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Training boss plans to treble apprentice numbers with six-figure investment

The new boss of a Wearside training firm has unveiled ambitious plans to treble its annual engineering apprentice intake to 180 over the next three years.

Former Newcastle University high-flyer Robin Lockwood has been appointed chief executive of Washington-based Seta Ltd - the largest engineering trainer in Tyne & Wear.

Lockwood and the Seta board plan to inject hundreds of thousands of pounds into new equipment, facilities and development programmes with the goal of trebling the current annual apprentice quota of 60.

And the ambitious plans for the 45-year-old trainer come at a crucial time, with the region in dire need of skilled engineers to help support its world-leading energy, process and automotive industries.

Seta’s Washington workshops, housed in a 2,500 sq m unit, include the latest CNC lathes, machining centres and state-of the art electrical and electronic testing and training equipment.

Lockwood said: “Our aim is to meet the needs of engineering and manufacturing businesses in the region and to ensure their apprentices are equipped with the skills needed to help them grow and develop.

“We have an outstanding team of trainers and believe our ongoing improvement programmes will build upon our reputation as the number one engineering trainer in the region.”

Fiona Slater, former managing director and now non-executive director at Gateshead family business Slaters Electricals, recently took over the chairman’s post at Seta.

Slaters Electricals has used Seta, which employs 15 full-time staff, to train its apprentices for the last four decades with over 100 Slaters staff qualifying in that time.

She said: “Seta has great equipment, workshops and staff and over the years it has helped us develop some absolutely outstanding people.

“With Robin on board we are looking to make some major investments and grow our training offering. This is the drawing of a new era for Seta and is especially important at a time when the North East is desperately in need of good engineers.”

NOV, of the Team Valley Gateshead, is a successful division of the US oil and gas giant and it puts up to eight apprentices through Seta every year.

Andy Brown general manager, of NOV Gateshead site, who also sits on the Seta board, said: “I would urge North East engineering business to take a look at what Seta has to offer.

“We are absolutely delighted by the quality of the training our apprentices receive. We have used Seta for over 20 years and would urge other North East engineers – across all disciplines - to take advantage of the complete package Seta offers.”

Lockwood added: “In an environment of engineering skills shortages and a diminishing pool of qualified workers, Seta is supporting local employers to ensure the sustainability of their businesses by helping them to recruit and train their engineers of the future.

“Apprenticeships are a great way of maintaining a skilled supply of workers for businesses of all sizes and the training support on offer from the Government adds up to £16,000 worth of free training for each person.”

Seta has trained record numbers of apprentices in recent years in a number of disciplines including; maintenance and fitting, electrical engineering, advanced machining, fabrication and welding.

It helps in the recruitment process for SMEs and all businesses by presenting them with potential apprentices who have already gone through a series of key aptitude tests.

Following a recent inspection Seta was rated as a “Good”, Grade 2, Training Provider by Ofsted.

Seta also offers short upskilling and revision courses in manual machining, electrical, PLC (programmable logic control), hydraulics, pneumatics and welding.

Future plans include proving additional in-house facilities, in partnership with outside educational bodies, to allow qualifying apprentices to move on to further training up to graduate level.

Lockwood, who held several senior management posts at Newcastle University, was himself an engineering apprentice at world-leading Huddersfield gear manufacturers David Brown.

Recent reports say there are not enough skilled engineers to meet the needs of North East businesses, and this is made worse by the number of current skilled staff in regional businesses reaching retirement age.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .