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Meet Ella Harper: winner of the everywoman T&L apprentice award

Ella Harper, Apprentice Toolmaker at Unipart Rail, is the official winner of the everywoman Transport & Logistics Apprentice of the Year Award.

Harper’s story

Hailing from Southport, engineering is nothing new to Harper, with a childhood spent tinkering and studying the craft, it is something that she partakes in with pride. She says: “When I was younger, I always wanted to join the Army as some form of engineer, eventually setting my aspirations on becoming an Aerospace Engineer. I wanted to do this because I grew up in army camps and moved around to lots of different locations with my army-oriented family.” This wasn’t the only reason, Harper also had a knack for it, she was often the ‘builder’ of the family, constantly taking things apart and putting them back together again, figuring out how things work.

Whilst Harper’s initial dream of joining the army didn’t quite come together, she wasn’t put off and instead set her eyes on studying engineering at school and eventually as an apprentice. “After not being able to join the army, I began an engineering course in college where I was the only girl in my course, here I learnt how to use a wide range of machines such as lathes, millings machines, surface grinders and many more,” she explained.

This is where Harper would get her big break, recognised for her potential early on in her studies. “I was recommended by my college for an apprenticeship with Lattimers. I’d end up spending two years here, once again being the only girl on the shop floor, learning all the advanced skills I needed such as CNC setting and running, as well as a lot of engineering problem-solving knowledge. I was also able to develop my manual machining skills greatly.”

But once again, adversity would strike, and Harper would have to overcome the challenge of redundancy during the COVID period. Yet again, this never stopped her charge: “After getting made redundant from my last company during COVID, while I was applying for jobs, Unipart Dorman got in contact with me.” This would be the start of something great for Harper, here she would spend just over a year on the production line whilst simultaneously picking up new skills from around the company. Then, opportunity arose and Harper jumped at it: “As the old tool maker was leaving I made it clear that that’s where I wanted to be and with my previous experience I was placed in the tool room. At first for about a month I was learning from the old tool maker how to use the CAD/CAM software, how to use the CNC, and where everything is. Then I learned the rest myself, being mostly self-taught as I only had a short time period with the last guy.”

Harper took on this new challenge with determination, designing, programming, setting, running, and assembling, utilising a wide array of tools and machines in the process. She enthuses: “I have been given so many responsibilities – and I love it!”

The award

For Harper, the much-deserved award means a multitude of things, recognition for her hard work and overcoming the various challenges she’s faced along the way. “I will never forget being a finalist and winner of the everywoman in transport & logistics awards. To have even been nominated means so much to me, to have made it all the way to the finals and win, have Unipart Rail there and all of the support from everyone around me was so amazing. I can’t have asked for a better experience, representing women in engineering was such an honour,” she says with pride.

Harper’s message

Harper has hands-on experience understanding what it’s like to be the only woman in the room, and being a young woman with dreams that don’t fit the stereotyped norms. For her, getting more women in engineering and being a mentor for them is a massive personal goal. “I have been actively working with the local schools, especially the local all-girls school, doing work experience, showing them what I do, and potential job opportunities within this kind of work environment. I’m also trying to offer any guidance and advice I can, with a big piece of advice being to follow an apprenticeship. I believe this is the best way to get into this industry as it is an experience-based and hands-on career. I also implore girls to never feel scared or intimidated, given that it is a male-dominated industry with subconscious biases.” These biases are a big part of what Harper wishes to eliminate from the industry: “We are going to break these biases by being confident, standing up for ourselves, and proving that we can do it better.”

Beyond this message, Harper also has one key piece of advice for anybody looking into an engineering-oriented career path: “Listen and observe the people around you, there is always something to learn.”

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