Section three: UK Insights

What are the UKs strengths in this skill? 

• many UK apprentices work in high-skilled jobs, which leads them to be good problem solvers 

• they are accustomed to thinking creatively and adapting to new technologies 

• individuals usually have a good breadth of engineering experience from working in world-class companies 

What are the UKs areas for development? 

Students can sometimes lack experience using CAD/CAM software. Traditionally, CNC machinists would move to programming later in their careers. This is something that could be improved upon, by providing apprentices with more experience to CAD/CAM software and programming earlier, which will help them to be analytical of machining processes and encouraging continuous improvement.  

Working to tight tolerances and understanding how to adapt a machining process to ensure greater accuracy. The WorldSkills UK Competitions have highlighted that some students don’t always have the experience or knowledge on strategies to improve accuracy and can have issues using measuring equipment effectively.   

CAD/CAM experience 

Individuals should have a strong grasp of either Mastercam or Autodesk Fusion 360, both of which are supported at the WorldSkills UK national competition. Educational resources for both software programmes are readily available. 

Time management 

Working to tight time limits for each stage of the process. Use stopwatches to time students’ tasks so they understand how long each task takes.   

Understanding of metrology principles as well as skills with measuring tools, micrometers, DTIs, slip gauges. 

Training/CPD resources for UK educators 

WorldSkills UK CAD/CAM training activity: https://www.worldskillsuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CNC-Milling-Pre-Competition-Activity_V2.zip 

Mastercam University: https://www.mastercam.com/support/product-training/ 

Mastercam WorldSkills page: https://www.mastercam.com/community/competitions/ 

Autodesk Fusion 360 Learning: https://www.autodesk.com/learn/catalog/product/Fusion 

Autodesk Fusion Project: https://www.autodesk.com/learn/ondemand/collection/haas-fusion-cad-cam-cnc  

Head over to the WorldSkills UK CNC milling national competition on our website and download the pre-competition activity. This has training tasks that walk the student through how to approach programming a component. It has written guides, video tutorials and resources such as drawings, step. models and a marking scheme.  

Work on embedding the robot part, or something similar into your teaching, it could be used as a skill build activity or as an assessment.  

Use the online educational resources from either Mastercam or Autodesk to help stretch and challenge students, many of the learning resources can be used as extension tasks.