Advanex Europe Apprentices design and build a commemorative gift celebrating 70 years of Advanex
In April 2016 Advanex Europe’s apprentices were presented with their ‘Apprentice Challenge’. They were put in to teams and told “November 2016 is the 70th birthday of Advanex (KATO). Each team will design a gift that can be presented to Advanex Japan to commemorate their 70th anniversary.” The teams of apprentices were required to present their ideas to senior managers with the winning team’s design being produced ready for the 70th anniversary.
The apprentices went looking for inspiration around the two Advanex Europe sites. They looked in to the history of Advanex and KATO as well as looking in to the Advanex Group as it is today.
On 13th of May the teams presented their designs to the senior management team. The apprentices surprised everyone by saying “We are a team, so instead of waiting for a winner to be chosen, we have come together as a team, taken the best of all our ideas and come up with one design for our award’.
The final design was inspired by the Tetris cube. The cube itself can be taken apart into 7 pieces (1 piece representing 10 years). Each piece also represents one of the 7 Advanex Core Values.
The award was completed in time for the Annual Global Meeting in Japan in November that coincided with the 70th Anniversary of the business. The gift was presented to our CEO Paul Kato on this special occasion.
A special Thank You and Congratulations to the apprentices involved for all of your hard work: Perry Minett, Connor Walford, Daniel Craggs, Tom Hook, Alex Staynes, Harry Haydock, Luke Gregory, Aaron Shaw, Jamie Sim, Callum Freeman, Jonathan Ball, Lorenzo Hayes. A special mention also has to go out to Wayne Dennis for mentoring the team through the making of the award.