Yamazaki Mazak supports engineering education

Installed in the college's new Princess Way Campus, the machine tools will be used by sixth-form students engineering students on full-time courses, apprenticeship day release, or those studying for a Foundation degree will benefit. Via Burnley Borough Council, funding was made available not only for the building but also to ensure that students had the best available technology and equipment at their disposal. "The training that we offer at Burnley College has to reflect the needs of our local industry," said John Clarke, Burnley College's assistant principal. "With the area's advanced manufacturing capacity, particularly in the aerospace sector, we have to deliver apprentices that are capable of working to the highest standards when they return full time to their employers' premises." All machines are equipped with Mazak's Mazatrol Matrix control system, which allows students to program in ISO code and Mazak's conversational system. The Mazatrol programming system allows students to quickly turn a two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional component. Installed in October 2009, the Mazak machines are already said popular with both students and lecturers alike. The machines complement the College's Design and Innovation Academy, where students develop design skills using CADCAM and rapid prototyping technology. The engineering students can then transform those initial designs into the end product in a range of materials. The Burnley College campus on Princess Way, which opened in September 2009, includes a Centre of the University of Central Lancashire. Engineering courses offered by the College are designed to prepare students for those of the University. This ensures a seamless transition from college to university for those students wishing to progress through the higher education system. "While sixth form students and apprentices will initially be the ones to benefit from this investment in Mazak machine tools, we will also be working with local employers to encourage them to up-skill their existing workforce by making use of the facilities here at the College," Mr Clarke explained. "From the very beginning, the College has set out to deliver the highest quality and state-of-the-art equipment for our students and our stated ambition is to become a world-class centre of excellence for advanced manufacturing and engineering; we believe that this vital investment is a significant step towards this."