Artex celebrates National Apprenticeship Week!

At Artex, apprenticeships are used as a form of training and all colleagues, regardless of age, are eligible to enrol on an apprenticeship programme to learn new skills. They can be a great pathway to a career in a new area of the business or to develop expertise and knowledge within our teams.

There are a variety of programmes on offer to Artex colleagues through the Saint-Gobain Apprenticeship Scheme, including in Supply Chain, Marketing, Customer Service and Leadership and Management. To mark National Apprenticeship Week, our colleagues have the chance to attend sessions to find out more about the programmes on offer, as well as meet some of Saint-Gobain’s current apprentices and ask them questions about what it’s like to learn on the job.

To find out more about what it’s like to take on an apprenticeship, we spoke to Ryan Doughty, Supply Chain and Operations Analyst at Artex who is currently on a Leadership and Management apprenticeship programme.

Ryan told us; “I’ve been working at Artex now for almost three years and previously worked at British Gypsum in a similar role. I wanted to progress my career and needed more skills and aptitudes to be able to do so, so my Line Manager suggested taking on an apprenticeship.

“The apprenticeship course I am doing is a Level 3 Leadership & Management programme. It’s made up of five main modules and culminates with a project presentation, professional conversation and end-point assessment. The modules are designed to improve my skills as a manager by first identifying what my strengths and weaknesses are, then addressing how to have difficult conversations and influence others, how to manage a project with appropriate project management tools, how to lead people and finally how to manage people. In addition, I am also being supported to complete a diploma qualification alongside the course.

“For me, one of my biggest areas of development is the ability to hold difficult conversations and influence others, so this is the part I am most enjoying about the course and what I’m learning the most from."

There are a variety of programmes on offer to Artex colleagues through the Saint-Gobain Apprenticeship Scheme, including in Supply Chain, Marketing, Customer Service and Leadership and Management. To mark National Apprenticeship Week, our colleagues have the chance to attend sessions to find out more about the programmes on offer, as well as meet some of Saint-Gobain’s current apprentices and ask them questions about what it’s like to learn on the job.

Emily Harvey, Supply Chain Planner at Artex, recently completed her Level 3 Supply Chain Practitioner apprenticeship with us and has since progressed her career with our Supply Chain team.

Emily told us more about what the apprenticeship entailed and how it has benefitted her career; “The apprenticeship course took a dive into the variety of modules that contribute to the functioning of Supply Chain and also Logistics. It provided a great insight into the different career paths within the sector and also enabled me to gain and maintain a wide knowledge base for different aspects of the ‘chain’ such as demand planning and production planning. Artex helped to solidify the knowledge I was gaining and provided onsite training to assist my learning to the fullest extent.

“My apprenticeship helped me significantly throughout the height of COVID as it enabled me to successfully manage and resolve supply risks that affected us due to the global shortage of products/raw materials. Without the skills learnt from my apprenticeship, I wouldn’t have been able to do this and the sku’s and suppliers I manage would have been impacted even more so by poor planning.

“Fast forward to November 2021, upon successful completion of my apprenticeship from which I gained a distinction, I applied for the Supply Chain Planner – Production & Finished Goods role within the team at Artex. Because of the apprenticeship and support I was given from Artex to complete to a high level, I secured the job and the transition from an apprentice to employee was pretty much seamless. The apprenticeship scheme helped me progress my career into production planning as it gave detailed insight on what the job would entail and by Artex facilitating time spent with the production team, I knew this is where I wanted to make a start in my career!”

You can find out more about Emily’s apprenticeship and her career so far at Artex in her video from last year here.

We also caught up with Kelvin Phipps, Systems and Process Development Manager at Artex, who told us about how apprenticeships have benefitted the Artex Supply Chain team

Kelvin said; “Working in the logistics industry, we wanted to ensure that apprenticeships provided the opportunity for those who enrolled to understand and experience the breadth of the supply chain and what the industry has to offer in its entirety.

“The Supply Chain Practitioner apprenticeship has been hugely beneficial for Emily in our team as its provided an insight and wider understanding of what a career in Logistics has to offer. For Emily, structure was key in emphasising the opportunity to learn, develop and create a long-term career roadmap for her.

“We know the programme requires a lot of hard work from any apprentice, but with the structure and commitment plus mentorship from the business, the rewards are clear. Huge well done to Emily who achieved a distinction and will hopefully reap the benefits for years to come.”

Discover more about a career at Artex in the Our People playlist on our YouTube here.