South Metropolitan TAFE

Transcription

ACEPT: The future of process operations training. Strategically located at the Australian Marine Complex in Henderson, close to the vibrant port city of Fremantle, Challenger Institute of Technology's Australian Center for Energy and Process Training, known as ACEPT, is a 23 million dollar world-class facility designed to train process operators for the oil and gas, mineral and chemical processing industries. ACEPT has been developed through Western Australian and Commonwealth Government collaboration with leading companies from these industries. An industry management board made up of representatives from companies such as Woodside, Chevron and BP ensures the centre is responsive to the needs of Australian industry. ACEPT is also providing process operators for the global market by training workers for companies operating in East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Middle East. Internationally, the centre has expertise in the delivery of commercial and workforce development projects as well as consultancy services. It also offers excellent opportunities for international students. The Western Australian resources boom has created an unprecedented demand for skilled process operators. Many companies have previously trained their workers in-house. National training packages for process operations and maintenance technical support meets the demand for higher skills and facilitates industry expansion. Importantly, it also promotes greater safety awareness and satisfies tougher regulatory requirements. ACEPT works directly with individual companies to map their training requirements against national industry standards, and to assist with the structure and implementation of their workforce development strategies. This ensures in-house skill levels are consistent with nationally-recognised qualifications. The centrepiece of the ACEPT facility is its fully operational process train that replicates an actual industry environment by seperating liquids under pressure. Challenger Institute is the first registered training organisation in Australia to offer trainees in the oil and gas industry the chance to work on a binary distillation column. With this distillation column replicating those used in the resources industry, ACEPT has reinforced its ability to provide absolute state-of-the-art training on cutting-edge equipment. The instrument air package and pigging system also provide a real-world experience for trainees. Electrical instrumentation apprentices and those who wish to upgrade their skills and knowledge in this vocation have access to sensors, transmitters and final control elements. They carry out fault-finding, loop tuning, calibration, installation and the maintenance of instrumentation components, state-of-the-art operation programs, electrical instrumentation as well as operator maintainer training is provided at trade and post-trade level. ACEPT can also modify the process plant equipment as required to tailor training to suit company-specific needs. With intense site-specific training and live and crisis situations, industry is better able to operate within an increasingly tough regulatory environment, which will help lesson the frequency and severity of critical incidents. KEITH SPENCE: By being responsive to the needs of individual companies, ACEPT is fast becoming an enormous asset to industry. It will make a significant contribution by providing resource companies with fully qualified and skilled process operators for all the new projects currently on the drawing board. ACEPT is also helping shape future labour market trends with indigenous and female-specific training programs. This provides a supportive and structured introduction to process operations and includes work placements within the industry. Also recognition of prior learning is a framework for providing a full or part qualification based on previous experience. ACEPT has been particularly innovative in simplifying this process. Their assessors have reduced the time it takes to determine if a qualification can be awarded, or what further training is needed to obtain one. VOICEOVER: The number of workers expected to leave the industry through retirement in the coming years will be greatly offset by ACEPTs entry-level training and skills development for those new to the industry. GREG GUPPY: ACEPT's training is delivered in a variety of formats.The live process is the only one of its kind in Australia and it gives hands-on experience to in-plan operations including shutdowns and crisis situations. Honeywell, one of our many industry partners, has developed a full-scale simulation of the process train, and Yokogawa has provided simulator equipment which allows trainees to find their feet in a virtual environment. Of course all of this is underpinned by theoretical classroom-based studies. ACEPT's customised service to industry includes training and assessment delivered in the workplace as well as open and online learning. VOICEOVER: Jeremy Walker is one former ACEPT trainee who is now making his mark as a process operator. As a past winner of Challenger Institute's Vocational Student of the Year Award, Jeremy credits his ACEPT training with equipping him with the skills for his rewarding career in the resources industry. JEREMY WALKER: I'm thoroughly enjoying working in WA's booming resource industry, and one of the benefits of training at ACEPT is being able to learn in a fully hand-on environment. It gives you both intellectual and practical challenges along the way. When I first started training I was learning from scratch, as I originally went to uni to study psychology. So changing tack and coming to ACEPT took me right out of my comfort zone into learning about compressors, turbines, furnaces and boilers, as well as fault-finding and troubleshooting along the way. From my experience, training at ACEPT is definitely the way to go for getting well qualified and ready for work in the oil and gas industry. VOICEOVER: As the rapid expansion of the oil and gas, minerals and chemical processing industries creates a demand for higher skills, forward-thinking companies are turning to ACEPT for customised workforce development and state-of-the-art training delivery.