£1.4m invested in new training centre

The ECMS’ new National Power Press and Tooling Centre will be located at the training provider’s Aldridge academy and will focus on delivering toolmaking apprenticeships and technical courses for more than 2,000 people.

Over £1.4m has been invested in creating a modern toolroom that features a host of new equipment, a full transfer press line incorporating two 110 tonne C frame presses, robot transfer and the latest servo feed technology and decoiling equipment – all supplied by Bruderer UK, in conjunction with Worcester Presses.

A £500,000 state-of-the-art high-speed precision Bruderer BSTA-280 press will also be arriving to complete the line-up, with tooling supplied by Birmingham-based Brandauer providing a precision progression tool and training in its industry-leading Standards of Performance (SOPS), which cover every element of tool setting, health and safety, 5S and problem solving.

Gareth Jones, managing director at In-Comm Training, said: “We have listened to what industry wants and designed a centre that is equipped with world class machinery and where world class training will be delivered by some of the finest technical experts in the business.

“No other organisation in the Midlands is currently offering this kind of training facility and we are expecting demand to be huge, especially with toolmaking considered a dying manufacturing art.”

He continued: “We already have a very strong relationship with the University of Wolverhampton, having worked with them on a number of previous projects. Together, we are looking forward to welcoming our first intake of apprentices and supporting more manufacturers in the Midlands and the rest of the UK.”

Ian Fitzpatrick, chief executive of the ECMS, added his support: “It’s well known that the manufacturing industry has an ageing workforce and that bespoke training courses -specifically matching industry requirements - can be quite difficult to source.

“Our aim at the ECMS is to give our learners a clear line of sight and a career pathway from Levels 2, 3 and 4, through to Higher National Certificate and Diploma and then Degree Apprenticeships. By partnering with organisations such as In-Comm we can offer a complete or bespoke training package for the manufacturing sector through both practical and theoretical learning.”

In-Comm Training, which operates its own Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ academy in Aldridge and the Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology in Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury, is one of the UK’s leading training providers, working across more than 10 sectors and with 450 different companies.

It delivers over 550 apprenticeships every year and more than 100 bitesize and in-depth training courses, covering business improvement techniques, quality, lean manufacturing and applications engineering.

ECMS runs the UK’s only National Foundry Training Centre based in Tipton and has its Hub at the £100 million Springfield Campus in Wolverhampton as well as working with Dudley College.

Apprentices learn on the job at one of the ECMS’s training Hub or Spokes equipped with new training rooms, metallurgy and metrology labs with access to partner training centres and state-of-the-art engineering facilities.