Local Schools
Panasonic UK supports local schools & communities through opening its doors and providing experiences & opportunities to local people.
School visits to Panasonic offices expose young students to the cutting edge technology that is being developed here at Panasonic; hopefully inspiring them to greatness. Panasonic also engages with local pupils through going into schools and giving talks on the company, the brand, the technology and what it’s like to work for a leading global technology corporation.
This is all part of the company's plan to create “A Better Life, A Better World” through inspiring the next generation.
In the late 2017, 24 students from Ranelagh School (a senior "comprehensive" school) visited the Panasonic office in Bracknell for their annual school trip. The students were year 10 top performing students in STEM subjects such as science and maths at GCSE. This trip was important for Ranelagh as it gave the students the opportunity to see what career paths there are within this sector, at a time where they are beginning to think about their further education possibly at college or university. It was a chance to show them behind closed doors of a leading, innovative technology company.
The students arrived at 1pm and were greeted by the Industrial placement students currently working for a year at Panasonic as part of their degree. The placement students ran this trip so that the school students could see where their studies could take them and ask any questions they had about their next steps. They started off with a tour of the innovation corridor which contained a multitude of meeting rooms other ‘staged’ rooms. Firstly, they went into the ‘Olympic room’ where the students could learn about Panasonic’s worldwide sponsorship of the Olympic games and then onto the ‘Eco room’ which had lots of information about Panasonic’s Green Plan 2018 and its mission to become a sustainable company.
The staged rooms were the ‘Beauty Salon’ containing all the latest beauty products and the ‘Kitchen’ which had professional microwaves, bread makers and other appliances the student saw being demonstrated. Finally, they reached the ‘Innovation room’ where they could learn about the history of Panasonic. It was set out in a museum style containing a variety of products that Panasonic had made, starting from the first ever product placed on the market by Panasonics founder Konosuke Matsushita.
In the ‘Innovation room’ the students were given a presentation from the placement students about their roles and how they got to where they are now. The presentation also covered the origin of Panasonic, how it started and the journey to where it is now. They also showed the future vision of Panasonic and the products they are currently developing. This was very exciting for the students to see where the future is heading and to imagine what sort of products they could be working with if they pursued a career in the technology sector.
They then moved on to the ‘Solutions centre’ which contained a wide range of products from security face recognition devices to McDonalds self-service touch screens. The students were given a tour of the room and got to use any products of their choice.
They then participated in two activities, one with the Lumix team and the other with the Toughbook team. The Lumix team demonstrated how the G7 4K camera could capture fast moving objects and get a clear photo. They did this by taking 4K photos of party poppers and fruit dropped into a glass of water to get the exact shot as the streamers appeared and the water overflowed.
The other activity was a demonstration of how rugged the Toughbook laptops are. They were held upright in a frame that the students could punch with a boxing glove which then forced the laptop to fall onto the floor. This showed that despite the extreme impact on the laptop there was no damage at all. These were both fun and education experiences for the students.
The students then went back to the ‘Beauty Salon’ where a member of the Beauty team showed them the latest products and demonstrated their use. The group was then given a few mannequin dolls heads of real hair and the new Panasonic trimmers to create any hair styles they wanted. This was not only fun for the students but a chance for them to see an area of Panasonic business that they didn’t know existed before.
Finally, the students were given time to ask any questions they had about the day and were given a blue ray DVD and a memory stick with their Lumix photos on as memorabilia before heading back to Ranelagh school. The trip was overall very successful with many students saying they would love to do their work experience at Panasonic. The teacher who ran the trip said ‘all of the students from both days said how great the visit was, as well as comments about helping them to understand what global companies such as Panasonic stand for and their place in the technology world’. These trips are just one of the ways Panasonic is working to support the life of the local community.