Burnley College puts 5-axis skills at the heart of its curriculum
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The North-West of England, once a hotbed for textiles, has reinvented itself as a centre for hi-tech manufacturing, with the region now boasting one of the largest aerospace clusters in Europe.
While economic performance has been impressive, the skills required to service this growing manufacturing base have been slower to develop.
The good news is that many traditional colleges are joining together to form Institutes of Technology (IoT), armed with government funding to invest in both people and the training equipment they need to develop the skills of the future.
At the heart of one IoT is Burnley College, a longstanding provider of training and education to its local community with multiple course types available from A Levels through to BTEC qualifications, Apprenticeships and T Levels.
The college prides itself on being open to a wide demographic, from school leavers undertaking apprenticeships through to those aspiring to go on to university and adults looking to re-skill.
With multiple divisions, from construction and engineering through to business and professional studies, the college is at the heart of the local community. The engineering and advanced manufacturing faculty in particular is at the forefront of the outreach to local business, training between 700 and 800 learners of all ages each year.
Neil Burrows, director of skills and innovation says: “Our focus is manufacturing, advanced engineering, health and digital. We’ve always had an on-site machine shop with three Mazak machines, but we knew from talking to local employers that we needed to upgrade our technology. We asked them, ‘what type of work are you doing and what skills do you need?’ The answer came back that they needed a range of skills, from AutoCAD and Autodesk through to automation and tool management, but one of the biggest issues was finding 5-axis skills.”
The decision was taken to acquire two new Mazak CV5-500 simultaneous 5-axis machines, one of which is equipped with robotic automation.
Neil Burrows continues: “We’re helping local businesses in two ways. Firstly, by offering them a pipeline of skilled people, but we’re also finding that once we get one of our students into industry, their employers will also start using our new machines to increase their own capacity. As an example, we’re currently working with a Tier One aerospace supplier making components that they need to get out quickly. We’re effectively opening our doors to business on the proviso that, if you’re going to use our machines you’ve got to help us give our students real-life work experience.
“We've got students who are coming out of the college and are familiar with Mazak CNC, which is one less thing for an employer to be worried about as part of the onboarding and induction process.”
The Mazak technology message also resonates with parents. Neil Burrows explains: “You have students come in with their mums and dads having a look around the facility. It has a real wow factor now and is showing young people and their parents that engineering remains a good career with a modern work environment.”
One of the driving forces behind the college’s curriculum has been the formation of an advisory board from industry to consult on new courses. Neil Burrows states: “We see the Advisory Board as a forum for employers to tell us what they want, not us telling them what's on offer. Employers have been very clear that what they want is not necessarily a qualification, but a skill to get their people from point A to point B in as short a time as possible. So, we’re talking a lot about short courses to bring their people up-to-speed quickly. We've adapted and changed our curriculum to support what businesses need.’’
In the future, Neil Burrows says the intention is to maintain dialogue with both Mazak and local employers to ensure the college’s courses remain relevant He concludes: “We need to be looking at different processes, such as additive manufacturing and 3D printing. Industry will push forward with new technologies, and we’ve got to be able to give them the people they need. We're going to keep moving and looking at what our local businesses are going into.”
Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd Tel: 01905 755755 Email:
