To meet the needs of students undergoing both basic training and more advanced learning, the college needed to be equipped with machine tools capable of delivering quality and performance. With the scale of the project the college had to put out to tender for the 38 machine tools it required, with the winning supplier being XYZ Machine Tools, which has now entered into an Educational Partnership agreement with the college.
The machine order consisted of seven XYZ SMX 2500 ProtoTRAK bedmills, five XYZ SLX 1630 ProTURN lathes, 12 XYZ 2000 manual mills and 11 XYZ 1330 manual lathes all with digital readouts, an XYZ 1020 surface grinder, with an XYZ CT52LTY turning centre with live tooling and Y-axis along with an XYZ 710 VMC vertical machining centre, with five-axis capability, completing the package. The 38 machine order, including the offline systems and software, is backed by XYZ Machine Tools Educational Partnership promise, which ensures that the college will receive free ongoing support in the form of training, to maintain the skill levels of the technicians and teaching staff.
Brian Young, the Isle of Man College's engineering programme manager says: "We needed a supplier that could provide a complete package of manual and CNC machine tools, as we need to develop traditional skills as well as more advanced training. As we already had experience of XYZ machines at the college, we were aware of the quality and ease of use of their equipment, but with this new package of machines we added CNC machines, along with suites of ProtoTRAK and Siemens software for offline training. The manual machines we purchased are perfect for the students with no experience, as they lay the foundations for basic machining principles. Then, during the students' first year they can move on to the ProtoTRAK controlled lathes and mills, continuing their training on the CNC machining and turning centres in their second year."
The ease of use of the ProtoTRAK control is central to this success within education, in particular the TRAKing facility that comes with it. This allows verification of a program by use of the handwheels, something that was particularly valuable to the Isle of Man College. "The TRAKing facility is a big plus for us as we can't allow students to simply push a cycle start button and hope for the best, without verifying the program first. Therefore, TRAKing is an excellent learning tool and one that will have major benefits to us," says Brian Young.
With the machines now installed the college is pro-actively promoting the courses that it teaches. Unusually, an apprenticeship on the Isle of Man consists of two years off-the-job training, which the apprentice is expected to fund himself, as they are not employed by any company at this stage. This leads to some innovative ways in which to generate income and also demonstrates a dedication to learning a lifelong skill. Two apprentices in the current intake work for the Island's postal service getting up at five o'clock to do a shift, before coming to college. In spite of this increased commitment on the part of students, the college is seeing a dramatic increase in applicants, with 33 taken on this year. In comparison, at one stage there were just eight apprentices across the entire island, supporting an industry that employs over 3,500 people.
The development is a partnership between the Isle of Man Government's Department for Economic Development and Department for Education of Children, along with the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster (IOMAC), which comprises companies such as RLC Ronaldsway, Swagelok and Triumph Actuation Systems. The investment will enable a significant increase in the number of apprentices trained on the island, and also provide facilities to deliver advanced further education and training to those outside of apprenticeships.
