TWI helps The Engineering College meet industry demand for staff
08/11/2017
The Engineering College in Birkenhead is set to meet industry demand for new staff through the launch of a commercial welding training centre. The new centre, which was part-funded by Liverpool City Region’s Growth Deal, was able to go ahead after The Engineering College gained certification from TWI Certification Ltd through the Certification Scheme for Welder Training Organisations (CSWTO).The certification confirms that the facilities, equipment and staff are fully compliant with the requirements of CSWTO.
With 330 apprentices currently being trained and over 70 clients across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil & gas, health and maritime, The Engineering College’s new welding training facility has been set up as a direct response to industry demand. Terry Weston, The Engineering College CEO, explained: “Since rebranding in late 2016, our commercial welding team has been working tirelessly alongside The Welding Institute to set up a certified commercial welding training and testing centre. Feedback from a number of companies we work in partnership with highlighted the lack of certified welding test centres in the local area. Collectively, we saw the opportunity to tackle the training gap. However, we are not only here to undertake welder qualification testing, we are also here to train and develop welders to meet the skills shortage in an ever-growing industry.”
The facility, which is located in Monks Ferry, Birkenhead, includes eight high-spec welding bays with state-of-the-art extraction systems over a 200 m2 work area. There has also been further investment in classrooms with new IT facilities to deliver technical training and testing.
Led by staff holding CSWIP Welding Examiner, CSWIP Welding Instructor and CSWIP Visual Welding Inspector certificates, the welding training centre offers training and examination to a wide range of standards. These include ASME IX, BS EN ISO 9606, BS 4872 and other international standards for a range of welding processes, including manual metal arc (MMA), flux-cored arc (FCA), metal inert/active gas (MIG/MAG) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding.
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