Held at the West Midlands Safari Park, Addis was one of three regional apprentices shortlisted for the awards. She joined Mazak in September 2016, and has just completed her three-year ‘Advanced Level Apprenticeship’ in CNC machining. Addis stood out for a number of reasons, including her role as team leader, excellent academic performance, time spent mentoring younger apprentices, as well as implementing a number of improvement projects throughout the company, including one which saved over 45 hours of CNC grinding time per month.
In a month of success for Beth, she has also been shortlisted for the GTA England Apprentice of the Year Awards, which 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’ prize.
Richard Smith, European group managing director at Yamazaki Mazak, says: “Beth is without doubt one of our stand-out apprentices, and has very quickly become a key member of the team. She is well-respected by her colleagues for her knowledge, skill and determination to improve how her section functions. As such, the resounding success Beth has experienced this year is thoroughly deserved.
“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,” he continues. “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 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. Dighton undertook a week-long placement as part of the Industrial Cadet programme with Mazak in July 2015, and successfully applied for an apprenticeship the following year. Having now completed her apprenticeship, Dighton was recognised with an Industrial Cadets ‘Gold’ level award.
Some 18 recruits joined the Mazak apprenticeship scheme in September 2019, which takes the current number training with the company – across disciplines including CNC machining, electrical, mechanical, sheet metal and fabrication – to 47.
Applications for Mazak’s 2020 apprenticeship scheme opened on 1 December. For more information, click here.
