Food and Drink Engineering Maintenance Apprenticeship

MARS PETCARE UK

Batley, WF17 9LU

Closes on Friday 28 February

Posted on 8 November 2024

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Contents

Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join a 4-year Apprenticeship, where you will be working towards the Level 3 Food and Drink Maintenance Engineer qualification. You will take part in fantastic training courses and team building events, whilst tackling real challenges and taking on real responsibility.

Annual wage
£20,000 a year

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Salary £20,000 rising on completion of each academic year + annual bonus + benefits

Training course
Food and drink maintenance engineer (level 3)
Hours
Monday - Friday, shifts to be confirmed.

37 hours 30 minutes a week

Possible start date

Monday 1 September

Duration

4 years

Positions available

3

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

With strong mentorship and coaching from our experienced Technical Associates you will be:

  • Learning how to maintain our plant
  • Learning how to diagnose complex mechanical and electrical faults
  • Learning how to repair our equipment
  • Applying all relevant Mars quality and safety systems to ensure the safety of people and products is maintained
  • Working across various areas in our factory including Mechanical, Electrical and Utilities

​On successful completion of the Engineering Apprenticeship you will have demonstrated leadership, and the ability to take ownership and accountability for equipment, carry out complex fault diagnosis and repairs and provide technical coaching to others.

Where you’ll work

Oakwell Way

Birstall

Batley

WF17 9LU

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

KIRKLEES COLLEGE

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

  • You will be studying towards the Level 3 Food & Drink Engineering Maintenance Standard at Kirklees College Engineering Centre (Huddersfield) as well as supporting training and qualifications to enable you to carry out the role of an Engineer for Mars Petcare (academic content delivered offsite and includes residential block release)
  • You should recieve a Diploma in food and drink engineering maintenance upon completion

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

  • English (grade 4/C or above)
  • Maths (grade 4/C or above)

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
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Analytical skills
  • Logical
  • Team working

Other requirements

What are we looking for? A demonstrable interest in Engineering and Leadership The ability to work as part of a team The desire to learn Willing and able to travel to our Birstall site and Kirklees College We require you to be 16+ by the 1st September 2025 You must not have more than 2 years engineering experience, prior learning, or qualifications higher than an NVQ Level 3 in engineering

About this company

Our Mars Petcare division has more than 100,000 Petcare Associates spending their days thinking about the 400 million pets of the world and how to improve their lives through our nutrition, health and services businesses. This includes famous nutrition brands like PEDIGREE® and WHISKAS®. At Mars Petcare, we believe that pets make the world a better place. We work towards our Purpose: A Better World for Pets.

https://www.mars.com/en-gb/our-brands/petcare (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Work with over 140,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles. An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

After this apprenticeship

  • ​On successful completion of the Engineering Apprenticeship you will have demonstrated leadership, and the ability to take ownership and accountability for equipment, carry out complex fault diagnosis and repairs and provide technical coaching to others

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

KIRKLEES COLLEGE

Mark

mcooney@kirkleescollege.ac.uk

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000286584.

Apply now

Closes on Friday 28 February

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After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

Company’s application instructions

Apply directly on Mars website and find our more about apprenticeships at Mars https://careers.mars.com/uk/en/apprenticeships