Training students to become CNC machinists has never been easier according to Kris Richens, who is the programme leader for engineering apprenticeships (and senior lecturer) at Burnley College.

His comment follows the acquisition last year of a Heidenhain Interactive Training (HIT) system from Burgess Hill-based Heidenhain (GB) Ltd (www.heidenhaingb.com).

Comprising workbooks, server software and a network of 20 workstations for students, this covers DIN/ISO programming, while a separate system teaches Heidenhain’s widely used conversational data input.

Mr Richens said: “When we train apprentices, BTec students and people studying for HNC Level 4 to program the Mazatrol CNC system fitted to Mazak machine tools, we can only have two people standing at each of the three vertical machining centres in our workshop.

“Things are even more restricted when teaching how to program turn-milling cycles on our Colchester lathe with Fanuc control, as only two students at a time can be around the machine. The HIT system is much more flexible, with realistic training carried out in a classroom environment, with students sitting at a computer screen.

“In front of them is a programming station that is a PC-based replica of Heidenhain’s iTNC 530 control panel, as fitted to a three-axis Ajax training mill in our workshop. The main difference is that the classroom pad has a keyboard built in.

“Programs created by the students at their desks are downloaded directly to the mill, so that the parts can be machined. It is seamless from lecture room to finished part, using a combination of theory and practice and a mixture of multi-media and traditional learning.”

He says that this approach is not possible with other makes of CNC, proprietary or generic. Either each training station is an actual control system complete with computer hardware and software — and therefore expensive — or it is based on off-line programming software, so the instruction bears little relationship to the hands-on experience of students when they are put in front of a machine tool.

Need for CNC skills

The arrival of the HIT training material at Burnley College has come at a good time, as there is an unprecedented need for teaching CNC skills. The number of locally employed people studying four-year apprenticeship courses comprising NVQ Levels 2 and 3 plus BTec Level 3 (Technical Certificate) — equivalent to the former time-served apprenticeship — has risen dramatically from 12 in 2009 to more than 400 today.

Those studying aeronautical engineering, mechanical manufacturing engineering and tool making all need to be trained in CNC programming.

Others at the college also need to acquire CNC programming skills, such as the 40 students currently taking HNC Level 4 and the 200 post-GCSE school-leavers studying BTec Level 3. “HIT is especially useful for teaching this content, as the training material covers a lot of the essentials. It is far better than the old simulation software previously used by Burnley College, allowing the training to go into much greater depth,” says Mr Richens, who is himself a time-served apprentice tool maker.

“With student numbers so high, we have a big requirement for a multi-platform practice-orientated system for teaching how to program CNC systems. The HIT server software, which can be displayed on a whiteboard during lectures and linked to the students’ programming stations, is the ideal solution for teaching. CNC principles can be taught very effectively; and with the hard part out of the way, it is then relatively easy to cross-train people to use another make of control, as the principles are similar and readily transferable.

“I am also an assessor on an academic board comprising representatives from some 15 local engineering companies, and when I discussed the possibility of adding Heidenhain CNC training to the college courses, there was overwhelming support. The control is used widely on machine tools from all over the world, so it makes sense to have targeted training for these particular CNC systems, as students are bound to encounter them in industry.”

Refresher courses

Machine operators already working in local firms may need a refresher course in the capabilities of the German-manufactured control, or perhaps cross-training from using a different CNC system. Burnley College therefore intends to introduce commercial Heidenhain training courses alongside those it runs for Mazatrol and Fanuc. This promises to be a useful source of extra income for the college, which re-invests heavily in its educational services (it recently spent £600,000 on infrastructure and new equipment).

In conclusion, Mr Richens said: “HIT is also surprisingly inexpensive. I think Heidenhain regard it as a loss-leader, in the hope that we are training future managing directors of manufacturing companies — which we probably are.

“There has been a big turn-round in UK manufacturing, which Burnley College’s expansion underlines. There has also been a massive growth in engineering in East Lancashire since the last recession, which I believe is due in part to a substantial amount of reshoring of manufacturing, particularly from the Far East.

This is driving a need for higher skill levels in production engineering. Coupled with an ageing industrial workforce and a generation of under-investment in on-the-job apprentice training, the need for young people to acquire technical skills and qualifications has never been greater.”