The Best Apprentices Award 2016 recognise talent from 19 countries across five continents. This year’s winner of the ‘Best Apprentice Award 2016’ in Mechatronics trade went to Saurabh Sajji from the Volkswagen Pune Plant Academy in India.
Volkswagen India started the Mechatronics Apprenticeship Programme at its Academy in the Pune Plant in 2011 as part of the Group’s effort to build industry-ready talent. In its time the Academy has seen the Mechatronics Apprenticeship Programme produce several talented individuals by providing hands-on experience while also helping the apprentices develop interpersonal skills. In an effort to recognize the outstanding performance of key performers in the programme, the Volkswagen Group recently presented its ‘Best Apprentice Awards 2016’ held at the Congress Park in Wolfsburg to 45 young talents from all over the world. Where, Saurabh Sajji from India bagged the ‘Best Apprentice Award’ in the Mechatronics trade.
Matthias Müller, CEO, Volkswagen AG said: “I am proud of the awardees. The youth needs to remain inquisitive and open to new developments. They need to discover opportunities in the ever changing environment.” He further added, “The automotive industry is more exciting for young people than ever before. Like the entire industry, our company faces major changes: autonomous driving, e-mobility, innovative mobility concepts, digitalisation and connectivity, which means that we will need to update our knowledge and skills at an increasingly rapid pace.”
Dr. Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India commended the honour bestowed on Saurabh saying, “The Mechatronics programme in India follows the guidelines from Germany to maintain global standards, and it is with great pride that I say that since inception we have always had award winners from India.” He further added, “I’m positive that this recognition received by Saurabh will help him scale new heights as he ventures into working with new technologies that can benefit the Volkswagen Group moving forward.”
This year’s Best Apprentice Award was the 16th of its kind presented by the Volkswagen Group and a total of 431 apprentices have been honoured since 2001.
In local news, Volkswagen India are set to help in improving Road Safety in India under its CSR activities, with a plan to invest in the setting up of a Traffic Control Centre at the Pune Police Headquarters. Volkswagen India have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with Pune Police – Traffic Branch and the Rotary Club of Pune Baner Charitable Trust to set-up a centralised traffic control centre at the Pune Police Headquarters.
The key intent of this project with the Pune Traffic Police is to ensure efficient traffic monitoring and management at all times for residents and visitors to the city of Pune. The centralized traffic control centre is aimed at minimizing response time in cases of accidents and emergency situations, and also provide flexibility in management of traffic signals depending on traffic density at various times of the day. Furthermore, the remote surveillance of traffic violations through real-time data from cameras installed in 260 locations in the city is aimed at helping the citizens abide by road rules and improve their driving habits.
The centralised traffic control centre will also be used for the issue of e-challans that the Traffic Police branch is about to implement soon.
Dr. Andreas Lauermann spoke regarding this association between VW and the Pune Police as well, he said “It is a privilege for Volkswagen India to partner with the Traffic police and the Rotary Club of Pune Baner to make our city safe to drive. As a brand, safety is one of our core components and we always abide by the same. With this partnership we look at extending the safety from within our cars to the local roads of Pune.” He further added, “We are committed towards addressing & optimizing requirements pertaining to road safety and ensuring the well-being of the citizens with setting up of the Centralized Traffic Control Centre here in Pune.”
Story: Sahej Patheja
