DavyMarkham - News
Apprentices Visit Dormer Tools AMP Training Centre

Young apprentices from Sheffield heavy engineering firm, DavyMarkham, were recently among the first visitors to Dormer Tools' brand new training centre, at South Yorkshires Advanced Manufacturing Park. A joint venture between Yorkshire Forward and UK Coal, the AMP is a world-class manufacturing technology site and Dormer Tools, market leading producer of solid carbide and high speed steel cutting tools, has opened an exciting new facility there, which houses a purpose-equipped training centre and R&D unit.

Whilst DavyMarkham's corporate history dates back to the very earliest days of South Yorkshire's engineering and manufacturing heritage, nowadays it is equally focused on state-of-the-art production technology, notably high precision machining, boring and drilling. So the company promptly accepted an invitation from Dormer for a group of its apprentices to visit the brand new training centre and view how ultra-modern products can be used to improve productivity and quality.

With one of the biggest engineering workshops in Europe, DavyMarkham is a long standing customer of Dormer Tools, but the link is more than just commercial: DM's Managing Director, Kevin Parkin, started his career as a trainee accountant at Dormer Tools, while Dormer's Robert Smith, who hosted the visit, actually trained as an apprentice at the Davy works in Prince of Wales Road. It's a small world in engineering!

The purpose of the training session was to give the DavyMarkham apprentices an in-depth introduction to selecting and using Dormer cutting tools, with a view to optimising cutting conditions and enhancing productivity. During the day, the lads enjoyed demonstrations in milling, threading and drilling, using the latest generation of high tech tooling, and had practical sessions in calculating cutting data.

"This is a world-class facility that Dormer has created and it was an unmissable opportunity for our trainees to increase their knowledge of cutting tools, in a superb learning environment," says Kevin Parkin. "It's through such collaboration that Sheffield will maintain its position at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology."

Robert Smith, Technical Sales Manager at Dormer Tools, adds, "We were pleased to host the apprentices from DavyMarkham and provide them with an opportunity to see the training and research & development services available at our new site. The training room has proven to be very popular, with a number of organisations using the facility since we opened."

Further enquiries to DavyMarkham at Prince of Wales Road, Sheffield S9 4EX, telephone 0114 244 9971, email kevin.parkin@davymarkham.com