The National Tooling Initiative Programme (NTIP) will today honour five students who were part of the 2011 intake at an Award Ceremony to be held in Middelburg Country Club, Eeufees Street in Clubville, Middelburg from 10:00am.
The students have completed most of the requirements for the Toolmaker qualifications and should be ready to do their Toolmaker Trade Test in the near future. The development and implementation of the new Trade Test system is in a transitional stage and although the qualification was approved by NAMB, the aforesaid is still in the process of finalising the Toolmaker Trade Test.
With the continued success of the programme there will be pipeline of skilled and well-trained tool makers will available to jump-start the country’s manufacturing sector in years to come.
The CEO of the NTIP, Dirk van Dyk, says “The training of sufficient skilled people for the tooling industry is of critical importance as manufacturing is one of the cornerstones of the South African economy. Manufacturing provides consumers with a variety of locally produced products that they use in their everyday life and creates economic growth, employment and wealth,” he said. .
“In order to produce high quality products at affordable prices, manufacturers rely on advanced technology and highly trained people, provided by the tooling manufacturing industry, to produce the tools, moulds and dies required for the manufacturing process,” added van Dyk.
The Apprenticeship programme was launched in 2011, with the selection and placement of 490 learners on the programme at 12 training institutions in six provinces.
The biggest skills upliftment initiative ever to be implemented in the Tool, Die and Mould (TDM) Making sector in South Africa.
The partnership between the Nkangala FET College and NTIP started in 2010 with the Eastern Cape first Foundation Level students, who were selected to do the Apprenticeship Programme and will receive recognition today for their achievements over the last number of years. The relationship between the two organisations has grown significantly in the past four years, following a great deal of hard work and commitment to the TDM programme.
Although the TDM Powered three year Apprenticeship Programme does not guarantee employment upon completion 5 of the 272 students, who are exiting the programme have secured jobs at companies.
Edwin Ndimande from Nkangala who was part of the 1st intake added, “It’s been a wonderful journey with TDM. I’ve had tough times because of financial difficulty but I’ve learned a lot from the programme. I didn’t know anything about machines but now I can turn anything. Soon I will be a qualified toolmaker. I hope next students will be much easier for them because management know where they can improve,” said Ndimande.
