The future of advanced manufacturing isn’t just built on tech — it’s built on talent. This National Apprenticeship Week (February 9–13), the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) celebrates the next generation of engineers and the value they bring to industry. 

Isaac Wilmore is an assistant project engineer at AMRC Cymru after having successfully studied advanced manufacturing engineering at Coleg Gwent’s Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone. 

Now, he splits his time working between the AMRC Cymru facility in North Wales and the digital factory hub based at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Baglan, South Wales. He’s working towards his degree level apprenticeship in mechanical and manufacturing engineering at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. 

• What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering? 

I have always been creative and have always enjoyed problem-solving. During my GCSEs, I studied product design and discovered that it had a lot of my favourite elements. It made me realise that I wanted to pursue a career in engineering and nothing else.  

• Why did an apprenticeship appeal to you?

I never saw myself wanting to go down the traditional education route and I didn’t have a strong desire to go down the typical university route. I enjoy that an apprenticeship offers something different everyday. 

• What is the best part about doing an apprenticeship? 

For me, it’s good that I am not spending all of my time sitting in a classroom or fully learning on the job – I like to get a mix of the two. 

• Tell us about your job role at AMRC Cymru. What are some of your highlights? 

I do a lot of site visits and shadowing other engineers.  A lot of my work is on the Cywain project, a Welsh Government–funded business support programme that helps food and drink producers across Wales grow and compete. It offers support to start-up companies and growing businesses on product development, brand building and market access - while helping these companies to explore and adopt smart manufacturing technologies that improve processes, productivity and sustainability. 

I really enjoy working in the food and drink industry in Wales; it’s something that I’m interested in and feel passionate about and it’s companies like these where you feel like you can make big impacts. 

At the moment, I get to do a lot of project work and in the future this is something I would like to be able to do on my own. I would like to move into a new job role, moving from assistant project engineer to project engineer. I hope to keep moving up the ladder as my career progresses. 

I’ve not always been the most confident person and working at AMRC Cymru has put me in at the deep end and helped me to build up my confidence.  It’s also helped with my personal skills – I used to be quite shy and reserved, but now I feel I am able to speak up in meetings and contribute my ideas. 

• What advice would you give to other people looking to do an apprenticeship?

I would just say go for it. It was definitely the right decision for me. I think if you’re not sure what to do, whether it’s to get a job or go to university, an apprenticeship might be the best option as it’s in the middle ground of the two. 

From my experience, I see that apprenticeships are very open and you’re not just stuck into one particular thing, you get a real mix of different elements – which is something I enjoy more. 

I would advocate for an apprenticeship and believe it’s a good thing to go for. Just throw yourself forward for every opportunity. 

Saeed Mohammed, an alumni apprentice, is a senior machinist and has worked in the machining group at the AMRC since the beginning of his apprenticeship in 2014. 

He was part of the first cohort of students to study at the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre when it opened in 2013, aged 17 - and achieved a distinction in his Level 4 machining apprenticeship. Saeed has progressed in his career, working his way up from an apprentice to technician, machinist to now working in his current role. 

• Why did an apprenticeship appeal to you? 

All of my older siblings went to university and after seeing all of them graduate and struggle to gain a job in the fields they gained degrees in, I didn’t want to go down a similar path. For me, an apprenticeship offered me a job at the end of my learning, whilst being able to gain qualifications at the same time. It enabled me to have the best of both worlds. 

• Has an apprenticeship enabled you to gain skills for life that you use in your day-to-day job role? 

Absolutely. The way the AMRC Training Centre provides apprenticeships paves the way for you to be pretty much ready for work very early on and helps to set you up for your working life. 

What is expected from you at the AMRC Training Centre is also what is expected of you at work, so the skills you learn transfer quickly. 

• What does a normal working day look like for you at the AMRC? 

For the most part, everyday is similar. The day-to-day for me is having a customer or a member of the team send you a component or part that needs machining. 

My role is then deciding which machine is best to use, if the part/component needs any fixturing or any bespoke machining needed. As well as machining, I can programme the part too – leading to the manufacturer of it. 

From start to finish I’ll be given the design, a lump of material and make the end product. That whole process can be done by one person - in this case, me. 

Seeing that lump of material which means nothing to nobody and machining it into a functional part from beginning to end? For me, there’s nothing more satisfying. 

There’s no place like the AMRC, it’s a very special place to work. 

• What advice would you give to other people looking to do an apprenticeship?

Speaking in terms of engineering, if you are thinking about a career in that industry I would say an apprenticeship is the best route to do that. You learn the skills, the trade and gain a qualification at the end of it – it’s a no brainer.