21 Colour’s very own Alana Glass has been nominated for Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeship Apprentice of the year.
Alana joined 21 Colour Limited in October 2009, after working for 2 years in a fast food outlet. She was initially employed as a table worker but very quickly displayed an attitude that impressed everyone, and it was felt she could progress to operate various pieces of capital equipment. To this end 21 Colour approached Graphic Enterprise Scotland with a view to setting Alana on a Modern Apprenticeship programme. Under the MA Print Framework (Print Finishing), Alana commenced her apprenticeship in January 2010, starting at level 2 prior to progressing to completing level 3 in December 2012.
Within the print finishing area of the production process, many pieces of equipment are used. In the past, an individual would only be required to be competent in one piece of machinery. Nowadays due to the frameworks produced, and demands by industry, apprentices have to show their competence in several machines. These range from guillotines to folding equipment to gather stitcher trimmers and adhesive binders. All machinery requires a great deal of skill to operate them. In Alana’s case, she proved competency on guillotining and folding machinery as well as a number of non automatic machinery. Alana is now multi-skilled, something that is an obvious benefit to the company. To reiterate, this is something that would not have happened in the past and something that has both pleased and exceeded the expectations of 21 Colour.
Alana entered the industry with zero knowledge, something that was established during her induction.
21Colour have operated an apprenticeship training scheme for the last 15 years and in that period ten young workers from the local area have gone on to be time served skilled operators with qualifications to back them up.
Trevor Price (21 Colour Managing Director) said “It is not a surprise to us at 21 Colour that Alana has been nominated for this prestigious award. Alana’s dedication, ability and her working ethic is great. She really is an asset to 21 Colour”