r Automotive is a leading supplier of assembled products in the Automotive Sector, specialising in fluid and air transfer systems, structural assemblies and interior trim assemblies. Building on decades of industry expertise, they use state of the art design and manufacturing facilities to provide first-class adaptive engineering solutions for an extensive range of OEMs and major first tier automotive organisations.

The company has its headquarters in Birmingham with an office in France and a Slovakiabased manufacturing plant being the next phase of the company’s expansion plans.

Engagement with the SKILLMAN Project

Lander has been involved with the Skillman project since its inception which includes participation in the project’s Workshop on Advanced Manufacturing for the Transport Sector under Work Package One of the Skillman project in March 2016. This workshop highlighted the major skills gaps and challenges from amongst the Skillman project’s industrial partner’s supply chain – these skills gaps were cited as the basis for the piloting trainings under Work Package 5 of the project.

Lander comprises a skilled work force (maintenance) with unskilled labour doing crossover jobs between non-skilled and semi-skilled roles. In the course of the piloting, participants from Lander participated in several training sessions including Robot programming, PLC programming, Fault Finding and Recovery, Introduction to Simulation Engineering and Innovation in Automation. The customised workshops based on the skills challenges highlighted by participants formed the basis of the training and, techniques were shared and tailored to specific business needs.

Outcomes

Since taking part in the piloting trainings, the participants (apprentices) have been actively applying the know-how and knowledge they have acquired. For one process engineering apprentice, this has included performing duties on the robots in a completely novel and innovative way. For many of those taking part, this has included the opportunity to input and test the robots and to glean knowledge to apply to their work-based training was cited as being invaluable. The company itself has acknowledged its wish to pursue further training in this field and highlighted the value of having curricula to access that can help it to deliver tasks in-house that they would normally be contracting out. The opportunity to up-skill its workforce on robot and PLC programming means the ability to address a greater range of challenges and any problems arising on machines themselves, rather than using outside resource. In addition, the company’s future European expansion means that training in robotics can be supported through the online resources on robotics available via the SKILLMAN website.

Video with Anita Davenport Brooks submitted as evidence to support the case study