The engineering skills shortage that plagues manufacturing is not unique to the UK — across Europe the same alarm bells are ringing. As governments promise investments and each country puts plans in place to ensure the future resilience of their manufacturing output, its important the basic foundations of skills and knowledge are in place to ensure a pool of talent in the engineering sector is constantly being trained up to fill the manufacturing jobs of the future.
In the UK, Devon-based
XYZ Machine Tools has a direct supply channel for engineering training establishments, be that dedicated training schools within a business, colleges of further education and even universities, and the investment of machine tools into education is of paramount importance to UK plc.
For that reason, XYZ Machine Tools employs a dedicated point of contact within the business in John Aspinall, the company’s educational sales manager. His role is to ensure that any ‘training’ facility in the UK can get access to the latest machine shop equipment supplied by XYZ Machine Tools at a competitive price point. This ranges from manual mills and lathes through to CNC toolroom machines and production-orientated machining and turning centres.
But support to the education sector does not stop in the UK. Through XYZ’s distributors located across Europe, the company is ensuring that young people in the EU are alos being given the opportunity to develop vocational skills and knowledge to support manufacturing within their respective countries.
Czech RepublicOne such distributor is
Rexim spol s.r.a. located in the Czech Republic which has been an XYZ distributor for 15 years and many of its machine installations have been into training and technical establishments. Two recent installations have been for large numbers of machines to provide a foundation for skills training within the Czech Republic.
To aid the modernisation of the secondary technical school and business academy in Uhersky Brod, Rexim supplied six XYZ SLV manual mills along with four 1550 VS manual lathes. In purchasing these machines, the school recognised the industrial quality of these products and how they relate to the machining capability within many businesses located in the Czech Republic.
Rostislav Smid, headmaster at the school, said: “Using these machines ensures our students learn the basic machining principles, gain technical dexterity and learn to understand the importance of precision. These skills will be carried forward with them as they progress their careers and ensure they will still be relevant in the digitalised world of Industry 4.0.”
Another vocational school benefitting from investment in XYZ machines in the region is SOS Frydek Mistek. With the purchase of 12 XYZ 2000 manual mills, 12 1330 trainer lathes, six RMX 2500 CNC bed mills, six RLX 1630 CNC lathes, a 660 HD vertical machining centre and a CT65 turning centre, this school has enabled itself to offer the full curriculum of machining training and education. From basic manual machining through to toolroom style machines with conversational programming, which is set up by Rexim spol s.r.a to be used in the local language, and onto production type machines with automatic toolchangers, the school educates students in how efficient machining should become the normal and help businesses become more competitive.
SpainMeanwhile,
Orpi, a Spanish dealer for XYZ machine tools for many years, has supported two schools located in the Valencia area by organising the quick replacement of machines damaged in a recent storm. The workshops were unfortunately flooded and the machines that were used to train the students became unsafe to use.
Due to XYZ’s stockholding position, an order was placed for six RMX 3500 CNC bed mills to allow the vocational schools to continue with its curriculum training. As the students had project work to finish by a deadline date, the delivery had to be quick. Suffice to say the machines were installed in time for the work to be completed.
The schools took advantage of the new investment to increase the knowledge of the students by having the optional DXF and Parasolid solid model software fitted. This allows the students to program their parts direct from electronic drawings and 3-D models. As with the installations in the Czech Republic, the local agent translates the ProtoTRAK control to work in the local language which assists in the learning of the controls conversational programming format.
Two of the machines were also prepared to accept the Kitagawa MRM 120 fourth-axis unit which allows the students to gain knowledge on multi-face machining and increase the capability of the machines.
Alfredo Guarga, managing director at Orpi, said: “The support from XYZ in organising the build and delivery of these machines was fantastic. The schools were on a tight deadline for the students to complete their work and we helped them to move onto the next stage in their careers with completion of this tight delivery.”
SwedenIn northern Europe, three XYZ machines, a RLX 355 CNC lathe, a RLX 425 CNC lathe and a RMX 3500 CNC bed mill, all fitted with the ProtoTRAK 15in touchscreen control have been installed at Karlstad University in Sweden. The university worked closely with
Bromi Gruppen AB, XYZ’s Swedish distributor, to select the machines used best suited for the research work carried out in the workshop but were also selected for their ease-of-use, due to the flexibility of the ProtoTRAK RX range of controls.
Sales of XYZ products outside of the UK is overseen by Howard Bamforth, XYZ’s export sales director. He said: “With our dealer network all around Europe and beyond, it is a great feeling to know that we are helping countries to develop engineers of the future. The range of XYZ’s products available, from manual machines, through to ProtoTRAK-controlled toolroom style machines and the production equipment fitted with both ProtoTRAK and Siemens CNC controls, allows students to be educated on equipment they will see at the companies they will ultimately work for.
He concluded: “Educating them in the art of machining and part production on modern robust machines will give them the passion for engineering and set them up with a skill set that they can draw on for the rest of their careers.”