A CASH injection worth £220,000 from the Department of Employment and Learning will underpin the development of over 100 high quality manufacturing positions in Lame. Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry recently visited Caterpillar (NI) to see the training being provided for the company’s Material Handling Project, through DEL’s Assured Skills Programme.
The project will focus on the skills development of employees required to run the manufacturing and assembly of the material handling machines.
The minister said: “The advanced manufacturing and engineering sector is critical to the growth of the Northern Ireland economy and improv-ing the match between the skills of the workforce and the needs of the employer is central to this aim.
“A better skills base is funda-mental to ensuring the sector remains competitive and a collaborative approach is essen-tial to ensuring industry has a skilled workforce that meets its requirements. As chair of the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Services Working Group, I am delighted to sup-port Caterpillar in its Northern Ireland operations, particu-larly with skills development programmes.
“This project offers the local workforce the opportunity to develop key transferable skills and is an excellent example of a successful collaboration be-tween government, education and industry, and demonstrates my department’s ability to respond promptly to the needs
of employers,” he added. The minister was joined by members of the Advanced Man-ufacturing and Engineering Working Group.
Training at the Larne facility is delivered by Belfast Metro-politan College and by North-ern Regional College at the Monkstown facility.
Robert Kennedy, Caterpillar Northern Ireland’s operations director, said: “The material handling project is a strategi-cally important project for us, diversifying our traditional product portfolio and developing new manufacturing skills and capabilities within our workforce.
“We are very grateful to DEL’s Assured Skills Pro-gramme for the support provid-ed to help us continue to invest in the kind of key skills that are central to the future growth of Caterpillar Northern Ireland and important for the wider industry.”
Caterpillar has four sites in Northern Ireland — Larne, Monkstown, Springvale, and Belfast — employing around 2,100 people.