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Two years ago, we welcomed Riley to Flexiteek as a Toolmaking Apprentice, beginning his four-year Machining Technician Level 3 Apprenticeship in partnership with Colchester Institute.
\n\n\n\nSince joining the team, Riley has continued to develop his technical skills, gain hands-on experience in our tool room and become increasingly involved in tooling projects. Following a successful first year, his second year has focused on exploring more complex tooling, understanding how modifications can improve manufacturing processes and developing his CNC programming and design skills.
\n\n\n\nAs Riley enters the third year of his apprenticeship, we look back at what he has learnt, the projects he has contributed to, and how he has progressed his skills so far.
\n\n\n\nDuring his second year, Riley has developed a much deeper understanding of how tooling modifications can improve both the manufacturing process and the finished product.
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Rather than simply learning how to produce tooling, he increasingly understands why changes are needed and how different modifications can influence the end result.
This has been an important step in his development, giving him greater insight into the problem-solving side of toolmaking and allowing him to play a more active role in finding practical solutions within the tool room.
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Alongside his practical experience at Flexiteek, Riley has continued to build his technical knowledge at Colchester Institute.
This year, he has been learning to programme CNC milling machines and use simulators to check programmes before running them on a machine. This helps him identify potential errors in the code and understand how the machine will operate, reducing the risk of mistakes during production.
\n\n\n\nRiley has also continued to develop his 3D design skills, and he has gained a better understanding of the design process and how to use digital tools to create and refine tooling.
\n\n\n\nCombining college-based learning with hands-on experience at Flexiteek allows Riley to put what he learns into practice, strengthening his knowledge and building his confidence in a real manufacturing environment.
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One of the highlights of Riley’s second year has been developing his understanding of extrusion tooling.
With a year of experience already behind him, he has been able to look at these tools in much greater detail, developing an appreciation for the complexity of their designs and how the different elements work together.
\n\n\n\nThis has been one of his favourite parts of the apprenticeship so far, giving him the opportunity to work with more complex tooling and develop a better understanding of the processes involved.
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A key part of Riley’s apprenticeship is putting his developing skills into practice. This year, he has had the opportunity to contribute to real tooling projects at Flexiteek.
Riley particularly enjoyed helping redesign some of our fendering tooling, from contributing to the initial design process through to creating and trialling the updated tooling.
\n\n\n\nBeing involved from the initial redesign through to creating and trialling the tooling has given Riley valuable insight into the wider development process. It has also allowed him to see first-hand how design decisions and modifications can affect tool performance and the finished product.
\n\n\n\nProjects like this give Riley the opportunity to apply his college learning in a practical setting, while contributing to work that has a direct purpose within the business.
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With two years of his apprenticeship now completed, Riley is looking forward to building on his CNC experience and developing his machining skills further.
Having learnt to programme CNC milling machines during his second year, he is particularly looking forward to learning how to programme CNC lathe operations in his third year.
This will add another valuable skill to Riley’s growing technical knowledge and continue his progression towards becoming a qualified toolmaker.
As his experience grows, Riley will also have the opportunity to take on increasingly complex work and continue developing his confidence in the tool room.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRiley’s second year has marked another important step in his apprenticeship. He has strengthened his understanding of tooling modifications, explored more complex extrusion tooling and contributed to the redesign, creation and trialling of fendering tooling.
\n\n\n\nAlongside this practical experience, he has continued to develop his CNC programming and 3D design skills at college, building a strong foundation for the next stage of his training.
\n\n\n\nAs Riley begins his third year, we’re looking forward to seeing him take on new challenges, develop his CNC lathe programming skills and continue to grow within the Flexiteek team.
\n\n\n\nWe’re proud of the progress he has made so far and excited to see what the next year brings.
Two years ago, we welcomed Riley to Flexiteek as a Toolmaking Apprentice, beginning his four-year Machining Technician Level 3 Apprenticeship in partnership with Colchester Institute. Since joining the team, Riley has continued to develop his technical skills, gain hands-on experience in our tool room and become increasingly involved in tooling projects. Following a successful first […]
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