Upskilling UK Production Workers Today
15-10-2015
The ‘Made in Britain’ phenomenon has seen the UK’s garment manufacturing industry boom in the past decade.
Capitalising on Britain’s reputation for excellence, retailers are turning more and more to onshore manufactures for fast track, quality production. This has seen an increase in jobs created for the UK manufacturing sector.
Whilst this is great news for the economy it can’t go unnoticed that there is a shortage of skilled workers here in the UK. The maintenance and quality checks for industrial sewing machines such as over lockers, lock stitch felling and cover stitch machine is a niche trade that unless the next generation is trained in will soon be diminished. This is exactly why we are offering two courses in Industrial Apparel Machine Maintenance where learners will be taught how to identify tool and components for a range of industry machines.
Machine Maintenance Level 1 is a six week accredited course teaching the routine maintenance and quality checking of a flat bed. Candidates receiving Job Seekers Allowance or working less than16 hours a week are eligible to take this course for free if registering before October 31st 2015.
This course could potentially lead to the Level 3 Apprenticeship Programme; including a placement with an employer across the 24 month course (four days a week in the working environment and one per week being trained in machine maintenance at the Fashion Technology Academy in order to achieve the Level 3 qualification).
Level 1 Quality Control is a six week accredited course; Learners will gain knowledge of all aspects quality control measures. They will learn how to demonstrate an understanding of finishing procedures for sewn products, how to use equipment and prepare for pressing and gain a basic understanding of fabric qualities and faults. This course includes an introduction to workshop health and safety; including identifying potential risks and hazards and how to reduce them, demonstrating the correct use of PPE, manual handling techniques and recognising the key aspects of health and safety legislation.
Following over 30 years of manufacturing decline and consequent loss of skills, the FTA seeks to fill the gap by training over 1,000 people a year by 2019, opening up job opportunities for 1,000’s.
https://www.fashioncapital.co.uk/learning/production-skills
Related articles:
FTA Open Day for Council Representatives
Made in Britain – Why Is It So Important?
