Filtermist and one of its subsidiary companies, Multi Fan Systems, are delighted to be supporting the Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology (MCMT) by ensuring all apprentices, tutors and visitors benefit from breathing clean air.
Located in Bridgnorth, the MCMT is a coalition between four local firms (Grainger & Worrall, Classic Motor Cars, Salop Design & Engineering Ltd and In-Comm Training) who successfully secured Government Growth Deal funding from the Marches LEP, European Regional Development Funds and support from Shropshire Council to develop a new facility dedicated to addressing the increasing skills gap in the engineering sector.
The MCMT offers a wide range of apprenticeships and tailored training, including professional development, to ensure UK engineers are equipped with the skills required by industry.
In addition to the four main partners, the MCMT is also supported by a number of Technical Partners, including long-standing Filtermist customer Engineering Technology Group (ETG), who have all contributed machinery, equipment and services to enable apprentices to learn using the very latest technologies.
ETG has established one of its Technical Academies at the MCMT, which has been kitted out with a number of machine tools including three Bridgeport Harding GX480 vertical machining centres fitted with FX4002 oil mist filters from Filtermist, and two GS510 lathes complete with S800s from Filtermist’s compact S Series.
Filtermist’s Director of Sales, Stuart Plimmer, elaborates; “We believe that all employees have the right to breathe clean air. If apprentices recognise this right and understand the importance of effective extraction from the very start of their career, they should be more empowered to flag any issues they may encounter when they enter the workplace.
“Despite continued efforts by the Engineering and Manufacturing sectors, they still have some way to go in changing perceptions that they operate in ‘dirty’ environments, when in reality the air in workshops with effective control measures is just as clean as the average office.”
Whilst the Filtermist oil mist collectors are designed to protect people from exposure to hazardous airborne particulate in the CNC training facility, the MCMT also had additional extraction requirements which were handled by Multi Fan Systems.
“The MCMT includes a number of welding benches,” comments Multi Fan Systems’ Sales Manager, Peter Hill. “We originally looked at installing a centralised fume extraction system to remove welding fume from the air, but it was decided that individual mobile units offered more flexibility in this specific instance. The nature of the factory means that not all benches will be used all of the time, so we supplied 15 mobile units which can be moved around as required.”
In addition to effectively removing welding fume, the mobile units recirculate clean air back into the factory meaning the MCMT will benefit from lower heating bills.
Multi Fan has also installed a centralised vehicle exhaust extraction system to draw fumes from four vehicle ramps, as well as a dynamometer which runs at speed to simulate a moving vehicle. The system includes hose reels which have been mounted at high level, flexible duct hose coupled to the vehicle exhausts and a centrifugal fan which discharges the fume to atmosphere in accordance with PPC (Pollution Prevention and Control) regulations.
Filtermist Managing Director James Stansfield, says, “We are passionate about creating safe working environments and helping ensure the next generation of engineers has the skills our industry needs. We actually have two of our own apprentices at the MCMT – having this facility on our doorstep is fabulous.
“We are very pleased to be involved with the MCMT, both as a supplier and a customer, and we are confident that the region’s manufacturing economy will greatly benefit as a direct result of this resource.”
Find out more about the MCMT by visiting www.mcmt.co.uk or follow @marchescentre on twitter.