TRAINING Filling the gap: Refrigeration system design training
Despite progress on many fronts, there is a big gap in standardised industry training for system designers. Liam Davies, technical manager at Bitzer UK, highlights the problem and outlines a way forward.
I Liam Davies
ndustry training for refrigeration engineers has never been more visible. Numerous institutions are off ering a variety of excellent courses, and the recent WorldSkills competition showcased the impressive abilities of Great Britain’s entrants. These achievements are undoubtedly encouraging,
refl ecting a sector that values skill development and technical excellence. However, while the industry is making strides in some areas,
there remains a critical gap: formal training in refrigeration system design. This gap is becoming increasingly apparent as we face growing environmental and technological challenges that demand innovative, effi cient, and sustainable solutions. At a recent workshop at Glasgow Kelvin College, I witnessed
a promising level of enthusiasm among participants, particularly apprentices eager to expand their knowledge and capabilities. This energy and drive are essential for the future
of our industry, but they need to be matched by accessible, comprehensive training opportunities that cover system design and applications engineering. The shortage of formal design courses became evident to me during a recent recruitment process. When we hired a trainee sales engineer from a pool of graduates, I began searching for suitable courses to help this individual develop expertise in system design. Unfortunately, my search yielded only short-form courses lasting between one and fi ve days – valuable for quick insights but insuffi cient for building a deep understanding of the subject.
As a newcomer stepping into a technical applications role, I enrolled in a distance learning course on building services and air conditioning.
Conversations with industry colleagues revealed that many companies are resorting to internal training programmes to address this gap. While these eff orts are commendable, they lack the formal
recognition and standardisation needed to ensure consistency across the sector. The informal nature of this knowledge transfer means that expertise is often passed down through experience alone, which risks leaving critical skills unrecorded and unshared.
This gap in formal training is not a new issue. It echoes
my own experience when I joined the industry in 2011. As a newcomer stepping into a technical applications role, I enrolled in a distance learning course on building services and air conditioning. However, my experience with the course was far from
encouraging. I didn’t receive a welcome email, let alone meaningful communication from my tutor. Unsurprisingly, I abandoned the course after a month. It’s disappointing to see that, in the fourteen years since, progress in this area has been minimal. While the emphasis on service training is crucial – we need skilled technicians to install and maintain
22 February 2025 •
www.acr-news.com Download the ACR News app today
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
