Transition Year students in Kerry have been given the opportunity to experience a new apprentice style programme with Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. thanks to a new pilot developed by Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme.
Transition Year students Eilis Mullane and Conaill MacThreinfhir pictured experiencing a crane drivers cockpit with Sean Lynch, electrical foreman while on the STEPS Engineering Your Future Apprenticeship pilot work experience programme at Liebherr Container Cranes factory in Killarney. Photo: Don MacMonagle
The STEPS Engineering Your Future Apprenticeship pilot provides Transition Year students with the opportunity to gain an insight into apprenticeships and receive guidance from working and qualified apprentices at leading organisations.
In this first year of the pilot programme, Liebherr Container Cranes in Killarney has joined Combilift in Monaghan to host students on a custom apprenticeship work experience programme.
Darragh Murphy and Eilis Mullane pictured with Dr Edmond Harty, vice-president of Engineers Ireland and Charlie McCarthy, managing director, Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd at the STEPS Engineering Your Future Apprenticeship pilot at Liebherr Crane Factory in Killarney. Photo: Don MacMonagle
A total of 14 students attended the two-day work experience placement at Liebherr Container Cranes where they gained hands-on, practical experience, led by the organisation’s engineering talent. Students were provided with a tour of the Killarney site, including an automated container crane demonstration and got to experience the daily lives of Liebherr apprentices by attending mechanical and electrical engineering apprentice workshops.
Students also visited MTU Tralee for a tour and presentation on the Higher Certificate in Engineering Technology, which all Liebherr apprentices complete during their four-year apprenticeship.
L-R front: Darragh Murphy, Enda OShea, Sean O'Dalaigh, Aaron O'Riordan and Conaill MacThreinfhir. At back, Charlie McCarthy, managing director, Liebherr Ireland, Nathan Cox, Stephen Wickham, Ali O'Donoghue, Eilis Mullane, Amy Doyle, Anna Moynihan, Clodagh Lucey and Dr Edmond Harty, vice-president of Engineers Ireland
Best-in-class apprenticeship programme
Charlie McCarthy, managing director, engineering at Liebherr Container Cranes, said: “At Liebherr, we are proud of our best-in-class apprenticeship programme and the talented engineers that it has developed.
"Our apprentice programme, set up in 1959, is a blend of theoretical and on-the-job learning. We were delighted to welcome local Transition Year students to gain an insight into our organisation and the limitless opportunities our engineering apprenticeships offer. We have apprentice graduates working in many different roles at Liebherr.
"I started my own career with Liebherr by completing an apprenticeship here in Killarney. It is our hope that this short work placement may inspire a number of today’s students to actively consider a future career in engineering and an apprenticeship with Liebherr Cranes.”
L-R: Darragh Murphy, Enda O"Shea, Sean O'Dalaigh, Aaron O'Riordan and Conaill MacThreinfhi, Nathan Cox, Stephen Wickham, Ali O'Donoghue, Eilis Mullane, Amy Doyle, Anna Moynihan, Clodagh Lucey with Sean Lynch, electrical foreman, Liebherr Ireland. Photo: Don MacMonagle
Dr Edmond Harty, vice-president of Engineers Ireland, added: “We are pleased to partner with Liebherr Container Cranes and Combilift to pilot the STEPS Engineering Your Future Apprenticeship programme. These innovative and forward-thinking companies are investing in their people of the future by providing Transition Year students with an opportunity to gain some insight into apprenticeship opportunities in their locality.
“Engineering apprentices play an important role in sustaining Ireland’s talented engineering sector, and I hope that each Transition Year student who joined Liebherr’s programme as part of this pilot was inspired by those they met. Apprenticeships offer a real opportunity to develop professional and technical skills and I hope that many of today’s TY students will consider an engineering apprenticeship in the future.”
The STEPS Engineering Your Future Apprenticeship pilot is co-ordinated by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and industry leaders Arup, the EPA, ESB, Intel and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
For more information,visit: https://www.engineersireland.ie/Schools/Get-involved/Engineering-Your-Future/Transition-Year-programme