakeholders.
Read and interpret task related information and data. For example, work instructions, SOPs, quality control documentation, Service Level Agreements, specifications, engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information, work instructions, and operation manuals.
Plan work. Identify and organise resources to complete tasks.
Identify hazards and control measures to mitigate risks.
Comply with food safety regulations and procedures.
Comply with health and safety regulations and procedures.
Comply with environment and sustainability regulations and procedures: safe disposal of waste, re-cycling or re-use of materials and efficient use of resources.
Select, check the condition, and safely use maintenance tools and equipment. Store tools and equipment. Complete or arrange maintenance of tools and equipment including calibration where required.
Follow standard operating procedures and quality procedures.
Follow site isolation and lock off procedures (lockout, tagout) and re-instatement of equipment with system checks and handover.
Apply mechanical and fluid power system maintenance practices and techniques. For example, check levels, parts wear, pressure, and sensors, grease and lubricate parts, replace, fit components, and calibrate equipment.
Apply electrical and control maintenance practices and techniques including use of electrical testing equipment and instruments. For example, panel risk assessment, fixed wire installation testing, fault finding, thermographic surveys, and checking protection settings.
Apply reliability engineering techniques to prevent or reduce the likelihood or frequency of failures. For example, condition monitoring, oil sampling, thermography, vibration analysis, and ultrasound.
Install and configure instrumentation or process control systems.
Install and configure electrical systems. For example, add distribution boards to circuits, single and three phase motors (AC and DC).
Assemble, position and fix equipment or components. Complete commissioning checks.
Disconnect and remove equipment or components. Complete storage measures to prevent deterioration.
Read and interpret equipment performance data.
Fabricate, drill, and join to produce basic parts, spares or components to measurement and tolerance specification.
Apply down-hand (flat) TIG welding techniques: butt and tee.
Apply mathematical techniques to solve engineering problems.
Produce and amend electrical and mechanical engineering representations, drawings, and graphical information. For example, for new component parts or change in circuit diagram or panel.
Apply fault-finding and problem-solving techniques for example, using PLC data to diagnose issues and locate faults on industrial network.
Apply continuous improvement techniques to understand current performance; collect and record data. Devise suggestions for improvement.
Restore the work area on completion of activity.
Resolve or escalate issues.
Use information technology. For example, for document creation, communication, and information management. Comply with GDPR. Comply with cyber security.
Record work activity. For example, asset management records, work sheets, checklists, waste environmental records, and any business or legal reporting requirements.
Communicate verbal and written. For example, with colleagues and stakeholders. Use engineering terminology where appropriate.
Produce reports for example, equipment performance reports.
Provide guidance or training to colleagues or stakeholders.

Your training plan

Food and Drink Engineering Maintenance Apprenticeship at level 3, with end point assessment of skills/knowledge
Diploma in Food and Drink Engineering Maintenance at level 3
Award in Food Safety and HACCP at level 2
Integrated technical study and work based learning
Additional modules specific to the food industry
Focus on skills in innovation, influencing, leadership and motivation

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE or equivalent in:

Maths (grade 9-5)
English (grade 9-5)
Any other subject (grade 9-5)

Desirable qualifications

BTEC or equivalent in:

Any subject (grade P/M/D)

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

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Problem solving skills
Logical
Team working

Other requirements

Throughout the 4 year apprenticeship when you are attending the training provider in Coventry you will be living away from home in accommodation which will be fully funded by the company. Year 1 = 20 weeks in accommodation, Year 2 = 14 weeks in accommodation, Year 3 = 6 weeks in accommodation

About this company

When a group of hardworking Yorkshire pig farmers joined forces to mill their own feed in 1975, they couldn’t have imagined where the journey would take them. Through shrewd investment, organic growth and good old-fashioned Yorkshire pragmatism, Cranswick has gone from strength to strength. By the early 1980s, the business expanded to include food production. At this point, we became one of the first companies to offer a true farm to fork proposition. Today, our state-of-the-art production facilities, industry leading innovation and passionate teams have established Cranswick as one of the UK’s leading fresh food producers. As the business has grown, our purpose has remained the same – to feed the nation with authentically made, sustainably produced food.

After this apprenticeship

On successful completion of the four-year apprenticeship, you may be offered the opportunity to move into a role in the local engineering team or apply for any other vacant engineering role in the wider group. Our qualified apprentices are highly valued at our sites and many progress further in their careers with us with opportunities to progress into supervisory and management roles.

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