
ICME has recently announced that from now on all ICME’s training activities will be delivered by the new company it has set up, Foundry Training Services Limited, FTSL, under the management of Michala French. This will include the new metal casting foundry and patternmaking apprenticeship standard, launched in 2018, the Level 3 EAL Diploma in Casting and all short and specialised courses. Michala will therefore be the main point of contact for any training enquiries from industry moving forwards.
Steve Hill FICME, ICME National President said, “This new arrangement will allow the staff of the Institute on develop our Membership, whilst also establishing the Institute as the lead for the End Point Assessment of apprentices on the new apprentice standard and there will be a renewed focus on promotion of the advantages of Professional Membership to foundries and the supply chain during the coming months. There has been significant investment by ICME in the recent months to prepare teaching and learning materials, recruit and train technical experts from industry to be apprentice tutors and in setting up the new training company, as well as in coordinating the new level 3 apprentice standard for the industry and to establish a training academy with e-learning opportunities – all this should stand Foundry Training Services Ltd in good stead as it strives to become the established lead for training in the industry. We certainly know that there is demand and a need from industry.
“Michala will be working closely with the Business Development team from Dudley College to support companies from across the UK with industry apprenticeships. We have a fantastic new centre with first class, modern facilities now available at the National Foundry Training Centre and we are pleased that, following a slow start, we expect that there will be at least two new cohorts of apprentices from September, with recruitment actively underway.”
Contact Michala to find out more and help to ensure the industry takes full advantage of the facilities now available at the National Foundry Training Centre, (Michala@foundrytrainingservices.co.uk ).