 Knowledge is power!
July 01st 2005
Geoff Taylor, managing director of BOGE Compressors and a past president of BCAS, discusses new and existing training routes available for individuals working within the compressed air industry and comments on how Boge’s in-house initiatives assist them in tackling training and education The need for training and education at all levels within the compressed air industry is nothing new. In fact, within my tenure as President of the British Compressed Air Society (2000- 2002), education and training were key driving forces for the Society and great head-way was made in developing innovative and valuable training courses.
Industry Training – Something for everybody The latest offering from the Society, developed over the past five years or so, is delivered via a unique, virtual college. Created through an e-learning partnership with the Oxford and Cherwell College, delegates study for the ‘Certificate in Compressed Air Technology’ (CertCAT) via the Internet which allows them to learn at their own pace and leisure. Covering topics and issues fundamental to the compressed air industry this course truly is applicable to anyone working within the industry who wishes to improve their basic knowledge of the principles of compressed air production and use.
CertCAT is now in its second academic year and has seen many delegates successfully pass the course. Over the past 6 months, we at Boge, have had first hand knowledge of the real benefit and integrity of this course. In that time five Boge administrative staff (who perform different internal admin functions within the company) successfully underwent the course.
Feedback from all our candidates has been very positive.
The course content has been described as; "…comprehensive and digestible…" and the online tutor as; "…very efficient and prompt in responding to questions and returning marked exams".
Moreover, many of our candidates reported that the course has heightened their understanding of the fundamental principals of a compressed air system and industry terminology.
The importance of such a rudimentary course as an employer can not be underestimated. As a managing director, manager or owner of a business one is responsible, in law, for the action and advice that staff freely offer to existing and potential customers. Can you be confident that their advice is right and best practice? On the other side of the spectrum there is the well established Diploma in Compressed Air Management (DipCAM), also offered by the Society. This is a distance learning course aimed at individuals with more experience of the compressed air industry and its technologies and provides successful candidates with a recognised industry qualification.
Many of our technical and managerial staff at Boge have successfully gained this qualification in the past few years.
There are many more training courses available to individuals in the industry through the British Compressed Air Society. It is worthwhile checking the education and training section of the website; www.britishcompressedairsociety.co.uk for more information on current courses available.
Taking the lead - Boge training initiatives Closer to home we have invested heavily over the past 18 months in creating a permanent training facility at our head quarters in Brighouse. As the UK Boge business has developed a larger UK team has grown creating a need for a dedicated training provision for Service Technicians in particular. The training facility at Brighouse boasts two dedicated spaces, a lecture room and a practical training centre, covering some 650 sqft in total.
This facility is utilised by distributor engineers enrolled on the in-house ‘BOGE Service Technician’ course. This comprehensive course consists of four modules covering the range of BOGE compressors and accessories. Each training module comprises of a mixture of hands-on and lecture style teaching. As the training leads to a three-year ‘BOGE Service Technician’ certification, each module is rounded off with a written exam to affirm the engineers’ knowledge and understanding.
The training facility was primarily created for the Boge Service Technician course. However, this dedicated training space has provided an ideal training venue for other similar courses and now regularly hosts training events, such as the City and Guilds Certificate in Refrigerant Handling, organised in-house for our distributor’s technicians or by the British Compressed Air Society.
Increasing the standard of education and training continues to be a key issue for the industry and we at Boge continue to play our part with education and training firmly on the agenda." BOGE Compressors Ltd., Rastrick Common, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 3DR Tel: +44 (0) 1484 719921 Fax: +44 (0) 1484 712516 E-mail: uk@boge.com Web: www.boge.co.uk More articles from Boge Compressors Ltd: | 
