Nigel Stuart
Managing Director, Discovery Yachts
Nigel Stuart joined Discovery Yachts in 2007 and has been Managing Director since 2008. Each year the company produce 10-12 luxury blue-water cruising yachts of the highest quality from its modern factory in Marchwood, near Southampton. The company employs over 90 skilled staff and is passionate about offering a career for young people through its apprenticeship programme. Discovery Yachts is committed to delivering the highest standards of quality, craftsmanship and customer service.
How has your company engaged with young people and the community to improve the image of manufacturing?
Discovery Yachts is very keen to engage with young people and in particular to champion the marine sector as a career path for youngsters leaving school. In the past we have organised school visits to the factory which were very well received; we are a busy manufacturing facility with lots to see and lots going on which engages the children hugely.
The company does engage regularly with a number of local colleges in order to recruit apprentices onto our highly respected apprenticeship programme. As a company we are passionate about recruiting young people onto the scheme to improve their skills and offer them good career prospects. Our experience of young people through our apprenticeship scheme has been very positive and we actively encourage other marine businesses to set up apprenticeship schemes.
Our first two young apprentices to have completed our scheme have both been employed within the company full time and both were awarded certificates by the Minister for Skills John Hayes at an event at the London Boat Show in January 2012 to recognise their importance to British manufacturing. We have also been approached to be involved in a STEM project which we will strive to take part in depending on our manufacturing schedule at the time.
What have you personally done to improve youth engagement with manufacturing?
I am involved with the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights which actively promotes youth engagement with manufacturing through its recognition of marine apprentices.
Each year the Shipwrights award the Queen’s Silver Medal for the Shipwright of the year as well as additional prizes for runners up and the marine businesses who employ them. As part of the selection for the award, the Shipwrights pay for a number of marine apprentices to take part in a rigorous and demanding outward bound course which is highly beneficial to the young participants.
Additionally, in 2011 I was part of a small group of Shipwright members who decided that more could be done to engage with the youth employed in the marine sector and we hosted a Shipwrights Apprentice Lecture at the University of Southampton that was attended by over 200 marine apprentices and graduates. The aim of the lecture was to inspire young people about the career opportunities in the UK marine manufacturing sector.
Presenters included world-class British superyacht designers as well as a number of former marine apprentices who have risen to the peak of their professions, including Sir John Parker and Sir Jock Slater. The first lecture was extremely successful and I am currently involved with the organisation of a second lecture due to take place this October which we hope will attract even more young people. I believe these lectures are a vital way to engage and inspire the youth and promote the marine sector as a viable and exciting career path.
What more needs to be done to increase interest in manufacturing and engineering?
Apprenticeships are the way to stimulate careers in manufacturing and engineering. It is evident that for the first couple of years an apprentice represents a cost to the company but that by years 3 and 4 the company is able to benefit from the acquired skill levels and the apprentice becomes an asset to the business.
It is therefore the initial costs associated with taking on apprentices that is creating a barrier to many manufacturing companies from offering apprenticeship programmes and we believe that additional government assistance in the first two years of an apprenticeship could encourage more companies to become involved. The recent spotlight on British manufacturing by the Government through its Made in Great Britain campaign and other initiatives is essential to promote British manufacturing as a vibrant and successful part of our economy.
The recent spotlight on British manufacturing by the Government through its Made in Great Britain campaign and other initiatives is essential to promote British manufacturing as a vibrant and successful part of our economy. I believe that the Government needs to continue to promote and highlight all forms of British manufacturing in order to change the view that Britain doesn’t make anything anymore. In the marine sector Britain has developed a niche for high quality, bespoke, luxury yachts and we are leading the world in this field. We need to promote and highlight these manufacturing success stories as much as possible, and Make it in Great Britain provides a great platform to do this.
The recent spotlight on British manufacturing by the Government through its Made in Great Britain campaign and other initiatives is essential to promote British manufacturing as a vibrant and successful part of our economy. I believe that the Government needs to continue to promote and highlight all forms of British manufacturing in order to change the view that Britain doesn’t make anything anymore. In the marine sector Britain has developed a niche for high quality, bespoke, luxury yachts and we are leading the world in this field. We need to promote and highlight these manufacturing success stories as much as possible.
