Member Article

Apprentices embark on new careers at Christeyns

Laundry chemical manufacturer, Christeyns, has recruited two new apprentices from the local area to join their progressive Apprenticeship Scheme, now in its fourth year.

Jordan Smith, 20, and Lauren Griffiths, 21, fought off strong competition to be selected for the two 2016 apprenticeship places at the Bradford-based manufacturer. Shortlisted as part of a group of 10 hopefuls, Jordan and Lauren took part in a selection day that involved interviews with the management team, numeracy and literacy tests, team activities and a factory tour.

The two apprentices joined Christeyns last week and have been undergoing inductions in various sections of the business, its working standards and health and safety. The two-year programme will involve spending a minimum of one month in each internal department including customer services, purchasing, production, distribution and transport. As well as learning all about Christeyns in Bradford, the apprentices will also spend time at Alex Reid and other companies under the Christeyns umbrella.

Jordan and Lauren will study for a number of Level2 NVQ Diplomas including Business administration, Process Improvement, Manufacturing Processes as well as undertaking forklift truck training courses.

Neville Kildunne, Works Manager and Apprenticeship Scheme Mentor commented: “Apprenticeships are at the heart of our staffing policies here at

Christeyns. The training programme ensures that wherever they are in the business, our new recruits are aware of the influence they could have on other departments and therefore take decisions based on systemic thinking. At the end of two years, the objective for our apprentices is to have department managers queuing up to have them on their team.“

Jordan, from Huddersfield, is a keen tennis and football player and attended All Saints College before going on to start a business course with Bradford Bulls. His goal is to achieve a managerial role in sales or business development.

Lauren lives in Eccleshill, Bradford and attended the Hanson Academy. She is interested in theatre and performing arts and performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. Lauren is keen get involved in all areas of the business but is particularly interested in planning.

The firm continually strives to improve its products and services and knows that to do this, and remain competitive and at the forefront of its field, it must nurture tomorrow’s talent. Currently five apprentices are employed by Christeyns and provided that they complete the programme and show passion to help the business improve, they will all be offered opportunities to remain with the company.

Christeyns UK is part of the Christeyns group, based in Ghent, Belgium. Its principal focus is the manufacture and supply of detergents and supporting chemicals for the commercial laundry sector across the UK in which it is the market leader.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by sara armitage .