Neil Parish MP visited Tiverton-based linear motion manufacturer HepcoMotion recently to discuss the recruitment of local apprenticeships at its factory.

The 250-employee site has a good history at working with apprentices as many of the managers and even the chairman himself, started work at HepcoMotion as apprentices.

“We have all heard of the recent news about high unemployment within younger workers and we have a solution to that for local people in Tiverton.” Says Chairman and former apprentice, Giles Forster. “We want to recruit good people who are happy to learn and want to do well within our family-owned company.”

Mr Forster is a third generation chairman and his family have had their business working within linear motion for over 45 years.

Hepco is offering two types of apprenticeship — the NVQ3 which is aimed at candidates looking for alternatives to A-levels and the NVQ4 (FdSc) which is for those already qualified to A-level standard.

“As a company we highly value apprenticeships as a way of recruiting good people who can go on to work in various parts of the business,” concludes Mr Forster. “This new drive to recruit more locally, is great opportunity for anyone looking for work who is interested in engineering and wants to do well.”

While Neil Parish MP visited Hepco, he also took the opportunity to discuss the growth of manufacturing in certain sectors with Mr Forster. Hepco began exporting to China two years ago through distribution and this year they expect to see some real growth coming from that market. The bottom line is China’s desire to automate.

Finally, an informal discussion on the Europe debate took place while all parties talked about the impact on businesses of the UK coming out of Europe.