City of Bristol College’s Engineering and Aeronautical students will benefit from thousands of pounds worth of tools gifted to the Advanced Engineering Centre by Stanley, Black and Decker (SBD) in a move which the Fortune 500 company hopes will benefit the ‘engineers of tomorrow’.
City of Bristol College welcomed Stanley, Black and Decker’s Technical Sales Manager for the South West, Leon Carter and Business Unit Controller, James Backhurst, to its Parkway centre to present the five tool kits.
The Facom branded kits are worth in excess of £20,000 and will support the students in their studies to use industry-grade tools on a day-to-day basis in a move which James said he hoped ‘would support them in their transition from college to work’.
Among the kits were two specific tool boxes specifically for aeronautical which mirror the kits sold to RyanAir and British Airways, so students who look to those two airlines for employment after completing their studies with City of Bristol College will have a leg-up on the competition going into interview.
City of Bristol College’s EASA/UKCAA Training Manager, Paul Miles, said: “The two toolkits which we have are being used by both staff and students to carry out and complete a multitude of engineering tasks set out by both EASA/CAA and City and Guilds.
“They are used within the hangar environment on both our Queen Air and Lear Jet aircraft and are also used in our engine maintenance facility, both at our new Advanced Engineering Centre in the north of the city.
“All the people who have used them so far have praised the kits as a ‘great asset’ and how the tools within the kits are of a great quality. We have found the new toolkits meet the criteria of all the tasks that we do from the simplest of fitting and removing of locking devices and nuts and bolts to that of removing of components from the two aircraft systems and the engines components.
“When they are used by the students, several of them have said ‘how good they are and it’s nice to have all the tools in one convenient place’.”
The toolkits contain more than 1,000 tools across the five bits of kit and are already being used in the classroom by college students studying in a range of Engineering and Aeronautical courses.
The new-found partnership is set to continue with college students being involved in the developments of future tools with product feedback and working with the SBD team at events – once these are able to return.
Stanley, Black and Decker’s Head of Marketing, Chris Wayne said: “It gives us great pleasure to support City of Bristol College with our Facom tool kits. Supporting the education of engineers of the future, by giving them access to aerospace specific kits that mirror image those of the airlines, will support their development as they progress into jobs within the Aerospace sector.”
We look forward to building on our partnership with the City of Bristol College as we head into 2021.
Find the right Engineering or Aircraft Maintenance course for you and get to work with top-of-the-range tools by checking out our courses on our website.
