CAMBRIDGE—The Canadian Tooling and Machining Association (CTMA) received $900,000 earlier this week from the government of ontario to reinstate its advanced software training program, designed to mitigate training costs for the machine, tool, die and mould sectors in Ontario.
But a day later, it announced it had suspended applications because of an overwhelming number of proposals. And this isn’t the first time this has happened, according to CTMA executive director, Les Payne.
Now that this year’s applicant process has been suspended a day into the process because the association can’t fund the volume of requests, concern may be growing over Canadian competitiveness in the global machining and tooling industry. And Payne recognizes that.
“We incorporated software training into the program because we felt it was necessary to keep Canadian companies competitive,” he says. “If we have Canadian companies that understand how to use the latest and greatest technologies, we can make those companies as competitive as they can be.”
Payne says the CTMA received $600,000 from the government for its first training program in 2009, but the association received $1.6 million worth of proposals from its member companies. The same thing has happened this year.
“There is more demand for this program than we can possibly cater to,” he says.
In 2009, the CTMA provided 2,700 advanced software training sessions to more than 570 employees at 72 ontario companies.
The association says the initial $600,000 investment directly leveraged $1.6 million from the companies involved in its initial training program. One unnamed company says the training sessions helped to improve productivity after they purchased a 5-axis machining centre because its employees came out of the program with enough knowledge to use it.
The CTMA went back to the government in 2009, using the significant demand for its training programs and was, this year, granted more money.
“We believe there’s a tremendous need for these programs and hats off to Minister Pupatello for recognizing that and granting us more money this time around,” says Payne.
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