Engineering news
Local growth and Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry said the Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology (MCMT) in Bridgnorth, Shropshire will help create the “engineers of tomorrow,” during a visit this week ahead of its official opening on 10 November.
The facility will provide apprenticeships and specialist training for existing staff. It has dedicated fabrication, lathe, metrology, milling, robotics and vehicle trimming sections, and a specialist CNC zone with more than £1m worth of machines donated by the Engineering Technology Group.
The MCMT is “a fantastic example of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), local employers and a training provider working together to equip young people with the real-life skills they will need,” said Berry, who met the first group of apprentices.
The LEP worked with Classic Motor Cars, Grainger & Worrall, Salop Design & Engineering and training provider In-Comm to create the centre, which received £1.9m of government funding. Industry partners including ABB Robotics, Hexagon Metrology and Mechatronics have donated equipment or offered expertise.
The centre “will address both the skills and the competency gaps facing industry,” said its managing director Matthew Snelson.
It is hoped that the centre will provide workers for the local and regional economy. “It is important for the vitality of the Marches economy that the manufacturing and engineering sector is able to thrive and that can only happen if our workforce is equipped with the right skills to meet employer demand,” said LEP chairman Graham Wynn.
For more information, visit the MCMT website.