Brighouse engineering design firm to play major part in £5m industry training facility

A Brighouse-based engineering design and project management company has been appointed to play a major role in the development and creation of a new £5m process manufacturing training plant.

Kirklees College has chosen Projex Solutions Limited to design the process manufacturing batch plant for its employer-led Process Manufacturing Centre (PMC), due to open for training in Huddersfield in summer 2016 ahead of the September intake of apprentices.

The new 10,225 sq ft centre, which has received capital funding support from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will provide a state of the art training facility that will feature a fully operational process manufacturing batch plant and filling and packaging equipment which meets the training requirements of process manufacturing industries.

The PMC will also feature classrooms, facilities to support the learning and development of future engineers and operation technicians.

As a major part of the project, Projex will use its experience in engineering design and project management in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries to design and implement a process manufacturing plant that will incorporate equipment donated to the project by an array of local companies.

To win the contract, the company demonstrated how its multi-disciplined team would apply their collective experience across process, mechanical and electrical engineering to develop the training facility and make best use of the donated equipment.

Brian Lawson, Head of Process Manufacturing at Kirklees College, said: “Collaborating with an expert engineering design company like Projex is critical in ensuring that the PMC features the most accurate engineering processes that are both reflective of the ‘real life’ industry whilst also incorporating further learning opportunities for students in a multi-discipline process engineering environment.”

“We were impressed with Projex’ previous design and project delivery experience in the chemical, pharma and food industries. The team demonstrated a strong and in-depth knowledge of the process, mechanical and electrical engineering elements required to bring the PMC to life and allow learners to experience scenarios in real time but in a safe environment. We’ll be holding some open events in the spring when prospective students and businesses will be able to come and see for themselves.”

In 2012, Projex invested over £80k in designing and building a process manufacturing training unit to support the development of its staff and trainees at its head office in Brighouse, and has also recruited two apprentices since 2013 that have benefitted from the facility.

Jamie Ashton, managing director at Projex Solutions Limited, added: “Having built our own process manufacturing training rig on site, we have a great deal of knowledge of what is required – all be it on a much larger scale – for the PMC project.

“As an SME operating in the ever-changing process manufacturing sector, we pride ourselves on the level of training we provide to ensure our team are always at the forefront of new technologies.

“Our involvement in the PMC project will mean that we can share and develop best practices with Kirklees College to ensure that the training of future engineers is at the cutting edge of where it needs to be as the process manufacturing sector continues to evolve.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →