"Our annual investment in skills training has grown to £94k; the previous Skills Centre had outgrown itself and needed refurbishment. We grabbed this opportunity to create a larger, more modern Skills Centre - a focused learning environment where individuals have access to all the tools and resources they need."

In order to perform any manual operation both safely and competently, such as hand soldering or ATE testing, TDK-Lambda has developed a Skills Licence system. For a given process area, such as power supply configuration or printed circuit board assembly, a range of applicable Skills Licences is necessary. "Some of these skills can be practised away from the production areas at workstations within the Skills Centre," says Ms Worley, "which can now be monitored more effectively and reviewed formally."

"The ICT facilities in the Skills Centre provide access to distance learning," adds Ms Worley, "alongside ICT literacy courses such as MS Office and touch typing, as well specialist subjects for instance Financial Literacy (IFLC Level One), Health & Safety and Fire Safety."

In addition, the company has forged a knowledge transfer partnership for its Manufacturing Engineering Department (MED) with South West Manufacturing Advisory Service, or SWMAS. "Four members of MED have recently be awarded green belt status in Six Sigma, all of whom used the Skills Centre equipment to carry out self-study work," said Ms Worley. "These new green belt holders add to the 40+ individuals in the company who have been awarded green or black belts previously."

"In terms of return on investment, significant cost and time-saving benefits across the whole of the company have been recorded and, more importantly, these can be passed on to our customers," said Ms Worley