Here you will find the latest news from Slack & Parr.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS:

ITMA '07, Munich, Germany, 13-20 September 2007

SLACK AND PARR SCOOPS APPRENTICESHIP AWARD
Derby Evening Telegraph - 27th June 2006

Engineering firm Slack and Parr scooped a top honour at the national Apprenticeship Awards.

The Kegworth-based firm was named medium employer of the year at the awards ceremony hosted by TV stars Richard Hammond and Natasha Kaplinsky.

Managing director Richard Hallsworth, said: "This is a fantastic endorsement of the team's hard work. Apprentices are the lifeblood of our business."

The Long Lane firm has 26 apprentices among its 191-strong workforce and is about to take on 10 more 16-year-old school leavers for four-year apprenticeships.

Business development manager Richard Wilson said: "The business has been on this site since 1917 and we have always taken on apprentices even through the lean times."

The firm manufactures high-pressure geared metering pumps used in the manufacture of man-made fibres. Ninety per cent of production is for exports, largely to China. It also produces precision components for aerospace customers including Rolls-Royce.

Slack and Parr has a great record in the awards launched two years ago. In 2004 the firm was runner-up in both the regional and national awards and last year won the regional award before taking both regional and national titles this year.

Richard Wilson said the firm employs a rigorous selection procedure for new apprentices. He said: "We visit schools and take along some of the apprentices - they are in the best position to explain both the commitment needed to be a Slack and Parr apprentice and what they get out of it.

"We also stage an open evening for parents. It is important that they know apprentices are going to be looked after in a safe environment and they also need to know the commitment needed.

"The award will be a good selling point for new recruits - they will know that they are joining the best."

The firm has it own training academy under the supervision of training manger Brian Harrison and the apprentices attend college on day release and as their training progresses they do placement on different parts of the shop floor.

Richard Wilson himself joined Slack and Parr as an apprentice in 1982 and said: "There are a lot of home- grown people here in senior positions including sales, design and costings departments. Being Slack and Parr through and through means we understand the exacting stands set by the company and demanded by our customers."

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Education Secretary Alan Johnson said: "It's no co-incidence that the companies behind these awards are Britain's most successful. We need to celebrate these success stories; helping us to tackle the inexplicable lack of proper appreciation for vocational excellence that has persisted in Britain for too many years.

"The fact is that there is no better way to learn to be an engineer than by being an engineer; no better method of absorbing an experienced worker's skills than by watching them in action; and no better system for giving people practical skills for the workplace than extending and encouraging apprenticeships.

"Tonight's winners prove the success of this approach and the Awards provide a vital showcase, shining the spotlight on some of the quarter of a million apprentices now training with 130,000 businesses - the highest ever and rising."