Launch of training school to halt skills shortage

Clive Parkman, managing director of Airedale International Air Conditioning, said neither school-leavers nor engineering graduates are ready to fill vital roles without up to three years of further training and criticised the red tape surrounding Government-backed schemes to educate the workforce.

Mr Parkman was speaking in the run-up to the opening of the firm’s £250,000 purpose-built training school today.

He told the Yorkshire Post: “The move has come from needing increased skills in engineering and manufacturing. There is a dearth of highly skilled people coming through. Graduates have the theory but don’t have the practical skills.

“We feel it is right to take the future into our own hands and train people whether they are (aged) 16 or a graduate.

“Even if he has a first class engineering degree it will take us three years to give him the skills to operate in the highly skilled industry we are in.”

Airedale, which has 400 staff in Britain including 330 in Leeds, turns over £40m a year and sells to Europe, the Middle and Far East and China. Its domestic clients include the London Stock Exchange, The Shard, the capital’s new skyscraper, as well as the Royal Hallamshire Hospital operating theatres.

The American-owned firm’s new training centre is based at its research and manufacturing facility in Rawdon, north Leeds. Between 60 and 70 per cent of Airedale’s staff will use the centre over the next 12 months to develop their skills in areas such as manufacturing, environmental awareness, health and safety and management.

Customers will also be invited to use the facility.

Mr Parkman said: “The school is not just a classroom but a hands-on room with the latest products. It is an opportunity to take the theory and put it into practice....

“It is a fairly high tech environment.”

Airedale currently has 16 apprentices who are getting their basic engineering training under the guidance of Leeds City College but Mr Parkman dismissed Government grants to boost training in the manufacturing industry, saying: “There is so much red tape it is not worth it.”

His comments come as a report by the Institute of Directors and education and skills researchers CFE warned that skills deficiencies continue to shackle businesses and undermine the climb out of recession.

Mr Parkman will tell visitors today: “We wanted to make the statement that here in Leeds is a world class, very successful British company committed to the investment in training and skills, not only for its own employees but also for those of our customers and other third party recipients...

“There is a shortage of skilled labour (in Britain) and we believe that companies must take action to help resolve the (public spending) deficit.”

Airedale is one of Britain’s biggest manufacturers of precision air conditioning units which are mainly designed for cooling IT equipment.

It is also the biggest British manufacturer of large chillers, which provide cooling to industrial and commercial environments. The company has two divisions – Airedale Service & Maintenance and Airedale Controls.

Half of the products sold by Airedale go into the control and cooling of data centres where it is vital to have reliable and energy efficient systems.

The firm has produced them for the likes of Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Red Bull Racing.

The future course

Airedale International Air Conditioning was set up 36 years ago in Baildon near Bradford by Alan Duttine and Peter Midgely.

In 1984 it moved to a former woollen mill on a site in Leeds Road, Rawdon.

The firm was bought for £20m in 2005 by Modine, the US-based thermal management business. Modine is based in Racine, Wisconsin.

Airedale plans to double its sales globally in the next five years by increasing production capacity.

It is also in talks with Telford College to develop NVQ and BTech courses for people who attend and commit to skills programmes.