A unique partnership between industry, government and research has resulted in a group of engineers receiving specialist training that will enhance Northern Ireland’s skills base in hard metal machining.
NIACE, the Northern Ireland Advanced Composite and Engineering Centre, based in Belfast, has formed a strategic partnership with Mills CNC, and Seco Tools. Both companies are key suppliers into the manufacturing sector through their machine tooling capabilities, and have proven capabilities in the machining of hard metal components.
Mills CNC have placed their latest machine in NIACE to allow the participant companies at the centre to use it for research and development purposes. This machine can cut very hard metals such as Titanium, which is being used more and more in the aerospace sector due to its lighter weight and increased durability.
Invest Northern Ireland has contributed £4,500 Skills Advancement Grant to enable NIACE to deliver a week long dedicated training programme for 10 engineers. Seco Tools supplied the cutting tools for the engineers while metals provider and processor Metalweb provided the raw Titanium.
Dr Scott King, Manager at the NIACE Centre said, “These machines and tools are very expensive and can be prohibitive for a single company to purchase. Mills CNC and NIACE are keen to support the advanced engineering sector, by placing a resource in NIACE that the participants can use, while also offering support advice and guidance.”
Martin Blakely, Business Manager at Mills CNC said, “We are delighted that NIACE, Seco Tools, Metalweb and Invest Northern Ireland share our vision of enhancing skills in Northern Ireland. There is no dedicated training academy for CNC machining in NI, so we are delighted that Invest NI has provided the funding for the training to take place here for the first time, to ensure that Northern Ireland based engineers can maximise the potential new capability that this machine can offer NI companies.”
Niall Casey, Invest NI’s Director Skills and Strategy Solutions said, “This training programme, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, has given local engineers the opportunity to refine their hard metal machining skills. Increasing the knowledge and expertise of titanium machining will strengthen the competitive position for local engineering business to take advantage of supply chain opportunities in international markets.”
Scott concluded, “Because of this partnership, all the companies and bodies involved have played their part in ensuring that Northern Ireland’s advanced engineering sector can build up knowledge, skills and capability in working with hard metal. This ‘up skilling’ will help Northern Ireland compete on a global scale in the use of hard metal machining.”