We have all talked about this for years, there is a critical shortfall of qualified, skilled, experienced and trained special process personnel in the aviation, aerospace, automotive and marine industries. this can also be said to be true for all industries requiring skilled Technicians.

Compounding this problem is a ‘skills gap’ created by an increasingly globalized workforce. This has exponentially induced stress on all organizations to reduce the time required to train new personnel. Ensuring that these trainees receive adequate standards of competency-based training at all levels.

The old standard model of hiring new (apprenticeship) personnel from the Technical Colleges has been dealt a severe blow over the past two years. All due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The last two cohorts of students were deprived of the important tactile learning experience that comes with focused in-person, hands-on training.

This is the driving philosophy behind the curriculums and training syllabi of all of ACT’s Composites courses. We have created a training system for learning composite materials and process technologies, instructed in a compact yet highly effective tactile learning environment.

It’s not enough that a Technician or an Engineer understands ‘How’ to do something, it is profoundly important for them to know ‘Why’ they are doing it. If you do not understand ‘why’ something is designed to function in a certain manner, then how can you be tasked to recognize a cause of failure and then fix it? This is so true for composite material structures!

Companies – Employers will say that they can neither afford the financial cost nor the loss of productivity, to have employees ‘off-line’ for a training event that lasts for a week or two. But the critical reality is that they can’t afford NOT to have their employees trained to the highest standard. Thus ensuring their peak performance and efficiency. This translates to ‘profit’.

There are many government-funded training incentive programs available to assist with the costs of training for both domestic and foreign-based organizations. Government funding should also be made accessible to privately owned training institutions that can provide specialized skills training. This would help every industry sector with getting technicians & engineers trained to the skill level and high standards required.