Kirklees College has got a long record of supporting young people in shaping their career and going the extra mile to provide great training to their students.
Since 2012 an initial project group – Nufarm UK Limited, Syngenta, YCF and Kirklees College – has been working together to develop a process manufacturing training centre for the chemical, pharmaceuticals and food manufacturing industries in the Leeds City Region and beyond, the Process Manufacturing Centre (PMC).
The group, supported by the local authority and Cogent, researched and consulted with numerous employers to identify the training needs the centre should provide. After receiving Local Partnership Funding in December 2014, project start-up commenced on January 2015 and should be available for training in early 2016. You can read about the facilities and systems planned for the centre here: https://www.kirkleescollege.ac.uk/processmanufacturing.
Extract Technology is very proud to announce its participation in the project and will contribute man-hours and expertise to the PMC development project. A Downflow Booth purchased from Extract by Kodak was recently donated to the centre and disassembled by Extract’s staff in order to prepare it for its ‘new academic life’ on site. Following refurbishment, Extract will install the booth and after the centre’s been open, support trainees passing on the experience and industry knowledge gained over the years.
Paul Hudson, Technical Operations Director at Extract Technology, heavily involved in the PMC project has commented:
We are extremely excited to be part of this project. Being a company that is acutely aware of the UK manufacturing skills gap and pro actively combat it through offering apprenticeships on a year-on-year basis we see that working closely with the PMC development project is a natural progression for us. Our aim is to not only contribute initially to the project by assisting with the installation and commissioning of the equipment but to also promote this fantastic development over the coming years by being involved with local schools, helping young people with their career decisions. We have an open door policy at Extract and actively encourage schools to attend our “Introduction to Manufacturing” factory tours of which we have hosted several this year with fantastic feedback. We hold these events to deliver a “real life” experience and to offer advice to young people on that critical career decision. Having the process manufacturing centre right on our doorstep is fantastic for our industry and for our Town; we look forward to assisting with developing tomorrow’s engineers.