Westwood Works 1903-2003

Training at Westwood Works

In 1944, apprentice training became once again a very lively topic with Barton Baker taking particular interest in the subject. From 1946 to 1954 great improvements were made in the Apprenticeship Scheme under the direction of Claude Dumbleton and later, further pioneering work in industrial training continued under Stephen Hargreaves, at that time the youngest member of the Board.

We are indebted to Dr. J.A.W. Deboo, OBE for the details contained in this section. Jim became Apprenticeship Supervisor at Westwood in 1947 and was a key driving force behind the rapid and highly successful development of training methods across the Company. His experiences and insights into the needs of the organisation, gained during the stresses of the war years, were put to good use in developing training procedures that were second to none in the industry.

We will look in some depth at these activities as it is argued they were at the heart of the continued success of the company, resulting not only in the supply of trained men and women for Baker Perkins, but in a system held in such high esteem that it was used nationally to set standards within the industry. The Baker Perkins Apprenticeship is still considered as something of a benchmark in engineering education.

Growing our own wood

Immediately after WW2, great efforts were made to re-organise and re-equip the main workshops, to increase the supply of draughtsmen to the Drawing Offices and of engineering craftsmen to the factory. The pre-War apprentice bay was fully engaged with urgent apprentice training and efforts were being made to cope with returning Forces personnel under the Interrupted Apprenticeship Scheme. With the retirement in 1947 of Albert Newby as Apprenticeship Supervisor and J.A.W.D's appointment as his successor, the opportunity was taken to re-appraise the whole apprentice training system and learn from current best practice across the engineering industry.

Skill and resource shortages existed across all departments in the factory and the top priorities were to attract more school leavers into engineering and to fill the vacant places in the ranks of craftsmen of all trades. A pre-apprenticeship scheme was introduced aimed at enabling boys straight from school to experience some basic engineering training. In addition to the existing apprentice bay which concentrated on fitting and machining training, a small area of the main plate shop introduced up to 20 pre-apprentices to plate work skills and a similar section in the foundry allowed 12 pre-apprentices to learn some core making and moulding skills. In those crafts requiring relatively small numbers of new craftsmen – electrical work, pattern making etc., arrangements were made with shop stewards and foremen for a steady stream of pre-apprentices to gain experience under the supervision of skilled men.

Pre-apprentices could now be sure as to which craft they wished to follow and tests in English, arithmetic, general knowledge and manipulative skills ensured that they were fit for further training. What was needed now was a sound introduction to the basic skills of the chosen craft. A concept of "off-the-job" training was introduced with the apprentice spending up to one year working through a series of exercises, under skilled supervision, aimed at teaching the essential skills required. Six months into this training the apprentice appeared in front of the Apprenticeship Committee and his progress assessed. If successful, he, his parents and the company signed a legally binding document – his indentures. This document, an example of which can be seen in "Documentation", was signed off and delivered back to the apprentice, together with a Certificate of Apprenticeship (see Documentation) on the satisfactory completion of his apprenticeship.

This first year of "off-the-job" training was followed by transfer to the relevant main production shop where they followed a specified training programme which ensured their gradual progression to a fully skilled craftsman. From these activities came the development of a comprehensive manual detailing the skill requirements for each craft, and the technical education standards expected, which aided the attainment of a uniformly high standard of quality and content in all apprenticeships.

Development of high-class craft apprenticeships was followed by the introduction of Student Engineering Apprenticeships to provide the next generation of technical, commercial office and field/service engineering staff. A period of intensive practical engineering training was followed by experience in most, if not all of the factory shops, combined with academic education at, among other institutions, Peterborough Technical College. This training regime was tailored to the student achieving the full membership requirements of the relevant professional engineering institutions – IMechE and IProdE. It was through this route, as graduate apprentices, that a number of the future generation of senior managers – some recruited from the Engineering School at Cambridge University – entered the company.

The finest facilities in the Country

It soon became clear that the small apprentice bay adjacent to the machine shop and the training section in the Plate Shop were inadequate for the task in hand. In December 1952, Mrs Claude Dumbleton laid the foundation stone of a new £70,000 purpose built Apprentice School. This state of the art investment incorporated all the latest thinking in engineering training including best practice in the UK and, bearing in mind the home of Baker Perkins' key competition, in West Germany.

The new School was opened in January 1954 and was really a miniature factory with individual fitter apprentice workstations, a full range of machine tools, sheet metal working section, lecture room and offices. The lecture room doubled as a gymnasium as it was considered that physical fitness was important in the early stages of an apprenticeship - the transition from school to physical work for eight hours a day could be tough for a 15-16 year old.

Pre-apprentices, indentured craft and student and graduate apprentices were now flowing through the system. All were managed and controlled by training staff, all experts in their own field, who themselves had received formal off-the-job training – including the administration of intelligence and aptitude tests. This helped to ensure that recruits possessed the innate skills and characteristics essential to justify the investment that would be made in each person.

Adding the academic dimension

An important input into the whole apprentice training activity was the contribution of Peterborough Technical College. City & Guilds courses in relevant crafts were provided with college staff co-operating closely with Baker Perkins instructors. Some craft apprentices were encouraged to study on three-year ONC courses, those who were successful being promoted to student apprentice status. These soon began to make their mark in technical and managerial posts throughout the company.

As the number of student apprentices increased, so did the standard of applicants and a number began to attend Colleges of Advanced Technology on Diploma in Technology courses. This trend continued at a wide cross-section of Universities and industrial sponsorship, with guaranteed industrial training during long vacations, became the norm.

Rewards for effort

An Apprentice Prizegiving evening became an annual event, when completed indentures and certificates of apprenticeship were presented and prizes to mark technical college/university success awarded. Special prizes given by trade unions and foremen demonstrated the strong shop floor support for what the company was doing.

Meeting Industry Standards

What was being achieved at Westwood was not common throughout the industry. A 1956/7 Government report drew attention to serious projected manpower shortages but it was seven more years before the appearance of the 1964 Industrial Training Act. When in 1962/3, the Government began discussions with the engineering industry about training it was to Baker Perkins that they turned for advice on methods and costs. As a result of the 1964 Act, Industrial Training Boards were set up and the EITB (Engineering Industry Training Board) used the Westwood experiences in first year off-the-job training and the training of student apprentices to set standards for the industry as a whole.

The EITB raised a levy on the industry to pay for administration, to reimburse companies that could demonstrate good training practice and to penalise those that did not. This was set at 2.5% of payroll – a similar sum to that already being spent at Westwood. Baker Perkins received more in grant than it paid in levy, this "bonus" being used to further develop existing training schemes.

The Shortened Apprenticeship

Custom and practice in the engineering industry had been for apprentices to "serve time" - originally from 14 to 21 years of age, then 15-21 years and finally, as the school leaving age was raised, 16 to 21 years. Discussions with Unions at local and National level resulted in agreement on standards of craft skills that should be obtained by the end of an apprenticeship. These were used to design a series of practical tests to be undertaken by an apprentice over a period of one week, either in the Apprentice School or in his own place of work. Section foremen and section shop stewards selected those who were ready to take the tests.

The results were excellent and those apprentices who were successful before they reached the age of 21 gained full craftsman status and full rates of pay. The scheme was praised nationally and in Parliament.

The Four-Year Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship training at Westwood was by now looked upon by the whole engineering industry as the "best in the country". It took 5 years of very intense training before an apprentice became a skilled man in his chosen trade. Even in the area of training, and against a background of the need to have a continual inflow of skilled personnel, the company examined ways of reducing this length of time without impairing the quality of apprentice training.

A proposal to introduce a 4-year apprenticeship was put forward. After long and detailed negotiations with the shop stewards and full time officials, an agreement that was acceptable to both the company and the Unions was achieved in 1964. This led to the signing of the official agreement by the Leader of the Engineers Union (AEU), Hugh Scanlon, who came to Baker Perkins for the official ceremony to mark this landmark decision, the Company being the first in the country to introduce a four year engineering apprenticeship.

Foremanship Training

The better training of craftsmen and the consequent improvement in production in the factory had to be supported by the creation of a new generation of foremen, trained to higher engineering standards and with enhanced organisational and man-management skills. Recruitment from the ranks of the craftsmen became the norm and attendance on an outside three-week intensive foremanship course, followed by in-company experience in the various technical departments which served production resulted in a new generation of shop floor managers. Those directly involved in building food machinery also underwent training in basic food technology.

Keeping up with the pace of progress

There was also a need for a new generation of inspectors, planners, rate fixers and production engineers. Some ex-student apprentices had opted for careers in production but a new works technician apprentice scheme, based on successful craft apprentice training, would recognise the ambitions and potential of the new generation of highly technically trained craft apprentices.

Craft apprentices who had completed a minimum of three years of their apprenticeship and had attained specific academic qualifications were selected for a further 18 months of training to include production engineering and production control experience. Recognition by the Unions that this new breed of managers was craft trained obviated any possibility of future industrial unrest.

Enhanced skills were also required in the Drawing Offices. At first, suitable highly skilled young craftsmen were sent on an intensive thirteen weeks draughtsmanship course at a Government Training Centre. The results were such that it was decided to add a Drawing Office School to the rear of the Apprentice School and soon, a stream of draughtsmen with a sound understanding of manufacturing techniques was flowing into the drawing offices.

As manufacturing processes and techniques in the main works were modernised, it became necessary to update the equipment in the Apprentice School. For example, the increased use of pneumatics and hydraulics in the company's product lines required fitter apprentices to be skilled in these "new" technologies so training rigs were built. As computer controlled machine tools were introduced in the main machine shops, junior versions were installed in the Apprentice School.

Programmed Instruction

The main thrust of all apprentice training at Westwood was to link hands-on engineering experience to a theoretical understanding of the relevant engineering principles. It was recognised that individual apprentices had different learning rates and a more structured approach to learning was sought.

A new system, Programmed Instruction (PI), was being used in HM Forces and elsewhere, in which the elements of a particular operation were observed, broken down into fundamental stages, written down and then presented in a simple linear form. Each basic fitting operation – marking out, hack sawing, drilling and tapping – was recorded in this way and soon, whole sections of the first year off-the-job were being taught in this way. Later, all the basic machining, sheet metal work and welding operations were treated in this manner and each instructor had his own library of texts.

The success of this development led to these texts being published commercially and were soon being used in many other engineering establishments. The resulting royalties were ploughed back into the Apprentice School.

Process Training

The supply of complete food processing plants became a large part of Baker Perkins' business. It was necessary, therefore that, not only the field and service engineers who installed the equipment, but the designers, salesmen and builders of the equipment had a level of process knowledge that allowed discussion with customers who, increasingly, were employing food scientists.

Appropriate courses were agreed with Leeds University, Reading University and the National Bakery School at the Borough Polytechnic (later the University of the South Bank) in London. A wide cross-section of employees, including a group of main board directors, attended these courses, which varied from one year to one week in duration. Later, the courses were repeated at Westwood Works, with the practical work being undertaken in the Experimental Department.

Management Training

The acquisition of high-level skills in engineering theory and practice did not always ensure the wide cross-section of skills needed in the leadership and management of other people. A management development scheme was introduced to develop the next generation of middle and senior management. Firmly set against clear succession plans, prospective high-flyers attended senior management development programmes of one to three months at Henley, Cranfield and London Business School. This experience was underpinned by shorter courses in finance for the non-financial manager, human aspects of management, sales and marketing techniques, chairing meetings, etc., all part of an overall programme to improve professionalism and performance.

All these courses took place away from the company but, in 1970, it was decided to build Westwood's own Management Training Centre in a second storey above the Apprentice School. The motivational effect of this upon those young people, in whom the company had invested several years of training and sponsorship and who could now see a pattern of further development ahead for them, was considerable.

Customer Training

A key component of Baker Perkins' relationships with its customers was a willingness to train a customer's own employees. In an increasingly competitive market, this became an important selling point. The training covered not only how to operate the specific equipment being delivered but also basic business management techniques. English language training was also vital as was, in some cases, training in basic engineering techniques.

Each programme was tailor made to suit the particular needs of individual customers and the company was involved in interviewing customers' employees to determine their suitability for such training. The cost of this training was agreed with the customer in a formal training contract. Some of these contracts were sizeable, with training taking place over many months, often in other customers' factories so that they could experience training on equipment similar to that destined for their own factory.

Because it was not possible to build and operate a customer's plant at Westwood before delivery, a model making section (see photo in In the Offices) was established in which highly detailed models of complete process plants were constructed. These were used as part of the training programme, with other process training being carried out in the Customer Demonstration Centre