Century-old Warwickshire engineering company ensures legacy with apprentices
Warwickshire-based Kigass, which was established more than 100 years ago, is investing in young engineers of tomorrow.
With long-standing clients such as the Ministry of Defence, Rolls Royce and F1 on its books, the company is ensuring its experienced engineers are supporting the next generation.
Among the younger generations are Jake Robbins, aged 22, and Jay Reading, aged 23, who started with Kigass some six years ago and have now completed their apprenticeships, and Phinley Allton, aged 18 and Francesco Cunsolo, aged 20, who are just starting out on their career journey and began their apprenticeships in September this year.
Dominik Lysik, aged 24, from Coventry, started his apprenticeship with a local company where he had worked for over three years. He transferred to Kigass in August this year when his previous employer closed down and he found himself out of a job. Kigass stepped in and he is now working towards completion of his Level 3 Engineering Technician NVQ and is also working towards an HNC.
He said: “Thankfully I could pick up with my apprenticeship here from where I left off.
“Although I’ve only been here since August I feel I’ve had more support than where I was before and a lot more variety. That’s the thing I’m most excited about - learning a variety of other skills over the next year or two.”
Over the years Jay and Jake have worked their way through the shop floor at Kigass, learning the various processes and building their skills to the point where they are able to run almost every section in the factory including the racing car cell, 5-axis, right angled milling, normal milling and CNC turning.
Jake said his love of engineering started in a small way during childhood when he enjoyed playing with Lego and making things. He was still at a young age when he decided he wanted to make a career out of making things and grabbed the opportunity for an apprenticeship with Kigass after his father spotted a newspaper advert.
He said: “I didn’t know too much about engineering at school. I had thought of it as making things but there is so much more to it – like working to tolerances. This is just not something that would have been on my radar at school but it’s something I’m really enjoying learning about.”
Jay followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, joining Kigass some 25 to 30 years after his grandfather worked there. He said: “I knew I wanted to work in engineering so for a year after leaving school I completed an engineering course. I’d heard a lot about Kigass from my grandad and now he’s hearing a lot about it from me! The great thing about Kigass is they want you to learn all the necessary skills so that everything gets done. Not only does it help broaden our skills but it keeps the job interesting.”
Both Jake and Jay are now passing on the benefit of their experience to younger apprentices Francesco Cunsolo and Phinley Allton both of whom joined Kigass in early September.
After starting 6th form Phinley took the decision to switch to an apprenticeship after deciding it was more suited to his skills and abilities than A Levels.
He said: “I didn’t really enjoy the classroom environment so I enrolled at college and when I learned of the opportunity of an apprenticeship with Kigass I researched them more and thought it would be far more enjoyable for me.
“I’ve been taken through the whole process quite a few times and have been on turning and other jobs. Just the process of getting your first component pass – the trial and error of it – it’s been good fun.”
Francesco who has recently been named as MTC’s apprentice of the month added: “I went to university for a couple of months to study psychology, but it wasn’t for me. Everyone at my school was enrolling for university so I felt I didn’t want to miss out. But while I was studying for my GCSEs, I went to an engineering school and there were a lot of people there doing apprenticeships. I felt it would be perfect for me. I knew I could learn all these skills and build an excellent career from it. It’s great coming to a place like Kigass too. Because it’s smaller than some of the big firms I feel there is more focus on me and I have more opportunity to become a lot more involved in the various processes.”
Jake and Jay are both keen to pass on the benefit of their own recent apprenticeship experience. Having learned the tricks of the trade with the help of more experienced members of staff they are keen to ensure such skills and expertise are nurtured and maintained within Kigass.
Jay said: “We want to see Kigass continue to go forward and we want to progress with it and be a part of its long and exciting journey. There is so much opportunity to develop within the company and we see so much potential to continue building something even bigger. There’s a long and exciting journey ahead for the company and we want to be a part of. it”
