Liam Tate

Upon a successful completion of my apprenticeship I applied for a Press Maintenance Technician role which I began in September 2025. My current job duties include:

• Skilled mechanical and electrical maintenance, reactive breakdowns, fault finding, planned preventative maintenance and continuous improvement.
• Diagnosing and repairing mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
• I have experience with PLC-controlled machinery, variable speed drives (inverters), motors, sensors and industrial automation equipment. I am experienced in using Omrom, Mitsubishi (GX Works) and Siemens PLCs for fault diagnosis and machine recovery.
• Fanuc robotics training / fault diagnosis.
• Completing IPAF certification and working at height.
• Carrying out preventative maintenance (PM's)

• During my first year of my apprenticeship I did 5 days off the job training at a specialist Training Provider (Hartlepool college of further education) - learning both practical and theoretical skills in engineering to gain my level 2 Diploma in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering.
• During this apprenticeship I developed strong fault-finding skills across mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
• Experience in diagnosing faults on PLC controlled machinery using Omron, Mitsubishi gx works/developer.
• Understanding of Health & Safety within workplace and all relevant regulations (HASAWA 1974 etc)

During my time as a production operative I continued to develop my skills further while taking on new challenges.

• Production: Their individual roles and responsibilities within the organisation and the flexibility required to deliver products to meet customers costs/delivery targets/requirements.
• Communication: How to share information using a range of methods within the manufacturing environment e.g. oral, written, electronic, information boards, visual displays.
• Work Place Organisation: How to maintain a safe and efficient work site through work place organisation e.g. 5s and process ownership.

My first role within Unipres was working within the production assembly department as a PMO (performing manufacturing operations apprentice).

Throughout this short period I learned skills such as:

• Relevant statutory, organisational and health and safety regulations relating to lean manufacturing operations and safe practices.
• Quality Control: Process equipment monitoring, data collection, error proofing and operating procedures.
• Continuous Improvement: How to study and identify ways to improve the safety, quality, cost or process efficiency using lean manufacturing tools e.g. kaizen.