A new
Six technicians embarked on the first 18-month programme with an orientation dayt Cemex’s National Technical Centre in Southam, County Warwickshire, England.
They met and worked with their individual mentors and existing senior technical managers, as well as learning about the programme, which has been developed in-house and is on-going, allowing the company to develop and extend its own people over the coming years.
As well as a comprehensive range of learning experiences, one week in every month the technicians are taken out of their current roles to work in different business areas, including aggregates, concrete, cement and building products, to gain valuable knowledge.
The programme is a mix of formal tuition and hands on experience, building on the trainees’ existing knowledge and equipping them with the skills to become the next generation of technical managers.
Steve Crompton, national technical director, said: “It has become increasingly difficult to recruit externally. We are not seeing as many engineering graduates and many of those within the industry who have specialist skills have moved out.
“The Technical Development Programme ensures that talented technicians learn not only the technical skills, but the management and people skills, that are so essential for our future technical managers.”
Nathan Kite, an aggregates and asphalt technician, said: “It’s a great opportunity and as well as tuition we will be investigating real issues and looking at ways to help improve the business.”
