Billions wasted on ineffective training each year says AME

Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering urges more 'down to earth' approach to plug skills gap

Industry is wasting billions of pounds every year on ineffective training, the bosses behind an apprentice training centre have said. 

Unipart Group chief executive John Neill and Coventry University’s John Latham used the one-year anniversary event of the UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ to urge the sector to embrace a more ‘down to earth’ approach to make graduates industry-ready.

More than 100 delegates at the event heard how £42.9 billion of investment is channeled into training and development every year, yet over 145,000 jobs are left unfilled due to a lack of skilled candidates.

Latham said that the vision for their Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) was to find a different way of educating engineering and manufacturing graduates so they could enter employment and be “industry-ready”. The Institute has more than 60 students working towards “industry-ready” degrees.

Latham said: “We were already working with Unipart and both of us shared a passion to meet the growing skills gap. The result was a coming together of minds and investment in shaping the UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’, a place where young engineers could learn on ‘live’ manufacturing projects and from some of the best lecturers and engineers in the country.

“This ensures that the theory is applied into practice pretty much every day of their course and allows them to learn the softer skills of teamwork, project management and how to present ideas clearly.”

Neill stressed the institution's focus on “word class R&D” which explores new and existing technologies for clients in automotive, aerospace, rail and renewables. Seven R&D projects were secured in the first year, engaging with 10 customers/partners and 6 different funders, and projects included a new fuel rail developed for the Ford Fox Engine and a lightweight exhaust system entering into low volume production for Aston Martin.

Neill added: “All our solutions will meet an immediate or future customer need. We believe AME offers the opportunity for the UK to improve productivity by translating the knowledge and problem solving capabilities of our people into real competitive advantage.”