FLUID systems specialist Swagelok Teesside has invested more than £120,000 in a move to Middlesbrough College’s industry-leading STEM Centre.
The authorised sales and service centre for Swagelok products, assemblies and services in the North East of England, is working with Middlesbrough College and has taken up residence in the £20m STEM Centre.
Swagelok Teesside works with oil and gas, power, chemical and petrochemical companies across the region to support their fluid systems with a focus on environmental and plant reliability functions.
Swagelok Teesside is already one of more than 35 industrial members of the STEM Advisory Board which guides the STEM Centre in its mission to meet the skills needs of local employers.
This move is designed to gear Swagelok Teesside for growth in its training and onsite inspection services, and will see six employees based within the building.
Sam McCulloch, training services manager at Swagelok Teesside, said: “This is an exciting move for Swagelok Teesside which will put us in a great position to address the skills gap in the region.
“The STEM Centre’s Process Hall is the ideal environment for our specialist trainers to work with clients because it’s like being on site. It allows us to demonstrate system integrity issues and better understand the consequences.
“The increased capacity at Swagelok Teesside will mean the company will train in excess of 1,200 delegates each year – helping to prevent major incidents in the process and oil and gas sectors, while helping clients to cut costs and maintain compliance.”
As well as using the Centre for training clients, the Swagelok Teesside team will also demonstrate its innovative onsite inspection services to potential customers in the Process Hall.
Using specialist equipment, the team measures system efficiency and leakage before providing companies with valuable data.
Andy Buckworth, executive director of STEM at Middlesbrough College, said: “The team at Middlesbrough College is already integrated with regional and national industry, and having Swagelok Teesside on board in the STEM Centre is another extension of this.
“We’re really looking forward to having a world-renowned brand in our facilities – one which will bring even more live industrial knowledge to the heart of our offering through Middlesbrough College and Northern Skills Group.”
Dennis Melrose, group technical support manager at Swagelok Teesside, added: “This move is a forward-thinking partnership between education and industry – and will provide us with fantastic facilities from which to expand our training and inspection services.
“In turn Swagelok Teesside will support Middlesbrough College and Northern Skills Group’s offering by bringing industry into the learning environment on a full-time basis.”