Plastics & Rubber World - July/August 2019 - 20

PLASTICS IRELAND

On course for success

Catherine Collins from FPT
talks to PRW about what's
available to companies in
the Irish polymer industry
looking to upskill their
employees

People see us as
injection moulding
trainers and we're much
more than that
Catherine Collins, First Polymer
Training Skillnet

irst Polymer Training (FPT), based in
Athlone, County Westmeath, is part of
the Skillnet training network. Started
by Polymer Technology Ireland (formerly
Plastics Ireland, part of the Irish Business
and Employers Confederation - Ibec), in
1999, the organisation is the only dedicated training centre for the polymer industry in the country.
Skillnet Ireland is a funding agency
based in Dublin which supports training
and staﬀ development across about 65
business sectors, including plastics. Catherine Collins, network manager at First
Polymer Training Skillnet, explains: "Skillnet supports us with funding and Ibec
employs us to run this network. It's serving
the needs of the member companies."
"Industry drives what we do," she continues. "To support that, we have a group
of industry representatives which meets
four or ﬁve times each year to give strategic direction. They look at what we're
doing, the programmes, make sure we're
oﬀering the right support."
Collins adds that the organisation has
built up a group of experienced industry
experts as trainers over the past two decades. The next move is to develop succession planning, to support trainer positions
in niche areas and to expand the training
oﬀering.
FPT is non-proﬁt which operates on a
co-funded model, shared between Skillnet
Ireland and member companies. Other
revenue comes from technical seminars
oﬀered either in Athlone or at customer
locations.
FPT oﬀers a series of Level 3 (undergraduate) training programmes, supporting historic demand for qualiﬁed technicians and engineers. The Sligo Institute of
Technology delivers most of the content,
with FPT developing elements of practical
course work and related modules.
Courses are taken on a part-time basis
by people already working in the industry,

FPT oﬀers introductory training through to advanced courses

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with most of the material oﬀered online.
FPT subsidises course fees to help employers put their people through the programmes.
While the majority of courses at FPT
cover practical courses, Collins is planning to extend this into new areas: "We
co-hosted an Ibec event recently aimed at
HR managers, looking at ways to recruit,
train and retain polymer people."
"When we started in 1999, we had
just four courses," says Collins. "Now we
have more than 70, about 20 of which are
held on a regular basis. But I think people
see us as injection moulding trainers and
we're much more than that." FPT is planning to oﬀer courses on new technologies, including additive (3D) printing.
Most recently, in September 2018, a
new Level 8 Polymer degree course was
introduced. Collins: "This means there is
now a clear progression path, from a Level 6 Certiﬁcate in Polymer Technology, to
a Level 8 degree in Polymer Processing."

INDUSTRY SUPPORT

"This is the only centre dedicated to training for industry," says Catherine Collins.
"Complementing that, we do technical
seminars with companies such as Arburg,
Husky and Kistler."
First Polymer Training has also organised seminars related to the medical polymer and processing technologies, which
Collins says were well attended. "We were
able to attract some medical companies
which might not normally come to these
events, that was great for us and the attendees," she points out.
Support works both ways, though. For
example, JL Goor has loaned FPT a FANUC
injection moulding machine to use in training. Arburg UK has done the same. A further group of companies, including American Kuhne, Kistler and Formtech, have
supported the training centre with the donation of materials and mould tools.
In addition to supporting training efforts, industry has wider inﬂuence on the
material covered in courses, as Collins
explains.
"We're a member of the Midland Regional Skills Forum. Each of the nine regions
within Ireland has its own regional skills
manager, funded by the Department of
Education and Skills. They ensure employers get what they need from the education
providers in their region. It's really just promoting better engagement between industry and education providers," she says.
While some companies are still unaware of the support available to them, others ﬁnd it diﬃcult to invest time or money
in training. "I think it's a case of not seeing
the bigger picture," says Collins. "Training
and investment in your people will lead to
more loyal and better-skilled staﬀ that can
only add value to your business."

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Plastics & Rubber World - July/August 2019

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