£1m tooling academy launched to combat skills shortage
The UK’s first Precision Tooling Academy has launched today with more than £1m invested by a joint partnership.
In-Comm Training and Brandauer have created the toolroom in the training provider’s facility in Aldridge, which will produce complex tooling, as well as acting as a professional training ground for the toolmakers and designers of the future.
The academy aims to ensure there is a pipeline of toolmakers as older workers with essential skills are retiring. Companies will be offered access to toolmaking courses, upskilling opportunities for qualified engineers looking to diversify their skills and a Level 6 Tool Process Design Apprenticeship to develop the next generation of talent.
Thirty-five individuals will learn on live tooling projects in the first 12 months, which will be producing hundreds of thousands of parts every week and will give Brandauer and other tooling experts the opportunity to reshore more manufacturing projects from Asia, the EU and the US.
A major car manufacturer has agreed to be the first company to put their engineers through the toolmaking course and has contributed to the actual development of the curriculum.
Gareth Jones, Managing Director at In-Comm Training said: “We have always placed employers at the heart of our approach to skills and, through our close relationship with Brandauer, identified a real demand to create and upskill engineers into world-class toolmakers.
“Brandauer has jointly developed the course syllabus around its own proven tooling development process, whilst we have contributed our years of expertise in vocationally balanced delivery to offer truly unique course content.
“This isn’t just a ground-breaking project for our two businesses, but for manufacturing as a whole. We immediately have provision for 35 training places, yet this could easily expand with more companies getting involved”.
The Precision Tooling Academy has also attracted the support of Inventive Engineering & Design and Hexagon, who will bring product development, jig and fixture design and VISI die making expertise to the fore.
“This is a real industry collaboration featuring some of the best names in training, toolmaking and tool design,” added Rowan Crozier, CEO of Birmingham-based Brandauer.
“We are talking about one of the ‘great’ manufacturing disciplines and we’re in a real pinch point now where a lot of the skills could be lost forever with people retiring.
“This Academy – with more than £1m invested in a GF AgieCharmilles and Mitsubishi wire EDM machines, CNC machines, grinders and ZwickRoell material testing equipment and Hexagon scanning arm – will begin to address this issue, as well as giving us additional toolroom capacity to produce commercial tools that will help us grow”.
