College boosts engineering growth with investment in cutting-edge machinery
City of Wolverhampton College has made a major investment in new machinery to ensure businesses have access to a pool of young talent to help grow and develop engineering facilities in the industrial heartland of the UK.
Machines bought from XYZ in 2015 were used in the original training workshop at the Paget Road campus and have since been moved to the new £8.1 million centre at the college’s Wellington Road campus, in Bilston, as part of the City of Wolverhampton Council’s transformational City Learning Quarter masterplan.
The Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre, which opened in September 2024, now houses the existing machines and another wave of major investment in manual mills, manual lathes, CNC bed mills fitted with ProtoTRAK RMX touchscreen controls, along with a vertical machining centre and CNC lathe fitted with Siemens Sinumerik CNC controllers.
Jim Wilkins, curriculum manager for engineering at the college, said it’s vital that students understand the basics of machining.
He said: “This starts with being able to create and understand a drawing and then continues through to gaining knowledge in basic machining principles with the setting up of a machine and learning how to manufacture parts, which is why we have a number of manual machines.
“That said, to assist in their development and as the students continue their journey towards full time employment, they need to be exposed to CNC mills and lathes with the additional functions they have.
“This means they can learn about production engineering and the efficiency gains that come from using machines fitted with automatic tool changers and learn in a controlled environment the increase in performance that these types of machines have.”
Now the workshop is up and running, the college is engaging with businesses to work together to provide young people with a future in engineering.
There are currently 140 students enrolled on engineering courses, plus more than 40 engineering apprentices from local and national companies training at the centre, gaining skills and knowledge for careers in the industry.
Mr Wilkins added: “The purchase of the XYZ machines has proven over several years to be the right choice for the college.
“This is due to the industrial build quality of the machines along with the service and support we receive from XYZ.”
