Supply Chain Management Apprentice Review

My role consists of scheduling lines, material planning and despatch planning. This means planning what runs on the line for that week and the future to what the customer demands. I have to plan strategically (less changeovers) to help the line have a good performance. Despatch planning to ship product out to the customer.

Yes. I have learnt how to plan despatch from the factory to the customer. This means running various macros to help plan where each product will be shipped to. This includes international customers such as Australia and New Zealand. I have also developed my communication skills with customers though email, phone calls and conference calls.

I enjoy that it is a varied programme with many areas I can develop in and I enjoy being mentally challenged. I enjoy working with the people I work with also. However, sometimes my role can be very stressful due to organisational changes or demand. This was hard to climatize to after just coming out of school.

It is organised/ structured with my job role as we have weekly catch ups, but not with my apprenticeship work with connection to the college. I do not feel we have a full understanding of the end goal and no direction from outside my organisation to what we need to do for the qualification.

I receive total support from my employer and feel I can ask them anything. They are happy to help with any issues I face and understand I am still in learning. However they are also not given the total direction of my apprenticeship programme so sometimes find it difficult to help with that side of my programme.

When our assessor is on site we have lots of support from them and are able to help with any questions. They set us tasks to do every week to go through and then present in their next visit. However, there is no structure the qualification in general and te units do not flow.

From my experience, the qualification is not contributing to my work role but is happening the other way around. Meaning my work role is contributing to the qualification. Many of the units we work through do link to the work role and I can answer them from experiences I undergo.

I know of no extra-curricular activities. I have not been given any information regarding upcoming events either which may be a place the organisation needs to develop. However, I feel with the work load we have in our role, we would not have time to attend these such events anyway.

Yes

It is a good company to work for who develop your skills in any role you enter. There are multiple paths you can take after completing your qualification and have internal different job roles you can venture to. It also has many benefits as an employee such as Bupa and the pension scheme.

I would warn them that you need to have tough skin and need to be dedicated in your role as if you are not it effects others in your team. Be expected to work later hours sometimes as if you are in a role similar to mine, issues need to be sorted then and there.