Engineers of the future now have the chance to train on the newest FMS Industry 4.0 system at Shrewsbury Colleges Group – the education setting in the world where this training equipment can be found.
The equipment is being installed thanks largely to £500k in funding from the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to develop one of three advanced manufacturing training hubs in the region. The College added a further £250,000 investment and with gifts from a number of other companies, including Status Metrology, who put £100k towards metrology equipment and software, the value of new equipment and software totals around £1m.
Head of Engineering Andrew Lee said, “We took the decision to wait nearly 12 months to have this equipment in place, as it was imperative to us that we are training our students and apprentices on the latest technological advancements within the industry. The FMS system will offer enhanced training in engineering technologies and industrial centre processes, including areas such as hydraulics, pneumatics, PLCs, process improvement, quality systems, robotics and automation, to name but a few.
“The fact we’ve been able to secure such advanced technologies here at Shrewsbury Colleges Group is an enormous coup. We’re the first training provider to secure this equipment outside of Germany. We have an established relationship with FESTO through the WorldSkills competitions and it’s also thanks to our partnership with the LEP that we’re now one of the largest and best-equipped engineering and automotive centres in the region.”
