Lesters Packaging is pressing the button on a significant recruitment drive as it looks to bridge the skills gap in the packaging sector.
The packaging company is creating ten machine operator positions at its state-of-the-art facility in Burntwood in direct response to a lack of new people coming into the industry since COVID.
Significant investment has also been channelled into a specialist training plan to help develop its own team members through apprenticeships or by converting engineers from other sectors, including aerospace, automotive and machine tools.
The roles will be hands-on and involve operating and maintaining two TCY large format casemakers that are capable of manufacturing up to 15,000 boxes every hour.
Billy Hutchinson, Managing Director, Lesters, commented, “Fewer young people are entering our sector and this, when combined with an ageing workforce across the sector, means our industry is facing a serious skills shortage – unless we take our own action. And that’s what we’re doing. We’ve got a lot of opportunities coming through and we need to ensure we have the capacity required to ramp up production volumes, hence creating the ten new roles. Some of these could be apprentices, some could be experienced professionals or others could be taken from trades which have similar skills, such as attention to detail, process management and mechanical aptitude.”
He continued, “Machinery and technology have also become more advanced and that’s why we’ve also launched our specialist training programme, which will give new recruits all the skills they will need to be a successful operator. They can also learn from our more experienced engineers, who will act as mentors.”
