Maintenance Technician Review

Item: Maintenance Technician at BMW Group UK
Rating: 3.5
Author: Anonymous

at BMW Group UK

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Engineering

Oxford

Review Submitted: May 2021

Overall Rating

3.5 /5

The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!

3.5/5 - Overview of Role

3/5 - Skills Development

3.4/5 - Structure and Support

Overview of Role

Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

4/5

Four days a week we are working in the technologies around the plant depending on what rotation we are on. Mostly we service/refurbish equipment and try to help as we can with the maintenance activities on the line.

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

3/5

I enjoy any logical manual works, such as understanding how a piece of equipment works and how to fix it. To put it plainly, whenever working in the technologies the standard environment and availability of information is great. However, I am in general very disappointed with BMET, especially the teaching quality regarding the HNC program.

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

3/5

I developed a lot my communication skill when trying to adapt to the different shifts and areas. I also learned about the principles of pneumatics, hydraulics and electrical. Apart from all that I got to see and learn in first person how one of the best factories in the world works.

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

3/5

Communication between the technologies and the our training department has been quite bad for most of the apprenticeship. There are some details about the training program that also are not well thought at all. For example, we spend a whole rotation learning PLC programing in the first year, which should be very useful to better understand the production process on each technology if the PLC language was the same... We learned Mitsubishi PLC while everywhere in this plant only uses Siemens. On the other hand I must also say that although this has been my experience, it is changing for the better. Three of our main managers have changed and ever since everything is running a lot smoother. The new management is also giving thought and taking our feedback to improve the program as much as they can so in the future I believe this apprenticeship will be a lot better.

How much support do you receive from your employer?

5/5

I cannot complain at all about the support that is offered, as I mentioned before since the new management everything is a lot more pleasant and efficient. The employees in the technologies, from the production people that are hired through agencies up to the the highest rank within BMW, they are all very respectful and willing to help. Obviously there are people that prefer not to share information but in such a large company there are ten people willing to help for each that are not.

How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

5/5

As much as needed.

How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

1/5

All the content taught by BMET is hardly related to any activities out in the technologies. This does not need to be this way but it is up to the tutor to try to close the gap between the theory learned in the classroom and our job in the company.

Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

3/5

To be honest there may be but I am generally not interested so I don't know about them.

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend BMW Group UK to a friend?

Yes

Why?

Always good to work in such a huge company since is opens a lot of doors in your career. the salary is also incredibly given the required qualifications for it and in general it has a nice working environment.