The growth of the Plymouth Engineering Group Training Scheme - is a
remarkable success story. This spring saw the inauguration of new
teaching rooms, including an electrical centre, facilities for precision
soldering and fabrication, and an electro-pneumatics training unit
Engineering in the West Country is flourishing - so there is an urgent
need for good quality engineering skills - a demand that the Plymouth
Engineering Group Training Scheme (PEGTS) is helping to meet. Dating back
to 1966, PEGTS was re-formed in 1995 by local engineering employers, who
invested £500,000 in modernisation. It is now the largest, most
successful provider of engineering training in Devon and Cornwall, with a
membership of over 40 companies, including Toshiba, British Aerospace and
Siebe. This year, there are over 200 Modern Apprentices and trainees and
400 adults under training. David Russell is Managing Director of PEGTS.
We've created an important base, with employers investing together in a
joint facility, and with Plymouth City Council providing wage support and
Devon & Cornwall TEC supporting training costs. We've created facilities
that address the needs both of individuals and businesses - we provide
businesses with greater training resources than they'd ever hope to be
able to afford themselves, and youngsters with opportunities some would
never dream of. Employed apprentices come to PEGTS full time for a year;
in six months they are trained for the Modern Apprenticeships foundation
qualification, and in the second half of the year cover the requirements
of their particular industry. The foundation course includes modules on
technical drawing, bench fitting, centre lathe turning, milling,
electrical and electronics assembly, and electrical and electronic test
equipment. All PEGTS apprentices become highly computer literate -
there's mandatory ICT (information communication technology) in Modern
Apprenticeships, and the foundation course includes ICT. Once apprentices
have completed the ICT module, they can move on to pneumatics. Expansion
in April/May 2000 includes a pneumatics room, with a suite of equipment
provided by SMC Pneumatics. Peter Bannister, instructor/assessor at
PEGTS, says, We've tried to close the loop on electrical and pneumatic
multi-skill training as our apprentices are expected to become skilled
with both. SMC has opened up a new path for us, providing a vital link
between computers and engineering, with valuable expertise, enthusiasm,
and commitment. We asked for five examples of automation, with two key
aims in mind. First, to be able to teach clearly about the interface
between computers and machines, and secondly to provide mobile training
units so that we can take the training into company sites where our
customers don't have automated systems. So we can really open people's
eyes to pneumatics here and anywhere! The suite includes five PLC
back-plates, with workbenches simulating real-time applications. SMC
also designed and produced five special mobile workbenches using a range
of products on a small scale: a conveyor belt system - forward and
reverse, pick and place systems, air leak detector, vacuum test and XY
axis plotter. This new facility is about developing apprentices'
knowledge, from learning about a single cylinder operation to a sequence,
in a safe and controlled environment. We've brought the programming side
together with the real world - you want to see something moving,
counting, gripping, sequencing and see the results clearly. What lies in
the future for PEGTS? Young engineers coming through here find it's a
great route. And now many of 'our' youngsters five years on are in senior
positions in companies; they're keen to send us more trainees, notes
David Russell. That puts us on a roll, and we hope to expand further to
cope with the surge in demand.