Learning at work [automotive college]

With the current pressures on the automotive industry, the levels of investment in training in the automotive sector are low, especially in the small-sized enterprises (SME) community. With support from the DTI and heavy involvement from universities, colleges, and industry in the form of the SMMT industry forum, the automotive college was born. The virtual automotive college takes the workplace for its classroom and enrolls staff from operator to director into its programmes. In an effort to address the skills shortages among manufacturers in the UK automotive supply chain, it has sought to make learning accessible, relevant and sustainable. In this article, the author describes how the automotive college is making a difference in the worker skills at the SMEs. The college has also developed a number of programmes ranging from project management through SPC to lean manufacturing and the use of ICT. Each programme consists of a number of self-contained units each of which can be delivered as a workshop. Four phases of the delivery process were presented such as diagnose, customize, deliver, and support.