Apprentice Automation Challenge
If you would like to field your own team in the 2023 Apprentice Automation Challenge, be sure to register your team for free on the AAC website.
Please kindly provide some background to Leonardo
Leonardo Electronics UK Business Unit designs, develops and produces a wide range of products and solutions for air, land and maritime platforms that include integrated mission systems, radars and sensors, electronic warfare systems, on-board avionics and communications, targeting systems and a range of support solutions. We’re the largest supplier of complex electronics to the Ministry of Defence and our solutions support the world-leading capabilities of UK Armed Forces, as well as a growing number of international customers. Our workforce of more than 4,000 specialists is spread across five main UK sites - Southampton, Basildon, Edinburgh, Luton and Lincoln.
How long has Leonardo been involved in the Apprentice Automation Challenge?
We have been taking part since 2016, entering between 1 and 3 teams from our Luton site each year. This year two teams of apprentices from our Basildon site also entered, so we had 5 in total. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the overall winners for the last 3 years.
To what level do you get involved in each participating team? (Eg: how much time do they spend, what parts of the business work with teams, presentation practice etc)
As a guideline, we suggest the apprentices spend about 4 hours per week on the project. They tend to seek technical advice from their placement supervisors, as well as colleagues who have taken part in previous years. I get our graduates who are working towards IEng/CEng registration involved too, for example as review assessors. We also get them to speak to our Product Safety and Health, Safety and Environment managers to make sure that they have taken all of the safety and sustainability considerations into account.
What are the advantages for your apprentices?
The great thing about this challenge is that they need to consider the product as a whole; not only the engineering (which they always want to dive straight into), but the target market, price/cost, manufacturing and distribution. We get our Business apprentices involved alongside our Technical apprentices so that they can get to understand each others’ roles. We also get them to follow our lifecycle management process, with regular Design Maturity Reviews, so it gives them an opportunity to learn our new product development processes in a safe environment.
What are the benefits you have seen for your business?
The challenge has been a great opportunity for us to showcase our talented apprentices, and at the same time promote our excellent apprenticeship courses. We have made the challenge part of our scheme, with all 2nd year apprentices taking part.
What brings you back to the competition year after year?
It is always a pleasure to see the apprentices develop as they progress through the challenge; learning to work as a team, improving their presentation and report writing skills and solving the problems they encounter along the way. The most satisfying part is seeing their prototypes come together for the Finals Day. They always amaze me with their ingenuity and it’s great to see their ideas come to life; we’ve had a wide range of great products developed by the teams over the years.
Why should other organisations get involved in the Challenge?
This challenge gives apprentices a great opportunity to develop a product; building a business case, bringing together various engineering disciplines, understanding manufacturing considerations and developing many new skills which they may not have the opportunity to do in their day-to-day work, in a relatively short time. It can also get your company and your apprentices in the spotlight through the IMechE and The Manufacturer’s various media outlets and events.
How does it feel that apprentices at Leonardo have won the Apprentice Automation Challenge three years in a row?
It’s a great achievement and testament both to the talent we have on our apprenticeship schemes and the hard work they put into the competition.