News

• Scottish Government Minister visits INEOS at Grangemouth and meets with their Modern Apprentices: “A skilled and diverse young workforce is key to the long term success of a business”
• INEOS’ commitment to youth skills development sees a doubling of apprentices joining the programme this year
• INEOS Director says: “By investing in engineering skills development we are building the foundations for the future – a future that will be based on shale gas economics”

The Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment, Angela Constance, MSP, visited the INEOS site to meet with some of the company’s young people in training and to learn about the role they will play in delivering a bright future for the manufacturing site at Grangemouth.

With the addition of 25 modern apprentices joining the award-winning programme from August, a doubling of the annual intake, there will be more than 100 young people in training at the Grangemouth site. The four-year apprentice training scheme is delivered in partnership with Forth Valley College whose close links with the Grangemouth business has seen the development of bespoke training programmes that meet the specific requirements of the refining and petrochemical industry.

Gordon Grant, INEOS Director at Grangemouth said, “We were delighted to welcome the Minister to the Grangemouth site. We are building the foundations for a strong and sustainable future by equipping our Apprentices with the right skills to support our ambitious plans. As we move forward with our significant investment at Grangemouth, to bring the advantaged economics of Shale Gas to our site, it is vital that we have the people with the necessary skills and knowledge to underpin that investment.”

Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment, commented: “More and more businesses are recognising that a skilled and diverse young workforce is key to their long term success.  The young team I met during my visit to INEOS are great examples of why that is the case.

“Ryan, Robin, Zoe and David are already building successful careers in a vital industry, learning advanced skills which will stand them in good stead and, in doing so, contributing now to a major turnaround in the business’ operations. In being recognised as an Engineer of the Future Jennifer has demonstrated the benefits to both her studies and her employer of combining hands on experience and significant technical expertise.

“INEOS and Forth Valley College are to be congratulated for the partnership they have established, ensuring that the business benefits from a pool of enthusiastic and talented young people and the college is able to provide real world experience to produce highly skilled apprentices.

“Together they and the many young women and men working through their apprenticeships at Grangemouth provide a model of the successful partnership between employers, trainers, colleges and young people that we want to see happening across Scotland.”

Gordon Grant continued: “The site has recruited more than one hundred experienced technical staff this year already and this coupled with the investment in the modern apprenticeship scheme means we are ensuring that we have a skilled workforce that will support our future success. With the current levels of investment at the site including the well-advanced plans to build an import and storage facility to utilise US shale gas, it is vital that the site maintains its high skill base. The company is investing more than £300m over the next three years to bring ethane gas from the US to supplement and replace the declining sources of North Sea feedstocks.”

Notes:

INEOS and Forth Valley College have a long and established relationship in delivering training that is relevant to today’s refining and petrochemical industry. INEOS has donated surplus equipment to the college to enable close-to-life training to take place on a replica manufacturing unit.

The INEOS Modern Apprenticeship Scheme is well regarded, with over 400 applications received each year. The successful candidates work towards an SVQ Level 3 and HNC/HND in their chosen field of expertise (Mechanical, Instrument/Electric or Process Engineering) with time spent between Forth Valley College (academic) and the INEOS site at Grangemouth (practical).

David East
Communications Manager
INEOS Grangemouth
david.east@ineos.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1324 476948