Meet the ASC Team – Alfie Taylor, Engineer Apprentice

To continue to deliver the highest quality boxes to our customers, it’s essential that the machines are kept in immaculate condition. At ASC Direct, we have a team of engineers who inspect, maintain and fix these machines, to make sure they are operating at their best.

Last year, one of our team, Alfie Taylor, started as an Engineer Apprentice. He spends one day a week at college and the rest of the week working with our engineering team. We spoke to Alfie about how he is finding the balance between study and work.

Starting his career

After leaving school, Alfie went to college to study electrical installation, levels 1 and 2. Alfie confirms, “I really enjoyed the course, but needed an apprenticeship to move on to level 3, which wasn’t available. I left college and did some other jobs to gain experience.” Then Alfie saw the advert for ASC Direct. “I wanted to start my career so applied for and got the job which was initially in the warehouse. This meant doing all kinds of work, such as gluing boxes and learning how to operate the slitting machine, trimming bigger pieces of cardboard down to the right size for other operations. It was good experience.”

Starting his Apprenticeship

Then, James Paltrey-Smith, General Manager, asked Alfie if he was interested in an Apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering. Alfie was keen to learn and joined the scheme last year. “I spend one day a week at college and the rest working with the engineers maintaining and mending the machines. It’s good to combine college with real work experience.”

Attending college has taught Alfie new capabilities and methods of identifying and fixing problems. “They teach lots of different skills, such as mill turning, using hand tools, hydraulics. Lots of different aspects of engineering.” The course encourages learning. “We make one component each term, and at the end of each year, you put these together to create a machine. This teaches you about each separate element – plus you have to get each component right!”

Gaining work experience at ASC Direct

Alfie gets to put his new knowledge into practice working with the team at ASC Direct. “The rest of the time I’m getting work experience with Steve. Every day is different, we might be maintaining the hot gluing machine to make sure it is operating at its best or sometimes taking a machine apart or putting it together. It’s great to be learning different things.”

The two elements of college and work complement one another. “College is brilliant because it teaches you different solutions to problems that you wouldn’t have thought of and different ways of fixing things. Then being able to see those in action with the team at ASC Direct means bringing the learning to life.”

Working with a team

Alfie enjoys working at ASC Direct. “The team at ASC Direct are really great and it’s a very enjoyable place to work. The apprenticeship means learning more about something I’m really interested in plus being able to apply the knowledge that I’m gaining.”   

For young people considering their next step after school, apprenticeships offer a valuable alternative to traditional academic routes. By combining practical experience with education, they allow people to build skills, earn qualifications, and start meaningful careers from an early age.