Harry Thomas from Bristol, Ryan Watts from York and Elliott Brettle from Sunderland have joined existing apprentices Connor Murphy and Johnny Haywood on the three-year scheme.

Eight other apprentices have been given full-time roles with the company over the past five years.

The new apprentices, who will all be trained as general print service engineers, will each carry out an NVQ level 2/3 in Performing Engineering Operations and, depending on their previous training, will also complete a two-year technical certificate in Electrical or Electronic Engineering.

“Heidelberg takes training and the development of new skilled young people within our organisation very seriously,” said Heidelberg UK managing director Gerard Heanue.

“We’ve been doing this for about five years now. We even continued to take on apprentices during the financial crisis because we noticed we had an aging workforce and needed to bring younger people in to balance the age of the workforce.”

He added: “They bring fresh ideas on different perspectives and a bit of vitality. Also, from a customer perspective it shows that Heidelberg is investing in the future, which is the most important thing.”

Below: New Heidelberg UK apprentice Ryan Watts