Young and old help plug Smethwick firm's skills gap

While A&M EDM has just taken on a 16-year-old apprentice, Zoran Vranic, its oldest member of staff is engineer Peter Schmid who was recruited at the age of 67 and is now 71.

The company makes high specification precision-made parts and tooling for the global aerospace and automotive sector using wire and spark erosion and CNC manufacturing processes.

Company secretary Melvin Wingfield said that the company in Mornington Road was finding it difficult to recruit enough young people.

"We have found it hard to recruit people interested in engineering and prepared to cope with the demanding nature of the work," he added.

Mr Wingfield said that A&M EDM offered competitive rates of pay, but new recruits to the company had to realise that it was hard work.

He said the company had had some negative experiences of appointing apprentices.

Another problem the company was seeing was not enough young people going into engineering training.

"Companies like ours have a desperate need for young engineers, but we are seeing youngsters being directed away from engineering careers."

He said that A&M EDM needed to find both experienced engineers and apprentices to help it continue its expansion.

The company, which has a 15,000 sq ft factory, started in October 2002 and has achieved year-on-year growth since then.

"We are now looking for new premises. We have already built an extension and can't build any further and fit in any more kit.

"To grow we need to find more space," said Mr Wingfield

The company invests constantly in new plant and has taken on more staff recently and is now up to 39, but could take on more work – and more employees – if it could expand to 40,000 sq ft.

Mr Wingfield added:?"There are plenty of empty factories around the Black Country and Birmingham, but we need somewhere fit for purpose for the kind of precision work we produce.

"This is the manufacturing heartland of the UK but there is marked skill shortage, and companies like ours need better quality premises if we want to attract and keep young apprentices here and grab the challenges and opportunities that modern engineering offers.

"It's crucial that we can continue to train the next generation to our exacting standards."