CMB Engineering apprentices awarded medal of excellence

Three apprentices from a can making equipment manufacturer took fourth place at an international tournament.

The team of three from British-based CMB engineering took home a medallion of excellence in the Manufacturing Team Challenge at the WorldSkills International tournament, held from the 2 to the 7 July in Leipzig, Germany.

The team beat off stiff competition from around the UK to take their place in the finals.

Bringing together teams of talented young individuals from more than 53 countries around the world, the tournament is considered the ultimate test of apprentices.

Participants aged 18 to 25 compete for medals in more than 40 different categories such as polymechanics and automation, web design, mobile robotics, prototype modelling, electrical installation, welding, bricklaying, cooking and landscape gardening.

CMB Engineering’s apprentices were the only team to make it through to the final to come from a can making background and competed against teams from Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands and Chinese Taipei to take the fourth spot.

Andrew Maguire, George Moffat and Daniel Gebhard (pictured) represented the company and the UK as part of the competition’s Manufacturing Team Challenge.

Teams from eleven other countries competed in the challenge, which relies on innovative thinking and multi-disciplinary skills, including electrical engineering, CNC Milling or manual milling and turning.

The team showcased their excellence in engineering by designing and producing a solar powered can and bottle crushing disposal unit. Andrew Wilkinson, a mechanical engineer from CMB Engineering who represented the company in the 2009 WorldSkills UK competition, supported the team as a mentor.

“At CMB Engineering, we’ve always seen our apprenticeship programme as a key driver of our technology leadership, as our engineers exchange ideas and expertise with the new generation of apprentices,” said Andrew Truelove, the company’s general manager.

“We now have former apprentices, including myself, working in many key positions within the company, or in the canmaking industry at large, demonstrating the same high-performance mentality that helped our team win the medallion of excellence at the WorldSkills competition.”