www.ukskills.org.uk

www.etcni.org.uk/skills2.htm 

www.festo.com/gb 

Contacts: 

Colin Needle - Technical Expert 

Barry Thompson and Nigel Dunlop, competition winners.
(pictured above - back row from left: Jim Luney - Training Officer at Gallaher; Bill Brown - Chairman and David Hatton - Chief Executive of Engineering Training Council; Nigel Dunlop (winner).
Front Left Nigel Dunlop - General Manager at Gallaher; Barry Thompson (winner)).

Barry and Nigel, both Mechatronic technicians with Gallaher Ltd, will now represent the UK in the forthcoming World Skill Olympics being held in St Gallen, Switzerland in July 2003.

Nigel and Barry's selection for St Gallen will be supported financially by the UK Skills organisation and by their employer. They will attend regular training sessions with their technical expert Colin Needle and their Trainer John Nixon which focuses on the technical training. They will also be supported by Bruce and Steph, their physical trainers, building a successful teamwork strategy and individual mental attitudes.

SkillMECHATRONICS

SkillMECHATRONICS is the sector body that provides a focus, in terms of management and promotion for the regional and national competitions in Mechatronics. It aims to promote an understanding and appreciation of the Mechatronics industry and raise the profile of careers in the Mechatronics industry. SkillMECHATONICS currently represents the following competition(s): SkillMECHATRONICS (regional finals) and SkillMECHATRONICS (national finals). Both competitions cover the following skills: Practical application of electronics and mechanical engineering in the solution of automation problems.

GB National Competition 

The purpose of SkillMechatronics is to encourage young engineers and companies to develop their skills and demonstrate their expertise. This years competition ran over 3 days and each team of 2 young engineers undertook 7 x 2 hour tasks in a wide range of Mechatronics subjects covering Robotics, PLC programming, Pneumatics, Electrical and Mechanical systems, Information Technology and Fault-finding on automated systems.

The competition

The purpose of SkillMechatronics is to encourage young engineers and companies to develop their skills and demonstrate their expertise. This years competition ran over 3 days and each team of 2 young engineers undertook 7 x 2 hour tasks in a wide range of Mechatronics subjects covering Robotics, PLC programming, Pneumatics, Electrical and Mechanical systems, Information Technology and Fault-finding on automated systems.

Barry Thompson and Nigel Dunlop, both Mechatronic technicians with Gallaher Ltd, will now represent the UK in the forthcoming World Skill Olympics being held in St Gallen, Switzerland in July 2003.
This is a tremendous achievement particularly since it is the first occasion that an Engineering team from Northern Ireland has won any of the National Finals. Naturally enough, everyone behind the scenes in Northern Ireland is absolutely delighted with Barry and Nigel's success. A success which is undoubtedly due to the first class training and development they have undergone with Gallaher, under the expert guidance of Training Officer Jim Luney.

Winners profile

Barry and Nigel began their engineering careers with Gallaher on the employer-led Modern Apprenticeship programme in Partnership with the Engineering Training Council. During this programme Barry and Nigel have gained a thorough yet diverse knowledge of Mechatronics and engineering maintenance whilst rotating around many of the engineering workshops across the Gallaher production facility in Lisnafillan, Ballymena.