Universal Wolf’s ‘Grow Your Own’ programme is helping up-skill sheet metal fabricators. It’s one way to invest in British manufacturing and ensure that customers receive the highest quality work.
What is ‘Grow Our Own’?
Universal Wolf is a people-centric organisation, so it’s important for leaders to be people-centric too. This isn’t always the case at other local manufacturing companies, where leadership is focused more on managing the product and production line.
Universal Wolf’s values are ‘better’, ‘smarter’— with an approach to complex fabrication with the attitude that ‘good’ is never good enough, and that our people are the best way to unlock a higher quality of work.
The company chose to ‘Grow your Own’ and develop in-house colleagues on the journey from sheet metal fabricators to team leaders and beyond. Now, its helping the existing team to develop the necessary skills and values to drive its business forward, rather than recruiting externally to hire those leaders in.
And it’s worked: “We’ve not hired a team leader externally for years” says Kerry Patterson, Head of HR at Universal Wolf.
Our programmes are practical by design; they’re more action-oriented than theoretical.
This has been very successful for nurturing the next generation of manufacturing leaders — it makes for a more rewarding and approachable model for colleagues “who have just come off the tools and may not have been in a formal learning environment for quite some time”, Kerry explains.
Why is it important to ‘Grow Our Own’?
The UK manufacturing sector has a tension to resolve.
On one hand, the drive to ‘Back British’ means it’s never been more important to find and keep skilled workers who can help deliver volume. And yet, recruitment and retention are infamously challenging for manufacturing companies looking to scale.
By growing your own, the company has established a more reliable and resilient talent pipeline — a way of ensuring the company can meet the market’s evolving needs and play a crucial role in the manufacturing supply chain.
For example, the UK Government’s Defence Investment Plan puts great emphasis on stable supply chains, increased Defence investment, and British-made components. With our ‘Grow your Own’ programme, the company can continue to deliver high-quality sheet metal Defence components and better meet the needs of Defence customers and the wider market trends.
Future-proofing the sheet metal fabrication industry
Universal Wolf are actively helping create a resilient manufacturing workforce:
- Last year, the company up-skilled 9 existing colleagues via Level 3 Apprenticeships, Level 2 qualifications (including MIG and TIG), and Level 3 NVQs
- Hired 4 new apprentices specifically for the Level 3 Apprenticeship qualification
- A further 3 existing colleagues entering Level 3 Apprenticeship programmes later this year.
Tom Harvey joined Universal Wolf through its partnership with Port of Blyth’s trainee welder course:
“For me, I love learning and try to learn something new each day, like how to Tig weld better or how to get a better dressing standard on my work. Last year I got promoted from Sheet Metal Worker in Training to Sheet Metal Worker. And, this year, Universal Wolf are placing me on a 4-year Level 3 Fabrication Apprenticeship. With supportive team leaders and supervisors, and other workshop members, I have grown my practical and personal skills. And my confidence in welding and fabricating has increased greatly.”
Universal Wolf has a long history of promoting UK manufacturing and furthering the skills of our region.
