Essential Tips for Creating a Maintenance Apprenticeship Program in Your Organization

Finding and training young talent is a challenge that many organizations face today. Although both high school vocational programs and trade schools work hard to provide the foundation for tomorrow’s employees, there’s nothing quite like on-the-job training. Working in a real business with actual problems, challenges, and opportunities as part of a maintenance apprenticeship program can help young people determine whether they have selected the right career path for themselves. It can also help employers evaluate whether these individuals would be appropriate long-term hires.

April Johnson, engineering and maintenance manager at PepsiCo, recently worked with a local trade school in California to create a maintenance apprenticeship program. Here is some advice she has for others who would like to embrace such an endeavor in their own organizations.

Involve Your Mechanics 

Remember that your mechanics will be the ones training and teaching your apprentices, so be sure to invite their input and suggestions throughout the program development process.

Build a Relationship 

When you reach out to a trade school or high school vocational program, be sure to establish a personal contact. By having a champion at the business and a champion at the school, you create a channel where both parties can share feedback about the students’ performance as well as their experiences.

Hold Real Interviews

Remember that even though the on-the-job training experience is important for the chosen apprentices, you have the opportunity to provide real-life interview and screening test opportunities for a much larger group of students during the selection process.

Allot Time for Basic Training

Once you have selected your apprentices, be sure you allow time for basic training on things like how to use simple hand tools and power tools, as well as a crash course on manufacturing, maintenance, and your specific industry. Go over what is expected of them, how they should interact with the mechanics and the team, and the importance of asking questions.

Additionally, there should be a focus on safety policy and procedure prior to starting hands-on tasks. Try to balance book learning with on-the-job observations and then progress to hands-on over time. Many programs have some type of competency test before moving on to the next area. 

Hold Weekly 360 Feedback Sessions

Just like 360 feedback is helpful in working with your permanent staff or outside consultants, these sessions will provide excellent opportunities to gather feedback on your maintenance apprenticeship programs as well as a channel to guide and develop your students.

Be sure to encourage feedback from your apprentices. The apprentices who get the most from a program are those who ask a lot of questions, take notes regularly, are open to feedback, and are not afraid to try things out. 

Teach Apprentices to Network

One of the biggest advantages of any apprenticeship program are the relationships that result. Work to ensure that each apprentice not only has a main supervisor or mentor, but also give them the opportunity to meet and work with different individuals throughout your organization.

Establishing a maintenance apprenticeship program for your organization can be a great investment and set up an effective, long-term stream of young talent coming to your company. If you can provide a great learning experience, your apprentices will naturally “market” your program to younger students and others in the community.

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April Johnson
April Johnson is an Engineering and Maintenance Manager at PepsiCo. She believes in using a safety first model of maintenance and reliability. She is also passionate about the implementation and management of maintenance systems and processes in order to support the goals of the organization. April is experienced in creating work flow management systems, storeroom management, maintenance training programs, budgeting, and many other aspects of maintenance improvement. She believes in employing the latest methodologies and tools available including RCFA, TPM, IL6S, PM, PDM, RCM, CMMS, and CBM.