Needless to say – the plastics industry is having a hard time finding the right people. Whether it’s shopfloor engineers, salespeople or anything in between, the current talent pool makes it challenging for employers to recruit.
PTIC
As the industry quickly evolves and new technology becomes available, the skills required change as rapidly. This is where investment in training and apprenticeships become crucial to future-proof the sector and ensure we find the right personnel as well as upskill the existing one. Which essentially explains the core mission of the Polymers Training & Innovation Centre, part of Wolverhampton College.
The Interplas team had the pleasure of visiting the PTIC facility in its second Open House Day in Telford. The site brims with state-of-the-art injection moulding, blow moulding and thermoforming machinery from global manufacturers, including ENGEL, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, Negri Bossi and KraussMaffei. It also boasts lifting and ancillary equipment as well as PICAT II process simulation software.
As Andy Baker, PTIC Centre Manager, explained in his opening speech, all the machines are on loan from polymer industry manufacturing suppliers to allow for people of all business levels to be trained on. Andy pointed out that there’s no right or wrong age to participate in these courses, meaning everyone’s welcome!
The new ST1328 Level 3 Polymer Processing Technicians apprenticeship (Certified by Skills for England) is designed to integrate apprentices into PTIC’s commercial courses. It's a roll-on, roll-off format that can be completed at a rate that suits the candidate and the company. It culminates in an end-point, independent assessment to finalise the apprenticeship under SIAS.
The programme consists of seven modules, including the progressive range of injection moulding commercial courses, lean manufacturing workshops, Iosh Managing Safely, Nebosh Environmental qualifications and in-company, work-based projects.
The apprenticeship is levy-funded, which many companies are already paying into. Even if the company is not levy-funded, they may be asked for a small contribution of 5% to receive a programme which is worth £25k (less than the price of one commercial course).
PTIC courses represent an invaluable opportunity for attendees to network with colleagues in other industry areas, from commercial to operations. The centre offers specialist training and consultancy in injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion, as well as operational support and IOSH, NEBOSH and NVQ health, safety and environmental qualifications. Wolverhampton College also provides apprenticeships in engineering, construction, automotive and many more areas. So, the choice is all yours!
Day two of the PTIC Open House included presentations from Stephen Hunt, BPF Membership Services Director, Steve Harratt, PTIC Account Manager, Andy Gill, Technical Director at Floreon Technology and Duncan Webster, Applications Engineer at Kistler. It also provided us with a delicious lunch and some of the best-looking doughnuts I’ve ever seen (regretting not taking the whole tray home…).
It was an inspiring day, packed with great presentations and some food for thought for the way back. While it shed light on the current skilled labour situation, it especially highlighted the breadth of possibilities one may not know are available. What PTIC does is open an important door into the industry, picturing a variety of opportunities that are within reach but are not often publicised enough.
Thanks for this insightful day and showing the next generation (and the existing one all the same) the industry’s huge - sometimes untapped - potential.