Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
Earlier this year, Renishaw hosted its Apprentice of the Year awards at its Innovation centre in Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire. The awards ceremony celebrated the graduation of its 36 apprentices and recognised the outstanding achievements of all apprentices during the last 12 months.
Apprenticeships have always been an integral part of Renishaw’s business, as both the company’s founders, Sir David McMurtry and John Deer, started their professional lives as apprentices. Renishaw began its own apprenticeship scheme in 1979 and currently employs 133 apprentices across the company in South Wales and the South West.
As well as celebrating the graduation of the class of 2017, Renishaw recognised those apprentices who have excelled this year, with ten awards for best performing students in each year and discipline, as well as one for the overall Outstanding Apprentice of the Year.
“Renishaw’s Apprentice of the Year awards have been taking place for 31 years”, explained Chris Pockett, head of communications at Renishaw. “We started off with one award and grew from there. This year, we added five more to recognise the increasing breadth of apprenticeships offered and the great things our apprentices have achieved.
“As a global company with over 4,000 employees, apprentices and graduates have a wide range of possible career paths to follow. An apprenticeship at Renishaw is a great start to an engineer’s career. This year we employed 41 apprentices who will get to experience a range of fields, from software engineering and embedded electronics, to additive manufacturing and medical technologies.”
Renishaw apprentices are also recognised outside of the company. Steven Pickles, trainee production technician at Renishaw, who won the Outstanding Apprentice of the Year award, was also recently named Welsh Apprentice of the year at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru for his commendable work in manufacturing and as a science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) ambassador for Renishaw.
Renishaw offers many education schemes to introduce more people to the engineering sector and support them in achieving their career goals. Earlier this year, Renishaw was highly commended in the graduate employer benefits category at the Job Crowd Awards 2017. The award was based on anonymous reviews by graduates and recognised the company’s graduate employees benefits package.
