News
Local Polymer & Construction Sectors Working to Improve the Skills Needed to Capitalise on Innovatio
Northern Ireland Polymers Association (NIPA) and CITB NI are working together for the first time to help their sector companies identify and develop the necessary skills and management practices to improve their innovation and business performance.
The two sectors with their complementary and transferable skill sets intend to learn from each other’s strengths, something which has not been attempted before. The aim of the project is to bring together a total of 24 employers from both sectors to form three separate working groups. These groups will define innovation issues and work together to develop mechanisms and methodologies for effectively up-skilling staff in key areas of innovation and commercial exploitation.
The Programme has been developed and part funded by The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES): UK Futures Programme. Five collaborative projects across the UK will test new ways to develop skills for innovation in manufacturing. Each will run a trial programme expected to yield valuable learning that can be shared to improve innovation and productivity for the participating companies and their sectors.
Barry Neilson, Chief Executive, CITB NI said, “The polymers Sector in Northern Ireland is perceived as strong in productivity, export and innovation and these skills tend to be less well developed in construction and construction companies are seen as having strong project and supply chain management skills. This project will provide an excellent opportunity for construction sector employers to gain insight into how two compatible yet distinct sectors can collaborate and share best practice to help improve the innovation process, service delivery, competitiveness and achieve sustainable growth. We are looking forward to developing the skills of employers and identifying solutions that are appropriate to both sectors.”
Hugh Ross, Chair, NIPA said: “We look forward to working with UKCES, CITB NI and the participating companies to address our shared challenges in improving the performance and derived operational and commercial benefits we get from our individual and collective innovation efforts”
UKCES Commissioner and leader of the competition Paul McKelvie OBE said:
“Innovation is vital for our national prosperity. It has a critical role in productivity and job creation, and nowhere is this more true than the manufacturing sector. It’s vital that we learn how manufacturing firms can optimise their workplaces and processes to take best advantage of their high-skilled, highly productive workers.
We will watch and learn carefully over the coming months, and we look forward to sharing the learning from these five projects to the manufacturing sector as a whole.”
The programme is now underway with the first working group involving representatives from small, medium and large construction and polymers companies from across Northern Ireland.
If you want your company to benefit from participating on the project or would like further information contact Amanda Stevenson (Amanda.stevenson@citbni.org.uk) CITB NI or Michael Smith (michael@polymersni.com) NIPA