Overview
With around 85 staff, Farrat is a bespoke engineering and manufacturing company located in Greater Manchester. The 3rd generation family-run firm are experts in developing vibration isolation solutions for steam turbines, plants and machinery within the energy sector.
Having additional skilled resource from a T Level student had such a positive impact on our productivity
Case study details
Location: North West
Sector / subsector: Manufacturing / Energy
Number of employees: 85
T levels are the perfect blend
With a team of long-serving employees - some having started as an apprentice and progressing to management level - Farrat is keen to support young people into engineering and help kickstart their career. Its CEO, Oliver Farrell, is passionate about nurturing the next generation of talent. People Director, Sally Moxon, says: “Oliver is an engineer by profession, and his ethos is to inspire young people and give them the opportunity to develop their skills and experience in the sector. That ambition runs through the whole business.”
When the local college first launched a range of T Levels, its course leader invited the team at Farrat to find out more. Sally says: “We all agreed this approach was right for us, and we could see an opportunity for a T Level student to do their work placement across both our Engineering Design and Production Engineering teams.
“We’re passionate about diversity of thought. Welcoming young people who challenge our routine practices drives us to continually improve and aligns with our commitment to diversity and innovation.”
Sally Moxon, People Director
“We liked the idea of working with T Level students as they sit between apprentices - where we teach someone from scratch - and graduates - who may lack experience in the workplace. T Levels are the perfect blend; the students add value to the business quickly because they have the technical knowledge.”
Farrat developed a strong relationship with the local college which helped make the process smooth from the start. “They’ve just been phenomenal,” Sally says. “Alex was our first T Level student, and everyone has seen how well his placement has worked; taking on more T Level students is a no-brainer now.”
Providing extra capacity
Alex worked at Farrat for 45 days across the academic year and covered a range of tasks during his placement. “He worked in every aspect of production, including our water jet cutting machines, moulding assembly and LNR bearing production,” says Sally. “He could see the process all the way through, including doing the logistics and dispatch. We also assigned him a mini project to research and propose a method for testing product capacity. He went away and developed a road map on how to take that forward. If it wasn’t Alex doing this, someone from our existing team would be, so having a student with the time and knowledge to pitch in was a huge benefit for us.”
As well as providing extra capacity, hosting industry placements for T Level students has brought a fresh perspective to the team. Sally explains: “At Farrat, we’re passionate about diversity of thought. Welcoming young people who challenge our routine practices drives us to continually improve and aligns with our commitment to diversity and innovation.”
Sally would wholeheartedly recommend hosting a T Level student to other businesses. “I’d say ‘try it’, I guarantee it will bring you benefits. Work out your barriers, develop a good relationship with your provider, and there’ll be no looking back!”