March Update

The major careers event at Parc Y Strade in Llanelli this month was a valuable opportunity to promote the project to a wide audience. A presentation was made at an Engineering Employers breakfast meeting to begin the event. The presentation gave the Jaguar Land Rover perspective of the project and was led by Rita Davey who outlined the crucial need for rapidly developing capacity and quality on the part of supply chain companies to meet the growth needs of major vehicle manufacturers.
The event included representatives from the Engineering Employers Federation, SEMTA and Industry Wales. This provided an opportunity to progress the objective of aligning the AS&L project outcomes with the services provided by those organisations. Arrangements were discussed for meetings to take this agenda forward.
A project steering group meeting this month planned the final phase up to June 2015, concentrating on the finalisation and launch of the online portal, the piloting and evaluation with supply chain companies, and the project evaluation and reporting requirements of Jisc.

January Update

Over the festive period all of the completed Coleg Sir Gar learning modules were re-branded as Auto Share and Learn modules and have been uploaded to the project portal. The user guide for accessing, evaluating and providing feedback on the modules has also been updated and is available in the portal support area.
It is planned that the piloting with the automotive supply chain companies will take place during February and the outcomes of the evaluation will be summarised here and reported in more detail on the regional project Wiki.
The current phase of project development will also include the population of the AS&L portal with regional business support resources. These will be presented through the portal support area and will be updated regularly to maintain the currency of information and to alert companies to new initiatives and opportunities for business support and funding.

Happy New Year!

With the festive season drawing to a close, planning is now under way for the final phase of the Auto Share and Learn project. A schedule is being finalised for the piloting of the learning resources developed in the Wales region, their evaluation and refinement. The outcomes will be summarised here as the exercise progresses and the formal reporting will be presented on the Deliverables page of the regional project Wiki.

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.