Beth Addis, a production apprentice at global machine tool manufacturer Yamazaki Mazak, has won the Advanced Level Apprentice of the Year award at this year’s Worcestershire Apprentice of the Year Awards.
Held at the West Midlands Safari Park on 14th November, Beth was one of three regional apprentices shortlisted for the awards. Beth joined Mazak in September 2016, and has just completed her three-year Advanced Level Apprenticeship in CNC machining. Beth stood out for a number of reasons, including her role as team leader, excellent academic performance, time spent mentoring younger apprentices, as well implementing a number of improvement projects throughout the company, including one which saved the company over 45 hours of CNC grinding time per month.
In a month of unprecedented success for Beth, she has also been shortlisted for the GTA England Apprentice of the Year Awards, which will take place in February 2020; collected the Final Year Apprentice Award at Mazak’s internal Apprentice Awards, and won 2019 Best Senior Craft Apprentice at Worcestershire Group Training Association’s (WGTA) Annual Awards.
Second year mechanical apprentice, Dan Coupland, was another Mazak winner at this year’s WGTA Annual Awards, picking up the Engineering Endeavour Award.
(Source: PES magazine)
Richard Smith, European Group Managing Director at Yamazaki Mazak, commented: “Beth is, without doubt, one of our stand-out apprentices, and has very quickly become a key member of the team, who is well-respected by her colleagues for her knowledge, skill and determination to improve how her section functions. As such, the resounding success she has experienced this year is thoroughly well-deserved.”
He continues: “Apprentices are the beating heart of our business, and are an incredibly important part of futureproofing our operations here in Worcester for years to come. To Beth, Dan, and all the winners of our internal Apprentice Awards, on behalf of everyone here at Yamazaki Mazak, I’d like to offer a huge congratulations. Our industry really is in safe hands.”
Beth is one of 15 apprentices from the Worcestershire area to have completed their apprenticeships with Mazak in 2019. This year’s graduating cohort also includes Jemma Dighton, who is the first Industrial Cadet to complete her training at Mazak. Jemma undertook a week’s placement as part of the Industrial Cadet programme with Mazak in July 2015, and successfully applied for an apprenticeship the following year. Having completed her apprenticeship, Jemma was recognised with an Industrial Cadets Gold Award.
18 new recruits joined the Mazak Apprenticeship Scheme in September 2019. This takes the current total of apprentices training with Mazak, across a number of different disciplines, including CNC machining, electrical, mechanical, sheet metal and fabrication, to 47.
Applications for Mazak’s 2020 Apprenticeship Scheme opened on 1st December. For more information, please visit: www.mazakeu.co.uk/careers.