PETA Learners take on challenges at Ford Transit Plant

News - Apprenticeships

Learners on the PETA Work Ready course visited the Ford Transit Plant in Southampton for a day of engaging activities with the Solent Education Business Partnership to see how a successful global business provides opportunities for employment, training and progression in the local area.

After travelling by train to Southampton (Parkway) Station, they made their way to the Ford Training Centre where they were greeted by Yvonne from the Solent Education Business Partnership who gave an introduction and overview of the day.

After an important health and safety video, Yvonne took them on a guided tour around the plant, seeing all the important aspects of the three main factories they have on site. The whole operation produces over 120 Ford Transit vans every day, each one made to the customer’s specifications!

The Work Ready Learners from Winchester saw the methods Ford uses to create a production line system, where skilled workers have to work quickly and methodically to keep up with the production line. The Learners were most impressed with the amount of technology within the factory, especially how the robots were synchronized perfectly to carry out complex and repetitive actions through computer programming.

By the end of the tour, the Work Ready Learners had seen how a successful global business provides opportunities for employment, training and progression in the local area.

But the day didn’t end there…

After the tour had ended, the Learners were set the challenge of building a model transit van back at the Ford Training Centre. It took a little while for the boys team to figure out what went where, but it usually helps to read the instructions before you start!

The key to building the model transit van was organisation and teamwork. The girls team understood the importance of knowing what tools and resources you have to hand, something they had learned on the tour around the factory.

Once the initial Transit model had been built the task was for the teams to compete against each other to build 3 vans.

Speed was important, but so was quality. Just as the learners had seen in the factory, each job has to be completed to the required standards. One thing that was apparent throughout the tour was quality. Each item has to be checked on each van.

It was the girls' team who first replicated the production line system of working, where teams of two people carry out the same task on each vehicle before passing it onto the next pair. The girls team significantly increased their speed compared to the boys' team who were still working on each vehicle individually.

The learners from Winchester had a great day and got a really good understanding of local employment opportunities. This is just another example of the great activities you can do with PETA Limited.