Apprenticeships @ EGGER: Ben's Post

Ben's Post

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We both recently attended the Exercise Executive Stretch course which was organised by the RFCA (Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association) for Yorkshire and the Humber at Wathgill army base in Catterick.

The course is designed to improve leadership and team work skills during the 3 days you spend with the armed forces.

When we arrived on the Thursday, we were divided into teams of approximately 16 people from a range of companies, giving us the opportunity to work with people we did not know and who came from different industries and backgrounds. Following this we completed a small number of tasks before being given our ration boxes and told to set up our camp. This was more challenging than you would think as we were not given a tent to set up, we had a piece of fabric which we had to construct cover with; this was very different to any camping we had done before!

The second day was the most exciting, in our teams we had to complete 8 very diverse tasks which developed a range of skills including; communication, navigation, problem solving and team building. Each task was completely different ranging from firing the latest assault rifle to completing an emergency response scenario. During the day we spent time with the Royal Artillery, Navy and Air Force as well as the Army and gained an insight into each of their roles and responsibilities. The final task of the day was a timed assault course which involved running 1.5 miles whilst taking it in turn to help carry the metal post weighing about 100lb, with every team competing against each other.

The day was rounded off with a formal dinner in the Officers’ Mess where we were treated to a three course meal.

On our final day there was a debriefing session and prize giving ceremony.

We both really enjoyed the experience and it pushed us completely out of our comfort zone - we would recommend it to anyone. We were able to meet some great new people and develop key skills that we can both apply to our roles at EGGER.

We hope you enjoyed our blog! Keep an eye out for our next one from another member of the team.

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The final part of our apprenticeship training is to spend 6 months working on the 4-shift pattern within the department, I have recently completed this part and am now back working on day shift.

The 4-shift pattern includes 12 hour day and night shifts as well as over weekends.

This part of our training allows you to learn a lot about what happens during breakdowns throughout the plant and work with a variety of different people. I found it really interesting and enjoyable as I learnt a lot from the breakdowns and training I received.

The type of breakdowns I attended during each shift varied. Some were to fault find on different production lines throughout the factory, ensuring that the problem was found and fixed within a reasonable time scale to get the line back up and running as soon as possible. Whilst fault finding you would also look through the program of a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) to help identify the issue.

Other jobs included tasks which had been given out by the Supervisor at the start of the shift which we would work on if and when we were not called out for any issues throughout production. These included wiring of new motors, changing components in a panel or on the line during maintenance days and training on various types of drives.

I really liked the shift pattern, I worked 2 shifts one week either days or nights and then the next week work 5 shifts either days or nights. Before I started my shift work I was worried about the night shift and I was not sure how I would manage them, but it was fine you soon get used to them.

Overall, I found the experience really good and the shift electricians have helped me a lot with my training. Having the shift training at the end of the apprenticeship is really beneficial because I feel this opportunity has really built on the other knowledge I have developed.

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Throughout our Apprenticeship we work on a number of projects to help us develop our skills and also apply the things we have learnt at college.

At the moment, I am working on a project focussed on overhauling a machine which was bought by EGGER about 3 years ago. The project has been assigned a £10,000 budget which we have to consider throughout the job and I am working closely with the Mechanic Fitter to ensure our project is running to schedule, alongside our team managers and a project engineer to help us complete the project.

Currently we are working on building a stand for the machine alongside a platform for the operator to stand on. My part of this is to draw and create a new panel alongside creating a new simatic 7 programme. This programme allows the machine to carry out specific functions when a certain button is pressed, for example if the start button is pressed the input for this button will start it’s cycle through the ladder program. I was able to use the experience of a Control and Instrumentation Engineer to help build the program and also use my own experience of programming when at college on day release. My manager has also asked me to create the drawings for the electrical panel, as well as the cable identifications for each cable that is wired into the panel.

This is all great experience for me moving forward in my apprenticeship and the project will specifically support the completion of my college qualification.

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you found it interesting!

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Matty and Ben's Blog - Exercise Exective Stretch

Ben's Shift Training

Ben's Blog: Current Project Work

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