Lab Ops Technician Review

On a day to day basis, I work around the Lab on assigned jobs. Usually this involves items such as building turbochargers for test, stripping turbos or even running them on test. Some days there are organisational jobs to do including making fixtures and jigs to hold parts, designing adjustments to equipment and generally doing odd jobs that are required.

At Cummins I have extensively increased my skillset. Whether this be through learning different programs and sequences when running the test cells or how to use many different pieces of equipment. I have also further developed my transferrable skills such as teamwork and resilience especially when tackling a difficult job.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Cummins so far as the department I work in is very enjoyable to work in. I believe this is due to the differing jobs and tasks that are completed. No day is the same as there are always different things to be doing.

The program is structured fairly well with one day at college and the rest at work. At work we are purely working in the departments we were assigned so this means we can fully understand the job we will be doing once the apprenticeship is complete. At work the only difference from completing the same work as others is lack of experience on equipment and the fact that we are completing an NVQ so need to document certain tasks.

Apprentices receive quite a lot of support when it is needed but in day to day are left to get on with the job. Any queries can be sent over to the apprentice manager and they can be answered/resolved from there. Generally not much support is needed anyhow as apprentices are treated the same as the rest of the workforce in most regards.

Appris are very supportive and ensure that apprentices are not left behind with their work. Extra time is available to help complete work and tutors will happily sit down and talk through any problems and issues with the work. This may include not understanding a question on an assignment or wanting a bit more detailed feedback on assignment adjustments.

I often use work that has been learnt at Appris when doing jobs at Cummins. This may be to identify components or use symbols and drawings. Recently a lot of component drawings have been done so I have used my knowledge from Appris Level 3 to create suitable drawings with all necessary features (tolerance etc).

Before the pandemic this was very much the case as I have heard and I would assume we will be doing more in the near future. However, for obvious reasons, this is not currently the case. Other apprentices have done events and challenges with work, especially team building exercises and contests.

Yes

Cummins is a very supportive and enjoyable company to work for. Unlike a lot of places I enjoy the day to day activities as well as the people that I work with. There is also a lot of potential with Cummins as there are opportunities to go to university after the apprenticeship.

Ensure that you do your research into the company and really sell yourself in the interview. It really pays to look into and find out how turbochargers work beforehand to show that you are motivated and haven't just blanket applied for apprenticeships. Cummins was the only one that I wanted except for doing my A levels so I invented quite a bit of time and research into it.