quality
NPL Training’s measurement skills programme has been praised by UK manufacturing
luminaries such as Rolls Royce’s Dr Hamid Mughal (Director Manufacturing Engineering).
What’s new about it and where does it fit with the needs of the market place?
Framework for the future
LOOK on the NPL website and you’ll
find references to hundreds of past
training courses. Many were ‘ad-hoc’,
perhaps arising from the interests of
individual researchers. By contrast the new
training framework was stimulated by a
clearly identified market requirement - a
measurement technology this skills gap.
To support the framework NPL made
two key appointments: the programme is
now spearheaded commercially by Paul
Nash, well known within the UK
metrology sector; working alongside him
as training product development manager
is Keith Bevan. Both joined NPL in 2007;
Bevan, while running his own training
business, had been instrumental in
converting the NPL good practice guides
(which cover product specification and
verification) into the material, including
workbooks, now used under the NPL
training framework.
‘The framework’ explains Nash ‘is based
on using material which is certified and
accredited by NPL; then accrediting third
party organisations, OEMs or academic
bodies that have got an interest in
metrology, to deliver the training.’ The
four current providers - Hexagon
Metrology, Mitutoyo, WMMC (West
Midlands Manufacturing Metrology
Centre, part of Coventry University
Enterprises); and Leeds College of
Technology - have been running the Level
1 course for some time. Bevan has now got
the material accredited for Level 2, and
NPL has ensured that the deliverers are
accredited to deliver it.
‘That’s what the framework means’ says
Nash: ‘NPL material; NPL accreditation
and certification of third party deliverers;
and the registration and certification of
the course comes through the NPL. The
course is booked through NPL, fed out to
the training providers; they complete the
course and once they’re satisfied that the
individual delegate has passed, they feed
this back and we issue the certificate.
‘It’s well known among the blue chips,
especially in aerospace. Rolls Royce and
Airbus use it extensively with positive
feedback from all the people who have
been on the course. Rolls Royce has already
put around 150 engineers through Level 1,
and they are hungry for Level 2. At the
same time there are still hundreds of people
wanting to get onto Level 1.’ Nash expects
that 80 and 90% of Level 1 ‘graduates’ will
move on to Level 2 as it’s essentially a
companion course, allowing the material to
be split into ‘bite-sized chunks’ (11 modules)
across two manageable courses’.
‘At Level 3, you get people who are
looking at ways of developing a company’s
measurement methods and expertise -
maybe someone who’s building a career in
manufacturing or quality engineering.’
Expected uptake is 30-40% of those who
started at Level 1. ‘But Level 4 is aimed at
someone who is going to become an
innovator in measurement, so in reality
you’re probably going to get 1-2% of the
people who started out. Level 4 will be
project/task-based; delegates could be on
secondment to NPL undertaking a project,
or working within their own company or
in conjunction with a university to develop
an innovative measuring strategy. It could
be part dissertation-based, part practical
experience-based; and will happen where a
company has decided it must have a senior
metrologist within the business.
‘We’re currently working on the Level 3
material. We’ve recognised that our existing
deliverers are strong on geometrical
product specification, measurement
methods, on co-ordinate principles. And
while there are a number of the modules
they will also be able to deliver at Level 3,
there will be some where they just don’t
have the expertise - eg on process control, or
non-contact surface roughness - and we
will need to use other experts to deliver
those courses.
‘There are a lot of bits of courses out
there in academia and in larger blue chips
that have their own training organisations.
But there is nothing as comprehensive as
this. And because it’s accredited by NPL the
certificate you get is actually a qualification.
It works in a similar way to the NVQ
system: you have to complete a workbook
that is continually assessed during the
course; and successful completion of this is
the evidence that generates your
qualification. So it’s an independent,
impartial, nationally recognised
qualification.’ www.npl.co.uk/training
56 MWP january 2008
The framework’s structure embraces all levels of
career specialisation and expertise
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