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Unanderra firm Leussink Engineering is an example of one Illawarra manufacturer investing in the future.
Angus Bevan, 17, was one of five school-leavers to become first-year apprentices in the growing business this year and training supervisor Allan Van Elsland said three more first-year apprenticeships had already been offered for 2014.
There are 14 apprentices at Leussink.
Mr Bevan, of Mt Ousley, is one of dozens of students from schools between Kiama and Helensburgh who do work experience each year.
The Edmund Rice College student’s parents work in the medical field but he decided to become a fitter-machinist after doing engineering at school.
Mr Bevan said he was not concerned about any downturn in manufacturing because he saw the chance to learn a trade as a great opportunity.
‘‘I liked doing it and after almost a year I am still happy with my decision,’’ he said.
‘‘It is great to come into work and have something new each day. It is always good to have something different. I have learnt so much.’’
Mr Bevan said he had other friends from school who were also fitter-machinists and recommended it as a career.
Leussink Engineering director Ray Leussink said the business employed close to 60 people and generally took on three or four a year as an investment in skills for the future to better service its clients and find new ones.
Mr Leussink said the business had to reinvent itself and find new ways to target new business in an ever-changing economy.
He said the business never said it couldn’t do something.
He said working with a partner in Germany he saw how its government provided incentives to retain, attract and grow businesses in the manufacturing sector because it saw it as so important to keep.