Mailing and packaging company Kern has confirmed the appointment of Dan Leppard to the Customer Service team following the successful completion of a four year engineering apprenticeship.

Pete Jolley, UK managing director of Kern said, “Congratulations to Dan, we are delighted to welcome him officially to the team.  We are very happy to support apprenticeships and believe that a young and motivated workforce provides practical skills and qualifications that ensure a bright future for the business.

This is the second successfully completed engineering apprenticeship for Kern.  The company works with PETA Training and Consultancy Services, a registered charity which delivers a range of courses and training programmes tailored to the needs of employers and young people.

Phil Brooke, PETA’s Engineering Training Assessor said "We have worked closely with Kern to ensure that the most suitable candidates are recruited. The success of this relationship can be measured by the fact that this process has been repeated regularly over the past six years with Kern retaining all of their apprentices as Service Engineers to date."

Kern’s apprentices work on various key projects and are often offered training in the refurbishment workshop. Refurbishment engineer Simon Barker provides guidance to all southern based apprentices; his leadership allows the operatives to work on Kern systems in a controlled environment and completely rebuild the machines under the supervision of a skilled engineer.  Kern apprentices are given the opportunity to work on important customer accounts such as high street banks and utility companies once their skills base grows.