Tuesday, November 4, 2014

News: Forgemasters join nuclear academy

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Sheffield Forgemasters, an established supplier of civil nuclear castings and forgings and a founding member of the Nuclear AMRC, has joined the National Skills Academy Nuclear Manufacturing (NSAN) to help ensure its 800-strong workforce maintain and develop skills and competences for nuclear.

In collaboration with manufacturing skills group Semta, the NSAN has created a single point of entry for employers, and a dedicated team, based at the Nuclear AMRC's facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, will tackle the most urgent skills challenges facing the nuclear manufacturing industry. The £25m Nuclear AMRC is a joint initiative between the University of Sheffield, The University of Manchester, and a consortium of industry partners. It provides a focal point for the bulk of the UK civil nuclear manufacturing industry supply chain.

A Tier One member of the Nuclear AMRC, Forgemasters already occupies an important strategic position in the global nuclear supply chain as one of only a handful of companies capable of manufacturing highly technical large-scale forgings and castings for the civil nuclear power industry.

In February it passed an audit that will allow the company to take on a whole new strand of civil nuclear manufacture and weld-fabricate the components it currently supplies – a part of the nuclear assembly process that few organisations can undertake, and one with significant challenges posed by weld-joining different materials.

The Brightside Lane firm is pioneering technical developments into civil nuclear manufacture have not been achieved anywhere else in the world, and it sees training and development an essential part of maintaining its position.

Dr Graham Honeyman, chief executive of Sheffield Forgemasters International, said: "We have invested significant time and money into pushing the boundaries of technology for the nuclear power sector at Sheffield Forgemasters to create high integrity and efficient components for the latest generation of nuclear power plants.

"The philosophy of this company has long been that we can only succeed in our chosen markets by excelling and delivering the highest quality and most technically innovative products and training available.

"It is my belief that the skills and resources required for the UK to lead the world in civil nuclear are right here, but we need to be better than any other nation to succeed. We look forward to working with NSAN to ensure we continue to train our skilled workforce to deal with our existing and future civil nuclear power contracts."

Dawn Vinall, business development manager, National Skills Academy Nuclear Manufacturing, added: "I am delighted that Forgemasters has chosen to provide further support for their nuclear related workforce. Forgemasters is a major employer in Sheffield and is an exemplary employer of apprentices.

"One of the first things we are able to do for the business is provide member-only grants and bursaries to help the business take on and train more apprentices and give them the specific skills and knowledge they will need to support nuclear projects in the future."

Forgemasters website
National Skills Academy Nuclear Manufacturing website

Images: NSAN

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