Forgemasters boosts skills with training deal

A Sheffield-based engineering firm is set to upskill its workforce with a new training initiative.

Sheffield Forgemasters has signed a four-year engineering training deal with the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre, placing a permanent engineering skills coach on site. 

Bosses say the programme will help apprentices and employees develop advanced machining skills as the company transitions from traditional engineering methods to state-of-the-art facilities.

They add that the training package will support the historic firm’s award-winning apprenticeship programme, which currently sees around ten per cent of its 725-strong workforce made up of apprentices, with the 2025 intake including 27 new starters.

Emily Baldwin, people development advisor – early careers at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “This is a very important training programme to underpin the £1.3 billion of investment into new facilities for manufacture into the UK and allied defence programmes.

“We have worked with the AMRC Training Centre to identify the very specific skills that our existing and future workforce will need to get the maximum efficiency from our 30,000 m2 machining facility, which will be the most advanced of its kind.

“A dedicated engineering skills coach will be based at our Brightside Lane site to oversee apprentices in a newly built training area, where they will learn the technologies required for a step-change in engineering capability.

“Our engineering apprentices will also gain from further academic support at the AMRC Training Centre facility in Rotherham.”

Rebecca Blackburn, head of business development, engagement and contracts at the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre, added: “We are immensely proud of our partnership with Sheffield Forgemasters. 

“Together, we share a vision to deliver the highest quality engineering apprenticeships and workforce upskilling. 

“This unique opportunity allows us to support their growing business needs. 

“By working closely together, we have curated a bespoke programme which we are excited to launch in the new academic year.”

Forgemasters is investing heavily in modernisation through its recapitalisation programme, which includes a 13,000-tonne Forging Line and a new machining hall featuring 15 of the world’s largest vertical turning lathes.

Alongside the AMRC Training Centre, Sheffield Forgemasters also works with multiple providers including Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield College, Barnsley College and Leeds Beckett University to meet its training needs.

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