Long-serving staff at Prism Electronics have notched up over 300 years service between them.
Among staff at the award winning facility, one has recently reached a significant milestone in his employment with the company. Bill Smettem has now been with Prism and its predecessor for 25 years.
Bill Smettem cuts cake to celebrate his 25 years with Prism.
Bill joined Prism in 1982 as a production assistant. Then he was introduced to the flow soldering machine and never looked back. “It was one of those situations where I joined the company as a temporary measure until something else came along. I found it such a pleasant environment to work in and lovely people to work with that I stayed with the company,” said Bill.
Bill has seen many changes over his 25 years service and he said that like anywhere there have been ups and downs – but there have been more ups. While still doing a broadly similar job he now manages two flow solder machines and uses the experience he has built up over the years to support several other areas of production..
Bill received his long service watch in a surprise ceremony held in the staff canteen. “They even baked me a cake. I knew that the date was coming up but I didn’t think anyone else had an inkling,” he said.
Recognised as an Investor in People in 1999, Prism actively encourages continuous professional development in its management, assembly and support staff teams. Training and continuous improvement of its skills and methods is an intrinsic part of Prism’s culture.
Managing Director David Aspinall said: “We’re delighted to recognise Bill’s loyalty to Prism over the last 25 years and greatly value his contribution. We believe that caring for our employees’ needs is part of the process of caring for our customers’ needs. Our staff must have the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude to meet the challenges set by our customers. As Investors in People we have a practical benchmark for our training and development processes.
“I am pleased to see these principles being born out by our long-serving members of staff.”
