Apprentice Spotlight - Emily Harris

The winner of the Polymer Apprentice of the Year Awards 2020 is Emily Harris of Berry Global Plasgran. She demonstrated a high level of achievement in her workplace and has excelled in her apprenticeship. Her brilliant work included designing and building an electrical panel to improve a wash plant machine. Furthermore, her volunteering activities outside of work with MindSpace and her ambition to become a STEM ambassador to inspire young women to become engineers was felt to demonstrate great character and maturity.

How did you get into the plastics industry?

I moved to the Netherlands and studied International Engineering for 2 years at Summa College in Eindhoven. In my first year I completed a 6 week internship in a Dutch engineering consultants, producing CAD drawings for a variety of projects.

In my second year we were required to find an overseas work placement, and I was lucky enough to find an opportunity at PLASgran. During the internship I got to work throughout the site and this helped me gain some insight into the recycling processes. After 8 weeks of working in the engineering department I found out about the group apprenticeship programme, which I immediately applied for, I started at PLASgran in August 2019.

What was your very first role and where are you now?

I am pleased to say that this is my first role within the plastics industry and I’m currently in the second year of my apprenticeship working towards a level 3 BTEC qualification. As part of my development I’m working on various production improvement projects.

What is your biggest achievement to date within your workplace?

My proudest achievement so far has been designing and building an electrical panel to improve a wash plant machine at PLASgran.  The first stage was building a bespoke electrical panel to improve the health and safety issues, making the machine safer to run. My colleague and I are currently making further improvements through automation.

How do you feel the apprenticeship has helped you?

I knew that I always wanted to be an engineer, and PLASgran has helped me identify that the plastics industry is where I’d like to pursue my career. Through the work I do and my studies I am learning to think outside of the box as the solutions are not always obvious.

My problem solving skills are growing every day by taking a step-by-step approach to engineering problems by working as part of a team.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

After achieving my level 3 qualification I would like to continue to Level 4 (HNC). I would also like to travel and work at other sites to gain more experience of other plastics manufacturing processes. Within the Berry group.

I am also keen to learn more on the electrical side of engineering and to continue working with the Berry Global business improvement project teams as I find this interesting and rewarding.

What has been the most useful thing you have learnt along the way?

I’ve learnt many things but what has been invaluable is getting to know the operators on the shop floor as these are the best people to talk to about the machines, they know a lot! I’ve learnt that you try to learn as much from other peoples experience whether it’s good or learning what not to do.

What advice would you give to anyone entering the industry now?

It is hard work, you’ve got to be resilient and more importantly yourself. You should always have confidence in your ambitions, and believe in yourself.

The studying is just as important as the working on the shop floor, finding a way to balance the study elements of the apprenticeship is fundamental to your success in becoming an engineer.

You should always ask for help from your team and your manager.