Mazak currently employs 48 apprentices and has trained in excess of 200 in recent years across a range of different disciplines, including production, service and business administration. Over a third of current employees at the machine-tool manufacturer’s European headquarters in Worcester began their careers as an apprentice, including 53 who undertook a Mazak apprenticeship.
In honour of National Apprentice Week, the company invited a selection of its current class of 47 apprentices to put their own questions to a selection of senior staff, including Alan Mucklow, managing director UK & Ireland sales division; Lawrence McCann, general manager – European sales engineering; and Dave Clarke, spindle service centre manager.
The questions were recorded as part of a new video, which premiered at the start of National Apprentice Week, and can be accessed here.
“Anyone who has ever visited our Worcester facilities over the years will have caught several glimpses of eager blue-shirted employees around the site, often in tow with one or more senior engineers,” says Mucklow. “These are Mazak apprentices, on whose shoulders the future of our company lies.
“Without doubt, our apprentice scheme is one of the cornerstones of operations here in Worcester,” he continues. “As a former apprentice myself, I can offer first-hand ratification as to the solid foundation such a route lays down, and the ceremony in which we present newly qualified apprentices with their first grey shirt of a full-time engineer always fills me with great pride.
“Speaking on behalf of all of us who took part in the video, it was great to connect with the apprentices in such a fun way. They asked a lot of intriguing questions, and I hope people enjoy watching the video as much as we did participating in it.”
