How engineering SME’s dedication to developing young engineers led to national Gold medal success for Apprentice

by | Jan 16, 2025 | Good news

Cameron Pinder, a CNC Machinist Apprentice at Kirkstall Precision Engineering, won Gold at the 2024 WorldSkills UK National Finals in November.

Competing in the highly challenging CNC Milling category, Cameron showcased not only his technical ability but also his dedication and passion for engineering.

Winning gold at the event, Cameron became a source of immense pride for the entire Kirkstall Precision team.

The company believe his achievement highlights the importance of nurturing young talent, and it reinforces their commitment to fostering the next generation of engineers through their apprenticeship scheme by investing in professional and skills development.

As Kirkstall Precision CEO Adam Thornton noted, “Cameron’s win at WorldSkills isn’t just a personal triumph—it’s a testament to the culture of excellence we strive to build every day at Kirkstall. His dedication reflects the very best of what our team stands for.”

Cameron’s journey, from local apprentice to national champion, is an inspiring story that we’ll now explore.


What is Worldskills and how were you assessed?

Worldskills is an international competition, the UK has a national competition, and the winners of that would progress to Euroskills.

I initially completed an online test, after which I was sent a 3D model of a part with a drawing, and a fixed time frame to produce the part. You then sit down, programme and machine the part in that time frame. Central to the assessment is for you to complete the part, including all correct features, with 50% of the marks from dimensions ensuring you are hitting tolerances.

Around 30 people applied and 8 qualified. I was one of those. You are then invited to the national finals (November 2024). Until then I spent a lot of time personally training. The nationals is a competition format, giving you the first 15 minutes to look at a new drawing, followed by 2 and ½ hours to programme the part and 4 hours to machine it. The tools are provided, and it is really a test of – can you set it up properly in the time frame, then make a high quality part in a tight timeframe?

When finished, your part is inspected for scratches, burrs and dents which reduces marks, as well as having to make a tolerance of + or – 15 microns.


How important was the support of your employer Kirkstall Precision Engineering in helping you to achieve success in the competition?

Huge. The main part of an apprenticeship is practical and having 4 days a week on similar machines that I was going to use in the competition was helpful. But we set 2 to 3 different jobs on machines per day, which gives you experience working on a variety of parts and to tight timeframes.

Previously, the company were kind enough to send me to Lyon to Worldskills to see the highest levels of the European competition. Going there you can see the level to which contestants are working and understand how much time they commit to training to get there. We then came back and put in a plan for how I could get to that level. Every weekend I came into Kirkstall Precision, who had purchased material, tooling and freed up machines for me to use for training, and I machined specific parts with my mentor for around 10 hours each time to hone my skills.

Over time, I went from not being able to programme anything, to one week before the competition making a perfect part. That was the confidence I needed to then go into the competition.


What was the importance of your mentor during your apprenticeship and in preparation for Worldskills?

I do a lot of self-learning outside of work. But my mentor Rodrigo at Kirkstall Precision has been incredible. He was Brazil’s first ever polymechanics and automation Silver medal winner in Worldskills 2011 himself, trained two others to win Gold and worked at a college in Brazil specifically training individuals for Wordskills. He was able to teach me how to think, act and prepare in the timeframe I had, focusing on what would get me the highest marks in the competition.

Every day after lunch I’d spend around 3 hours with Rodrigo and programme parts. Each week he’d encourage me to improve my speed and connect me to other people for advice.

The value of my mentorship here has been helping me to understand the process and develop the right mindset.


What is your current role at Kirkstall Precision and what are your aspirations moving forward?

I do CNC milling, have been in every department for 3 to 9 months and settled on CNC milling. I check and run machines, machining complex components. In future, I’d like to compete at the international Worldskills competitions before I miss the age cut off point, then within apprenticeship scheme at Kirkstall Precision progress through HNC and HND levels, gaining high quality shop floor experience and eventually progress to a management position.

At the stage I was at in my apprenticeship when I got interested in Worldskills, programming was pretty much unknown to me. Ideally, you’d work as a Miller for up to three years and then step up to programming. To be able to programme and machine a part at an apprentice’s stage is a level that you’re not yet expected to reach – it is more the level of someone that has worked in industry for 6 to 7 years. I had to put a lot of time in to learn.


Have the standards you’ve been exposed to in the Worldskills competition benefited Kirkstall Precision?

The competition uses the best machines and tooling available – high level machines. Worldskills gave me the opportunity to develop skills working with this latest technology and an understanding of how to push it to its’ limits to get the most out of it. If the business is considering diversifying into new markets, understanding the different types of technology available to assist that is really beneficial.

For a lot of companies, Worldskills might just look like an extra thing to send an apprentice to but experiencing it with my company we’ve learnt that it is so much more. The skills that I’ve learnt, the new training, tools and machines I’ve used and people I’ve met – you can’t experience that anywhere else. It exposes both me and the company to new ways of doing things and a much wider perspective of what is out there and what is possible.

Worldskills celebrates the best of the best and on an international setting too. For an SME to support one of its’ apprentices to get this far is a huge achievement and they are rightly getting a lot of recognition for that.


Is winning Gold at Worldskills your proudest achievement to date?

Yes. It has been my focus for so long.

I deliberately found out about the competition, visited previous ones, took photos and asked so many questions to properly understand what was involved and how to compete at the highest level. Then trained for so long to get to competition level, so 100% it is my proudest achievement so far.

I’d recommend other apprentices at other companies to get involved in Worldskills. It will only get bigger. Shangai in 2026 is the top-level competition, China has historically got the most medals and are the pinnacle of Worldskills competitors. Not only will apprentices improve by being involved, but they will gain so much exposure to the highest level of skilled individuals that come a system that investments in potential.


In terms of inspiring the next generation into the sector, you’ve previously stated that you felt engineering suffers from a ‘passion gap’, rather than a skills gap. What did you mean by that?

The skills you learn in engineering aren’t that inaccessible. People think engineering is so complex, but there’s so much training available through apprenticeships to help you develop those skills and it is an exciting journey to be on.

For me, it’s not a question of the skills themselves, it’s finding the people that want to – and have a passion for – developing them. Within engineering, you meet so many passionate individuals and opportunities seem to come to them. The passion to learn more is what drives me. Most people coming from school don’t really know what they want to be. If they don’t know what they can be what skills you need or what the potential of that could be for them, how can they be passionate about it?

I noticed the advert for my apprenticeship at Kirkstall Precision on a college notice board. I needed to earn money and wanted to learn new skills, so I thought that I would enquire. Fortunately, I understood what an apprenticeship was.

If you look down through the year groups, most students have little to no idea what an apprenticeship is. We need to be pushing the message from an early age that apprenticeships are a brilliant opportunity for a lot of different people, and that this is a great sector to be involved in.


About Kirkstall Precision Engineering

Leeds based Kirkstall Precision Engineering are accredited amongst the best employers in the UK for engineering apprenticeships, being holders of the Next Gen Makers Engineering Apprenticeships: Employer Accreditation, backed by national manufacturing organisation Make UK.

For over 35 years Kirkstall Precision Engineering has been at the forefront of global precision engineering, utilising the latest technologies to provide a wide range of global clients turnkey solutions that meet their business requirements.

Their team of highly skilled employees has been key to their success, in addition our ongoing investment in technology and facilities, which has seen them become valuable long-term partners with globally recognised companies across the medical, veterinary, textile, aerospace, motor sport, energy and food sectors.