The products made by John Chapman and his son Luke can be found in most households the length and breadth of Britain.

 

Both men work at the MK factory in Southend, the UK’s largest manufacturer and supplier of electrical plugs and sockets. Without MK, much of Britain would be permanently in the dark.

 

The family connection with the firm has deep roots. John has worked at MK since 1970. As for Luke, his first visit to the MK factory occurred even before he was born. “His mother also worked here for a while, and she was here while she was carrying Luke,” John recalls.

 

Father and son are both hands on engineers – craft workers with full apprenticeships behind them.

 

They represent the lifeblood the country desperately needs, as politicians of all parties pledge to bolster the manufacturing industry.

 

Yet John, who regularly assesses young jobseekers, is not encouraged by what he sees.

 

Too many jobseekers, he says, are reluctant to get to grips with big machine tools. John says: “As soon as they discover they are not going to be spending their time at a computer screen, they don’t want to know. They don’t want a job that involves getting their hands dirty.

 

“They also tend to be quite scared about handling the machines, although we have had no serious accidents here and the health and safety standards are very high.”

 

These young people may be missing out, craft engineering is one of the best bets for a secure career. John says: “Every now and then, I apply for a job elsewhere, just to test the water. I always get offered the job. Last time they asked ‘Can you start on Monday?’ before I left the interview.”

 

The job of handling machines is not a dull one. Luke’s working day right now is particularly exciting, since he is working on prototype products, literally at the cutting edge. The MK design team is working on developing USB plugs as the shape of the future, not just for computers, but for general household electrics.

 

John, as a skilled machinist, is one of the team with the job of translating designers’ ideas into solid prototypes. He says: “I like turning a 2-D idea into a 3-D object. Although sometimes you have to be able to tell the designers when something just won’t work.”

 

Luke says the designers have enough respect for his team’s knowhow to trust their judgement, even if it comes as unwelcome news.

 

Years of training and decades of experience have given John a huge depth of knowledge about factory machines. Much of his time is spent maintaining the production line at MK, where the machines spew out two million items a year.

 

John says the attitude to hands on employees has changed radically since he arrived at MK.

 

He says: “Back then, you checked your brain in at the entrance when you arrived for work. Now, you are trusted in a lot of areas of decision making.”