17 Jun 2019 | Traineeship, Transforming
A ‘This is Your Life’ moment was organised last month for former T1 trainee Luke Farrell by his new employer Bewley’s at their Northern Cross headquarters. Luke had been unable to attend the Traineeship in Manufacturing Supply Chain & Customer Service Logistics graduation ceremony with his former classmates in May.
Met – or rather, ambushed in the organisation’s hospitality room – by staff members from Bewley’s, Speedpak Group and Coláiste Dhúlaigh CFE, Luke was encouraged to don a graduation gown after which he was presented with his certificate by Coláiste Dhúlaigh CFE Principal, Mary Hickey.
Bewley’s followed with its own presentation; having been already treated to our fill of Belwey’s famous coffee and cakes, attendees were also given a super Bewley’s goodie bag!
31 May 2019 | Traineeship, Transforming
A Graduation Ceremony for participants of the first Traineeship in Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Customer Service Logistics [T1] was hosted by Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education [CDCFE] in the Hogan Suite of Dublin’s Croke Park stadium on Tuesday 28th May 2019.
This new 30-week National Traineeship programme, based on a pilot programme we successfully ran in 2016/17, was co-produced and developed by Speedpak Group with CDCFE and industry partners – Allergan PLC., Butlers Chocolates, Bewleys Ltd., IKEA and Real time Technologies. While training allowances and trainers were funded by CDCFE, the programme was delivered on site in Speedpak’s Learning Centre. Our role as lead industry partner also involved supporting programme coordination, industry engagement and providing professional coaching to participants.
There were ten graduate groups presented with their certification on the day. It was a real celebration of achievement by people living in the community who were supported by their family and friends. It was great too that senior representatives from host employers, where the graduates had their industry placements supported by in-house mentoring, also attended.
It’s noteworthy that approximately 50% of trainees on this first programme were unemployed foreign nationals. All living locally, they saw the Traineeship as a great opportunity to access industry on their doorstep and gain recognised qualifications too.
The resources required to develop and support the Traineeship was made possible with grant support from The Ireland Funds Flagship Grant and Social Innovation Fund Ireland’s Education Fund. We also received grant funding from The Allergan International Foundation to upgrade our Learning Centre which enabled us house the Traineeship alongside other programme training. We would like to acknowledge and thank these partners without whom we could not have provided this innovation.
The Traineeship was singled out for special mention at the graduation by Mary Hickie, Principal of Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education who offered ‘heartfelt thanks’ to industry partners for their input and support on this new programme, the first Traineeship to be delivered by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board [CDETB].
Graduates agreed their work placement in industry was hugely valuable. For some it was a life-changing opportunity as it was instrumental in them securing full-time employment, in many cases, with their host company.
11 Feb 2019 | Archive, Traineeship
The second Traineeship in Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Customer Service Logistics started this morning (Monday 11th February 2019) with a two-day induction at Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education (CDCFE).
On Wednesday, trainees will take up residence in our on-site Learning Centre in Speedpak.
We are looking forward to getting to know all the Trainees. The next 30 weeks, featuring a blend of classroom learning and real industry experience, will be invaluable …and will hopefully be the start of many successful careers!
This is a great collaboration between CDCFE and our industry partners. We are also very grateful to Allergan and the Allergan International Foundation, The Social Innovation Fund Ireland and The Ireland Funds for supporting this initiative with grant investment.
21 Dec 2018 | Traineeship, Transforming
We were delighted to host our Traineeship Industry Partners and Coláiste Dhúlaigh CFE for a lunch meeting in our Training Centre on Monday 17th December.
During a positive and engaging meeting over a light and tasty lunch we explored and discussed the progress of the first Traineeship in Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Customer Service Logistics and identified improvements that will be made in curriculum, scheduling and trainee support as we finalise planning for ‘Traineeship 2’ commencing in January 2019.
We were delighted to hear that many of our trainees have excelled and have favourably positioned themselves either for upcoming roles in their host companies or for accessing similar roles in the marketplace.
Thank you to our industry partners Allergan, Bewleys, Butler’s Chocolates, IKEA and Realtime Technologies.
We are also very grateful to The Ireland Funds and the Social Innovation Fund of Ireland who are investing in this initiative.
11 Sep 2018 | Traineeship, Transforming
Our Trainees spent the last week of August undergoing their forklift operation instruction at the Irish School of Motoring Forklift Training Centre in Tallaght, Co. Dublin.
Operating a forklift is a specialised skill that requires a high level of health and safety awareness. ISM’s five-day training courses are aimed at providing participants with the knowledge and technical skills to operate a forklift in a safe and competent manner as prescribed in the Health and Safety Code of Practice.
The course started with some basic classroom instruction but is it primarily practical in its delivery making it instantly relatable and applicable to real-world, warehouse-type environments.
Trainees had the opportunity to master the operation of counter-balance forklift trucks, reach forklift trucks and ‒ complementing their instruction on handling the manual pallet jacks as used in Speedpak ‒ power pallet jacks.
As most of the Trainees had never operated a forklift before, they all agreed that the health and safety training, undertaken since commencing the programme, had been a great help in providing context and in helping to familiarise trainees with a broader warehousing and industrial operations.
Meanwhile, the ‘away-from-base’ training provided a different workplace dynamic that was a bonding experience for the entire team and an important further step towards transitioning to a new workplace.
11 Aug 2018 | Social Enterprise, Traineeship, Transforming
A workplace-based training programme provides its trainees with opportunities that they likely would not get in a typical education environment.
By having a real-world opportunity to interact with staff and experience workplace routines, trainees quickly learn about the different roles and rules necessary to become part of a team. By being able to observe the variety of production processes and logistics involved, they get an objective and valuable insight into how an operation must function in order to be efficient and productive.
In addition, trainees benefit not only from the practical support and information provided by staff on a daily basis, but also from the general support of the networks and industry partnerships, which are constantly being developed on their behalf.
Workplace training offers a dynamic environment, that facilitates learning by providing trainees the opportunity to get a coal-face experience of the relationship between theory and practice. It offers them the opportunity to be part of a working team and to build their experience by learning under real commercial conditions.
Moreover, a company that hosts a well-organised, well-facilitated and well-resourced Traineeship Programme, while also recognising and engaging with the insights and unique experience of each of the trainees of that programme, will itself benefit significantly in return.
