Some GBP 3 million has already been allocated to a College's Technology Suite, for which the CNC lathe installations have been a focal point of a GBP 700,000 investment in new equipment.

The reason East Tyrone College of Further and Higher Education elected to spend GBP 140,000 with Ireland's Colchester Lathe sole dealership, Gillen Machine Tools, was it needed machines installed that would be recognised and accepted by local industry as being the standard of equipment that would provide trainees and engineering students with the experience and knowledge that would be useful in their future careers. As Alastair Booth, lecturer in engineering pointed out: 'With the equipment we have credibility as a top training establishment and are able to perform a positive service to industry in the area and also increase our revenue generation.' East Tyrone College of Further and High Education is based in Dungannon to service Northern Ireland and the border area and has been funded to the tune of almost GBP 20 million for new buildings and facilities. Some GBP 3 million has already been allocated to the Technology Suite for which the Colchester Lathe installations have been a focal point of the GBP 700,000 investment in new equipment.

As a result of 10 years in concept, six years planning and the last three years spent on detail, the Technology Suite will encompass a very modern machine shop, welding and fabrication facility, rapid prototyping, advanced CADCAM and a structural testing and diagnostics suite.

There are also courses available on subject areas such as programmable logic control, customised for local industry and during 2006, a new home automation course is being planned.

The college is the first centre in Ireland to gain certification as an EIB/KNX centre for advanced training in the configuration of bus devices in lighting, blinds control, safety and security and energy cost reduction, The first course is scheduled for February in a new course delivery suite.

Enrolling almost 15,000 students a year, it employs 75 full-time staff and 100 part-time people.

There are also 25 'out centres' and mobile IT vehicles kitted out with 16 laptops that provide Information Technology classes in the community.

The Colchester Lathe contract was clinched following a visit to an Open House set up by Gillen Machine Tools in its showroom at Ballymena when Alastair Booth and his team took the opportunity to see the Colchester machines in action.

In particular they wanted to bridge the manual to CNC technology gap and while they decided that five Colchester Student 2500 conventional lathes fitted with Heidenhain digital readouts gave the perfect training platform/machine combination, providing 'real' turning experience at a very competitive price, it was the Colchester Combi K2 lathe that came across as the ideal solution for what they were seeking in higher technology machining.

Says Alastair Booth: 'It is the versatility of the machine and the Fanuc 21 Oi TA multi-functional control with the user friendliness of Microsoft Windows that provides the ideal bridge we were seeking.

The machine has six ways in which you can input instructions which covers a wide range of programming avenues.' With the Combi, the operator can manually turn a part using the electronic handwheels, and use the control simply as a digital readout for positioning.

He also has the facility to create his own canned cycles as well as using the Colchester developed cycles in the memory or cut and paste to make up toolpaths.

Setting is helped by access to the extensive tool library which can hold up to 960 tools.

There is also the simple teach/repeat memory and on-screen CADCAM, with icon-based commands and, for the more advanced user, conventional CNC programming can be performed using G-Codes.

Programs can also be downloaded by DNC or input from a 'flash card' taken from a PC.

To which Booth adds: 'We also have a full CNC machine in the Combi K2 for repeat cycles that will have the respect of any engineering manager for the way it will perform in production.' Indeed, the College already has the support of 10 local companies taking up a 10 week introductory course to provide a sound understanding of CNC machining techniques and a course for manual machinists to upgrade to CNC.

According to Maria Hackett, head of school and job skills co-ordinator: 'The Dungannon area is the most active in Northern Ireland for engineering and in particular fabrication.

However, there is an increasing number of businesses that want to break into, or upgrade from manual to CNC machining and that is a prime area for us to satisfy with the new equipment.

With the addition of part time staff we will then introduce customised courses for local industry.' Modern apprenticeship courses are also being run on a day-release basis as well as full time BTEC National Diploma in Engineering.

And indeed, keen to catch the prospective student and with a view to nurturing an interest in engineering, the College has structured a series of two-day courses for local school children in conjunction with local businesses to give them an introduction to what engineering is all about.

As part of the two-day course, the children will be involved in projects such as making a CD holder and even be taken to a local engineering company to see real 'live' manufacturing.

Meanwhile, through the Women in Engineering WISE programme, European funding was gained by the College to train 20 women to NVQ Level 2 followed by placement with local employers.

With fresh ideas and schemes like these, Booth is adamant that selecting the right equipment was so crucial.

But as he maintains: 'We will need help with training and retraining as well as technical assistance, and part of our decision to buy the Colchester machines from Gillen Machine Tools is that we will be able to draw heavily on support in times of need.'