Learning and development process for Aerospace Tooling Makers: a multi-year apprenticeship with mentors
Apprentices take years to become useful in a tool room. A written plan, a named mentor and a monthly check turns years of watching into steps that can be seen and signed off.
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Share your requirementsWhy learning and development process matters in aerospace tooling makers
An apprentice may spend a year sweeping, fetching blocks and holding parts before anyone shows him a scraper. Training depends on which master has time. Some learn quickly and some are forgotten. The best leave because they cannot see what comes next, and machinists and fitters never learn what the other needs from a block.
Good looks like a plan across several years with skills for each year: measuring and marking in the first, machine work next, then fitting, gauge work and trial. A named mentor meets the apprentice monthly and signs what has been learned. Apprentices also spend time in the design office and on the inspection bench.
How to set it up
1. Write the skills for each year
Year by year, from measuring and marking through machine work to hand fitting and gauge checks. Use real tools from your last projects as examples.
2. Name a mentor for each apprentice
A senior fitter or machinist who owns the plan, meets monthly and signs off skills. Give him time in his week, not only at day's end.
3. Rotate through design, machine and bench
A few weeks each year in tool design and inspection, so the apprentice sees what happens before and after his step. See the learning and development process.
4. Hold a fit review after rough machining
The fitter and apprentice look at the block together and say what will be hard to finish. Machinists hear the feedback while the fix is cheap.
5. Link each year's pass to a pay step
A short skills check at year end, and a pay review for those who pass. Apprentices then see a reason to stay.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- List each apprentice's start date and what they can do alone today.
- Check whether each has a named mentor and how many monthly meetings were held.
- Ask apprentices which skills they were promised and have not yet been taught.
- Count apprentices who left in the last three years and when in their course they left.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach learning and development process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
It depends on the trade, but plan in years. Measure progress by skills signed off against real tools, not by time served. Some apprentices move faster, and the plan should allow it.
A craftsman who can explain as well as do. Not every master teaches well. Pick by patience and clarity, give time in the week and recognise the role in pay or title.
Show the next step, review pay at each year and give them a part in real tools early. Many leave not for money but because they cannot see where the path goes.