December Update

This month has seen a rapid acceleration of development with the project portal and the resources that it contains. There are now around 60 training elements available and work is continuing with the other resources on the site. Portal navigation, materials presentation and general usability are all being improved.
The same applies to the training resources which are undergoing an internal evaluation and refinement of content at Coleg Sir Gar in preparation for the pilot exercise with the supply chain companies in the New Year.
Also in preparation for that has been the production of a Quick Start Guide for participants in the pilot exercise. The guide takes the user through the process of accessing and logging on to the portal; navigating to and reviewing the training materials; and posting feedback on the evaluation forums.
The Quick Link Guide can be viewed here.

November Update

The primary activity so far this month has been the production of a number of online modules for the delivery of BIT skills development in the regional automotive supply chain companies. The original drafts of these modules are being shared with the other partners in the AS&L project for comments and suggested improvements. These modules can be viewed in the Deliverables area of the Wales regional project Wiki.
The other main activity this month has been the planning for the next project Technical and Board Meetings to be held at the Coleg Sir Gar Llanelli campus early in December.
In preparation for discussion at that meeting, a revision of the regional project plan is being prepared to reflect the time slippage in the first phase of the project that impacted on the original schedule of development activities. The management and administrative issues were resolved during the summer and the regional project team is now working actively on resource development.
However, the delay in starting the resource development process will mean that the level of testing, evaluation and refinement will be restricted in the final project period and the project plan, workpackages and Gantt chart are being updated to reflect that. There will be an emphasis on quality and usability of the resources that it is hoped will encourage engagement by the companies beyond the project conclusion in March 2015 and facilitate their continued refinement.

October Update

An overall review of project developments in Wales was completed this month and circulated to the project partners. It responded specifically to the actions in the region agreed at the September technical workshop and board meeting in Birmingham. Key actions included investigating the availability and suitability of online resources that addressed the supply chain  priority list of training identified through the JLR consultations. This was completed and details added to the project Google doc that was set up to capture such resources. This may be viewed at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rGD9Zt15MqCaoYGhqVZvl-GCN_H8n5usqH3Hvxj9na4/edit#

The Review document can be viewed at:
http://autoshareandlearn.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/87919393/Auto%20Share%20and%20Learn%20Project%20Project%20Update%20-%20CSG%20October%202014.docx

September Update

The consultations with the supply chain companies in Wales began this month with two companies visited. In each case the initial discussion centred on the potential benefits of the project for the companies and the added value that it would bring beyond the existing support infrastructure in the region already provided by Coleg Sir Gar (particularly through the apprenticeship system and the business improvement techniques NVQ provision), through Industry Wales and the Welsh Automotive Forum.
It was explained that the intention of the Auto Share and Learn portal was to supplement and enhance that provision in a more accessible and flexible way and to add functionality that would allow supply and OEM companies to work together to optimise competitiveness and capacity to expand as the economy recovered.
They expressed an interest in the concept as detailed in the briefing papers that had already been circulated, and requested access to the portal so that they could assess it for themselves.

August Update

A project update meeting with BMetC was held this month with another planned next week. A number of project team members are understandably taking leave this month, so there has been a slow down in supply chain company liaison, which will be resumed in September. In the meantime research has been carried out into the OEM support of supply chain company development and this has been documented and posted on the project Wiki at: http://autoshareandlearn.pbworks.com/w/page/78761645/Project%20Documents.

July Update

All of the arrangements have been put in place for the supply chain company consultations to take place in Wales and are ready to go once the partnership agreement and budget are in place. A new company briefing paper has been produced which includes information about the project web portal that has now been set up by BMetC. It also has details of the supply chain companies participating in the West Midlands and also the priority list of training topics identified by Jaguar Land Rover. All of these topics are covered in the NVQ Business Improvement Techniques programme delivered by Coleg Sir Gar and hence resources can be contributed to the project portal as a result.

Mid-May Update

The project began formally on the 1st April and this post is an update on the progress of planning and implementation in the South Wales region.
Planning has been largely through meetings with the CSG Principal/CEO, the Director of Business Development and the Head of Engineering.
Seven automotive supply chain companies have been identified for inclusion in the project, these being:

• Schaeffler
• Gestamp
• Calsonic
• Toyoda
• EBS
• FSG
• PSM International

All of these companies are well established in the supply chain and have strong training and support links with the college. Discussions will be held with all of them as part of the start-up phase in WP1 and this is expected to be complete within one month. A key outcome of these discussions will be a summary of supply chain company support needs and proposals for a system that meets those needs.
A meeting has also been held with the Jisc RSC management and staff to discuss how they will contribute to the project. It is planned that they will be part of the regional development in South Wales and will provide support in project implementation. An important feature of this will be in dissemination across the community of practice and integrating the project outcomes as a Jisc resource, primarily through the Jisc Design Studio.

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