Britain Leotta is the MTA Institute Apprentice of the Month for December 2021.
The 19-year-old works for Mackay Transit Coaches – which operates school, urban route, mine transfer and charter/tour services – and is just about to complete the first year of his auto electrical apprenticeship.
A fine example of how the young and enthusiastic can bring a different type of thinking to a workplace, Britain has impressed not only with his passion for the job and his skill level, but with his initiative. For instance, when the cover of an Allison transmission controller needed replacing, rather than get a replacement part – which would have involved purchasing the whole controller unit for around $1000 – it was Britain who came up with the idea that the plastic cover could, in fact, be replaced with a 3D printed part for a fraction of the cost.
And thanks to an interest in that technology which had led to him having his own 3D printer at home, Britain was able to make that part himself – for a cost of just $12!
With hundreds of other parts able to be replicated this way, and some of the manufacturers of those parts having closed down, it’s no wonder Britain has begun to print other components as well.
“I have printed parts such as door handles and things like that, because in some cases you can’t buy them at all,” he said. “To do that, I get the broken part, measure it with a vernier and model it using Inventor – which is a 3D graphic design program – and then print them out.”
It’s well known that many major OEM manufacturers use 3D printing for reasons such as fast prototyping, or to make replacement parts for classic cars. To hear of a 19-year-old, first-year apprentice doing the same thing is an eye-opener. It is just this type of skill and initiative that has marked Britain out as a standout employee and student. It is also the progression you might expect to see in a young man who, since he was a small child, has been fascinated with discovering just how things work.
“I’ve always been a tinkerer,” he said. “My parents hated it because everything I got for Christmas lasted about a month. I would pull apart remote control cars to see how they worked. And that led me to decide to be an engineer.
“Then, in Year 10, I did some work experience with an auto electrician, and I absolutely loved it. I decided engineering wasn’t for me and kept going with the work experience. I Ioved everything about it.”
Actually, Britain did several stints of unpaid work experience with different shops before securing the apprenticeship at Mackay Transit Coaches. It’s no surprise to find he is just as enthusiastic about his work there.
“We work mostly on buses, and I love the problem-solving aspect of the job,” he said. “You have an issue, and you have to think about what caused it and test and diagnose. I enjoy that.”
With the electric vehicle (EV) revolution now underway, Britain knows that EVs will play a part in his future. As an auto-electrical apprentice, he is in as good a position as anyone to adapt and is happy that Mackay Transit Coaches will likely give him the chance to upskill.
“A couple of months ago we had a trial with one of the first majorly produced electric buses, and the company is starting to look at how we, as low-voltage auto electricians, can work on those buses,” he said. “At the moment, we are only allowed to work up to 60 volts, but there is a course we can do to be qualified to work on them.
“I am definitely going to stay in the same field and move into the high-voltage work. And I am very happy to be here. It is a great company to work for.”
CLICK HERE to visit the Mackay Transit Coaches Website
Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (February 2022)
9 February 2022
