The Siemens Energy Service Training Centre. Delivering skills for the 21st century

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1 The Training Centre Delivering skills for the 21st century

2 Delivering skills for the 21st century A service business is built upon the skills of its people. For power plant and wind farm operators to be confident that work will be carried out safely, on time and to the required quality standards, they need to have complete faith in the skills of the service team. At, we ve invested 8 million in creating a world-class training centre at Newcastle. Its remit is to equip our people with the skills and competencies they need to deliver the highest levels of customer service. The centre has dedicated areas containing steam and gas turbines and generator technology, where employees are trained in an environment closely resembling that which they will experience out in the field. Similarly, the wind power training facility, the first to open in the UK, includes full size nacelles as well as two training towers. Alongside, 15 state-of-the-art classrooms are kitted out with the latest IT. One major focus is equipping technicians who are new to the wind power industry with the complete set of skills they need to service onshore and offshore wind turbines. Another priority is up-skilling experienced technicians, whether they support the renewables industry or conventional power plants. Ensuring we have a pipeline of future talent by developing apprentices and graduates is a further key focus for our training centre team. And as well as developing our own employees at the centre, we make our training skills and facilities available to our customers, helping to cement our long-term relationships. 2 3

3 A service organisation depends upon the skills and knowledge of its people, not products or technology. Training isn t just an optional activity, it s business critical. If our people don t have the skills they need to keep our customers plants up and running, safely and efficiently, then we don t have a business. The training centre focuses on two core areas: safety and technical skills. We train up to 500 newly-hired employees each year, and many hundreds of other employees whether working on wind, steam or gas turbines will also attend refresher or up-skilling courses at the centre. On top of that, we have around 150 young people studying for an apprenticeship at any one time and we manage the training programmes for the 15 graduates who join us each year. The calibre of our trainers is a key differentiator. Those working on the fossil side of the business have many years of knowledge and experience to pass on, whilst all of our wind power trainers regularly refresh their skills out in the field. Bringing back the knowledge they gain on site ensures that their training material is as current as possible and meets the highest safety and technical standards. Keith Hunter General Manager, Training Services, In an industry where technology is always changing, it s vital that our workforce keeps pace with the latest developments. We rely on the training centre team to not only train our new recruits, such as apprentices, but to continually refresh and upgrade the skills of our existing employees. The fact that training is delivered in a realistic environment, using bespoke turbine equipment, is absolutely key. It means we can train our fitters on best practice procedures away from the typical pressures at customer sites where outages have to be completed within tight timeframes. Customers have to be confident that when our field service team arrives on site, they have the qualifications and experience to complete the work safely and to the required standards. That s very much the focus of our training centre. We re continually refreshing people s skills to check that they re carrying out work in the right way and have the competencies our customers expect. Another major bonus of the training centre is that we can use it to trial new lean processes. If we optimise operations before we arrive on site like de-stacking and re-stacking a gas turbine rotor, for example then we can reduce downtime and increase plant availability for our customers. Graham Hartley Director, Siemens Energy Service Fossil 4 5

4 The training team is driven by a real passion to be the best in their field and a desire to make the experience for learners as good as it can possibly be. New recruits into the renewables business will typically spend six weeks with us and by the time they leave they ll feel part of the Siemens family. Spending time getting to know them and establishing a good rapport is all-important. On the renewables side, technical courses span everything from bolt torqueing and stretching to hydraulic and electrical fault finding, whilst safety courses include basic and advanced height and rescue training. Everyone trained in the centre can see the substantial investment Siemens has made in the facilities and that makes them feel valued. They go away very eager to apply what they ve learnt. Ian Cobb Lead Trainer, When I joined Siemens in 2010, having previously worked as an instructor in the Royal Engineers, the company had only just started training wind power technicians in the UK. Today our team has grown to five technical trainers and four specialising in safety. The training centre is second to none and kitted out with every piece of equipment we could possibly want. Each of the instructors aims to spend at least a month on site every year, experiencing life as a technician. It s very important we stay up to date with any changes on site and that we re easily accessible to the lads out in the field. If you stand still for 10 minutes in this industry, you ll be left behind. There s always new technology coming through and as trainers we have to be ready for that. Mark Champney Lead Technical Training Instructor, As anyone who works in the renewables industry knows, we often work in a challenging environment and want to get things right first time. Having people with the right skills and competencies plays a vital role in achieving this. We re delighted Siemens has a dedicated training centre in the UK and I was very impressed when I visited it. It s a highly professional operation and to have working nacelles for technicians to train on is ideal. It s good to see that sort of capability in the UK and it demonstrates the level of commitment Siemens has to the UK wind power industry. John Duncan Head of Onshore Wind Operations, RWE npower renewables To protect your skills base and ensure you have the people you ll need 10 years from now, there s no substitute for specialist in-house training. Few companies are prepared to invest in that, and it s good to see Siemens is one of them. I m very impressed with their commitment. Having your own training facility is a big bonus and will undoubtedly pay dividends in the future. Gerald Cartwright Training and Safety Advisor, Rugeley Power 6 7

5 Tackling the skills gap is a high priority for engineering companies up and down the country, and Siemens is no exception. The long-term success of our business depends on us having the skills and competencies we need not just today but in the future, and our apprenticeship schemes are key to that. We launched an apprenticeship programme for our fossil business in 2005 and followed it with a wind power technician apprenticeship scheme in Both schemes are run in conjunction with external colleges, with a team of full-time trainers and assessors delivering specialist courses at our training centre. To have a learning environment with these facilities and equipment is hugely beneficial. The training is very focused on the needs of the business and so it gives the apprentices the best possible preparation for the work they re going to be doing. When they get their first role, they really hit the ground running. There s no substitute for home-grown talent. Our apprentices acquire all of the specialist skills they need to add value in our business and they re tapping in to the years of knowledge and expertise of the people around them. Joanne Dixon Apprenticeship Co-ordinator, As the leading local supplier of education and training, we really value the opportunity to work with a world class organisation like Siemens and to deliver bespoke technical courses for their apprentices. It s a very collaborative, two-way partnership where both of us have a lot to gain, and it extends into the shared goal of promoting engineering and technology at local schools. We ve been very impressed by how serious Siemens commitment to training is. They re passionate about the subject. A lot of companies train on an ad hoc basis, swayed by the latest government incentive scheme. Siemens is doing it because it s the right thing to do and because they re here for the long term. They ve got an unshakeable commitment to skills development. You can t help but be impressed by the investment in the training centre. It s a clear sign of how positively Siemens view the future and their willingness to commit to the locality. They have the highest service standards and expect just the same when it comes to training. Jon Vincent Principal and Chief Executive, Tyne Metropolitan College 8 9

6 The 2008 Climate Change Act was a catalyst for the resurgence of manufacturing engineering across the UK. It calls for a massive infrastructure investment in transportation, buildings and energy, and the only thing holding that back will be having enough skilled people at all levels of the talent chain. At Siemens, our own Energy Sector plans to double in volume by 2015 and employ at least 50% more people. Our apprentice and graduate programmes are an important bedrock, but we ve also got to re-skill and up-skill people. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of this massive growth opportunity, and that can only happen if we build competencies and invest in training. Our customers need confidence that we ve got suitably qualified people to safely work on their plants, and some also look to us to train their own staff. What the training centre demonstrates is our long-term commitment to the energy industry and our determination to build a pipeline of skills for the UK. First and foremost the centre is here to support our customers, but it also plays a key role in encouraging more pupils to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through our links with local schools as well as with Tyne Metropolitan, Lincoln and Carnegie Colleges, we use it to show young people how exciting and worthwhile a career in the UK energy industry can be. Mike Jones HR Director, Siemens UK Energy Sector Skills are vital to the well-being of the UK. If the country is to rebalance its economy, it has to have a skilled workforce. Whichever business you talk to, equipping people with the skills they need is never far away from being their number one priority. My impression of Siemens is that they don t just talk about skills and training, they deliver. They plan very methodically, they have a clear focus, and they re pretty relentless in their quest for excellence. They re not in it for the short term. Walking into the training centre you get a sense of confidence and professionalism. Nothing has been left to chance. There are robust processes and they re producing measureable, quantifiable results. It s a quality approach. Tony Sarginson EEF Regional Manager for the north-east 10 11