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New website promotes manufacturing growth

23/12/2016

The Elite Centre for Manufacturing has launched a new website designed to promote its course offer including specialist apprenticeships as well as short courses.

The Elite Centre’s hub will be based at the University of Wolverhampton’s new Springfield Campus, a £100 million jointly-funded development regenerating a brownfield site into a national centre of excellence for construction and the built environment.

Regional partners include the University of Wolverhampton, Dudley College, Black Country LEP, Thomas Dudley, Cast Metals Federation, Confederation of British Metalforming and the Institute of Cast Metal Engineers.

The new website provides an overview of the partnership as well as promoting its portfolio of courses including Time Management, Training the Workforce and Controlling Quality in the Workplace, amongst others.

Ian Fitzpatrick, Chief Executive of the Elite Centre for Manufacturing, said: “We are working in a highly specialised sector that has an ageing workforce and which is suffering from a significant skills gap. 

“Our new dedicated ECMS centres will provide world-class training facilities and higher level apprenticeship pathways. We will also focus on developing vocational skills to support and help businesses to grow and flourish, providing transferrable skills for other sectors not only in the Black Country but across the UK and internationally.”  

The partnership will provide specialist training in toolmaking, foundry, patternmaking, metalforming/forging, advanced computer numerical control and manufacturing management, leadership and project management.

The project development will be led by the University of Wolverhampton with the Elite Centre following a ‘hub and spoke’ model with equipment and facilities being installed across four sites in the Black Country which will regenerate two brownfield sites. The Elite Centre is anticipated to become the new Institute of Technology in the Black Country.

The ‘foundry and patternmaking spoke’ will be located on a site adjacent to an existing foundry in Dudley Port with access to their industrial facilities and involve demolition of a derelict building to be replaced with a purpose built training block of c950 sq.m.

The ‘toolmaking’ spoke will be principally located in West Bromwich under the guidance of the Confederation of British Metalforming.

Metal joining and advanced machining training will be covered by the installation of new equipment and the use of existing equipment at the recently opened Dudley Advance at Dudley College.

Find out more about the partnership and the training courses available: http://theecms.co.uk/

ENDS

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: 23rd December 2016

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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