The Welsh automotive industry will get its own internationally recognised skills training body from the end of April.
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Automotive Academy Wales is the latest spoke in the national network to be given the go-ahead by the Automotive Academy board, which will fund the Welsh venture.
The Automotive Academy was created following recommendations from the Department of Trade and Industry’s Automotive Innovation and Growth Team.
The Academy structure is based on a hub and spoke system where each spoke will promote ‘Academy Validated’ or ‘Industry Recommended’ training providers, courses and materials, targeted at their specific local skills needs. AAW is the sixth spoke so far created.
The spokes support local companies to help identify training needs, recommend appropriate action and highlight opportunities for assistance with funding – in short they are the ‘one-stop shop’ in the complex minefield of employee training.
The Automotive Academy Wales spoke will be operated by the Welsh Automotive Forum in Bridgend, and its first chair will be Professor Garel Rhys, OBE, head of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at the University of Cardiff and who is also chairman of WAF.
He will be joined on the Automotive Academy Wales board by WAF chief executive Tim Williams, Ford Bridgend former plant manager Colin Johnson OBE; Roger Evans, of Ina Bearings; Tom Whyatt MBE, of Continental Teeves and Phil Selby, plant director of Harmon Becker. They will be supported by an industry led eight-strong working group headed by Adrian Roberts, of Ina Bearings and representatives from the automotive supply chain, the Wales Automotive Forum, and Welsh Development Agency.
Day to day management of Automotive Academy Wales will be led by skills and training consultant Roger Guest.
Dr Alan Begg, Academy chief executive, said, “We are delighted to approve the Welsh spoke of the Academy. The country has significant automotive manufacturing and we now need to make sure that every company, no matter how big or small, has access to high quality training for their employees.”
Welcoming the development, Prof Rhys commented, “We are delighted to have been formally approved as the Automotive Academy Wales. We have a huge variety of companies in the automotive sector and our task is to make sure that employees are appropriately skilled. We look forward to working with all our companies to raise skills that are vital in introducing new technologies and improving productivity levels.”
