Meet the apprentice: Britvic

20-Mar-2019 - Last updated on 20-Mar-2019 at 13:15 GMT

David Jones and Michal Chalupka discuss Britvic's apprenticeship programme

Britvic UK & Ireland is keen to develop its people, whether through formalised training or apprenticeship schemes, as the firm’s Michal Chalupka and David Jones explain.

The Apprentice: Michal Chalupka

I have recently started the second year of my four-year advanced engineering apprenticeship programme. My main responsibility is the maintenance of our high-speed production lines – which are among the fastest in Europe, collectively producing up to 6,000 cans a minute – while adhering to highest quality and workmanship standards. As my skills and confidence increase, I’ll be able to work independently on more challenging tasks.

The first year of the apprenticeship consisted of full-time education at Midlands Group Training Services. Upon the completion of the study, I have returned to Britvic’s Rugby facility to begin comprehensive on-the-job training. As well as learning practical skills at work, I attend college one day a week to continue my studies towards BTEC Level 3 and HNC qualification.

I chose the apprenticeship to enable me to learn new skills, gain valuable work experience, achieve a recognised qualification and receive an income at the same time. Britvic has a great commitment towards developing employees in their roles, helping us to reach our full potential – which, in turn, gives me confidence to help me progress in my career.

The employer: David Jones

As apprenticeships and operational excellence coordinator at Britvic GB & Ireland, I’m focused on helping the company develop our people, whether that’s through the broad number of formalised training and capability building opportunities across the business, or through opportunities like the apprenticeship scheme.

Each route gives us the opportunity to grow our own talent and support employee progression within the business.

Across the company, we have 51 apprentices in a variety of different job functions. The roles are varied, but we currently have apprentices in engineering, finance, public relations and human resources. In addition to gaining a recognised qualification, not only will our apprentices learn valuable skills in these specific areas from our skilled teams, but they will also gain hands-on experience in real time.

We will continue to take on apprentices in the future and hope to see this increase in all areas of the business over time.