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A video from DongleBookPro surfaced on YouTube earlier this week demonstrating the unique “Anniversary Awards” that Apple gives to staff members. At milestones of 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and 40 years, prizes are given out.
The 10-year edition of the award was showcased in the video. Now, PepperTech has access to photos that reveal all of the designs, production specifics, and more. When you’re changing the world, time flies, as Apple puts it.

APPLE’S ANNIVERSARY AWARDS PROGRAM

Several Apple workers provided PepperTech with documentation outlining the company’s Anniversary Awards programme. They comprise pictures of the prizes, information on the making of them, and more.

Once they reach particular benchmarks, the programme awards employees with a lengthy stay. Originally made of crystal, the physical Anniversary Award was updated by Apple in 2019 with new designs made of aluminium and stainless steel.

At an all-hands meeting in 2018, Apple unveiled the new programme, assuring staff that “great accomplishments deserve extraordinary incentives.” Apple VP Deirdre O’Brien spoke at that meeting and said:

Every day, people at Apple put heart and soul into their work. Weʼre so grateful to all of our people and especially to those whoʼve contributed so much year after year. Weʼre fortunate to have these special awards to recognize that commitment.

Apple informed staff that the decision to abandon crystal was part of its “evolution as we go forward” and noted that the crystal “has a very significant position in our corporate history.”

The 30-year and 40-year versions are constructed of stainless steel, whereas the 10-year and 20-year variants are built of aluminium. Apple comments on the design and production process as follows:

Staying true to Appleʼs commitment to the environment, the awards start as remnants from the production process, using the same metals and the same iconic colors as our products. Those pieces are collected and reformulated to create custom alloys. The alloys are cast into long ingots and then sliced into blocks and machined into the finished size. The surface of the aluminum awards is polished, blasted and then specially anodized. The stainless steel awards are lapped to achieve a stunning mirror finish.

Oh, and thereʼs more. The chamfered edges are diamond-cut. The stainless steel logo is also lapped to a mirror finish and set in a precisely machined pocket on the award. And then each awardeeʼs name is laser-etched on to the side of the award, along with the anniversary date.

The business spent a lot of time refining the design and production process, as one might anticipate. Apple designers and engineers worked on the new award design for more than two years before it began delivering in 2019. A number of teams, including Industrial Design, Manufacturing Design, and others, collaborated on it.

The awards have been crafted with the same painstaking care and meticulous design as any Apple product and wouldnʼt have been possible without a huge collaborative effort from teams throughout Apple including, Manufacturing Design, Industrial Design, Operations, Logistics, Packaging Product Design, Packaging Engineering Project Management, Marcom, People, Finance, Communications, Legal, Procurement and Facilities.

MORE TIDBITS:

Apple employs the same recycled aluminium for the 10- and 20-year awards as it used for the Mac mini and MacBook Air.
According to Apple, “They are monolithic slabs that are cast in 12-foot ingots and then cut down.”
The trophies for 30 and 40 years are made of solid stainless steel pieces.
The weight of the 30-year award has been decreased; if it were made of 100 percent solid stainless steel, it would weigh around 35 pounds. It is constructed of two parts that are first lapped, followed by a flawless laser weld.
The top and bottom of the 40-year award are identically constructed, however they are afterwards flawlessly linked using a unique colour finishing procedure.
Without accounting for fulfilment and packing, each prize is produced over the course of 25 to 30 phases.
On the right side of the award, the employee’s name and the anniversary date are laser-etched.
Tim Cook signs a framed plaque to commemorate five-year anniversaries.

The 30-year and 40-year stainless steel medals, as well as the 10- and 20-year aluminium awards

“All of the wraps and the box construction for the 10- and 20-year periods will be made of fibre. Due to the high-polished surface of the 30 and 40, we are included a microfiber cloth so the customer may maintain it in good condition.

The 30- and 40-year Anniversary Awards are constructed from of several hollowed-out parts that are then invisibly welded together in order to lessen the weight brought on by solid slabs of stainless steel.