You can make anything out of plastic, even a career.
Packit Packaging, a small-scale Dunedin plastics manufacturing company, helped its employee Wesley Lewis (26) go from working on the line as a packer to running the line as a plastics engineering and process technician, supporting him through an apprenticeship programme with Otago Polytechnic Te Pūkenga.
Mr Lewis said he never planned on working in the plastics industry.
"I was one of those that came in completely blind and it just took my interest."
He never saw himself as a "studying person" but the company helped him understand it was a good step forward.
"They explained to me how it will help me later on in life and to take the next step I guess.
"To have that qualification, it’s something to show and I am competent in what I do and I can take the next step."
Packit Packaging general manager Jamie Hodgins said the company saw a lot of potential in Mr Lewis.
"I said to Wesley ‘I don’t want you getting your hands dirty forever; you need to start progressing into management and that sort of thing later on’.
"He’s just out of his apprenticeship but he’s actually in charge of a full-time tradesman out there and another part-time engineer so that was a really nice progression for Wesley."
It took Mr Lewis four years to complete his apprenticeship and now he was capable of running the factory, Mr Hodgins said.
In the next three to four months the company would be looking for more apprentices.
