Latest News
AMPCO has always considered its employees and partners vital to the success of our business. It is also important that employees and partners are kept informed of all aspects of AMPCO's operation. Beginning in 2006, AMPCO developed a company newsletter called the Island Breeze. The Island Breeze was developed to share company information with our employees and partners while also helping vendors and suppliers learn a little bit more about who AMPCO is. All aspects of AMPCO are considered when designing each issue. Some of which are listed below:
- Employee Achievements
- Learning and Development
- Social Projects
- New Hires
- New Births
Please feel free to view below a selection of some of AMPCO's latest news with regard to our operation.
AMPCO awarded satellite centre approval
Following an extensive audit of our learning and development facilities and processes, AMPCO has been awarded satellite centre approval by PAA\VQ-SET the largest UK vocational training Specialist Awarding Body to run both City and Guild programs plus the full suite of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) programs in Engineering Maintenance and Process Operations.
This accreditation has allowed us to include the City and Guilds program 0603 in Process Technology as part of the overall Getting to Know You (GTKY) program currently running on site and to progress our NVQ2 graduates onto the plant based NVQ3 program.
Our continued association with PAA\VQ-SET will ensure that the vocational training offered by AMPCO will be to the highest international standard.
Getting to Know You!
In June 2008, 37 graduates from the Operator Maintenance Training Program (OMTP) were welcomed into the AMPCO family.
The OMTP was operated by MEGPL on behalf of all 3 Punta Europa entities (AMPCO, MEGPL, and EGLNG) and provided the trainees with 12 months basic English training and the students are to be congratulated on obtaining excellent results in their final examinations under the English training program operated by MEGPL under International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Since joining AMPCO the students have been placed on a 6 months “Getting to Know You” (GTKY) program.
Operated under the joint stewardship of AMPCO and TTE the GTKY provides the participants with a solid technical foundation and is a mixture of laboratory based technical training and plant exposure. In addition the trainees will also be undertaking 9 weeks of classroom study leading to the City and Guilds 0603 qualification in basic process plant operations.
The program is designed as the name suggests to allow the AMPCO team to get to know the participants with a view to at the end of the program working with the participants to stream them into the various operations and maintenance disciplines within which their career will be based.
The students are currently progressing well on the program and this is in no little part thanks to the enthusiastic manner in which they have been welcomed by all they have come in contact with, who have all been very generous with their time and knowledge and without whose help this program could not succeed.
There are too many to mention individually but thanks to you all!
Upon completion of this program in January 2009 the students will then undertake discipline specific NVQ2 training for a period of approximately 6 months at the TTE facility in Middlesborough in the UK.
Celebrating overseas success
A joint graduation ceremony was held in August to recognize the collective success of our overseas technicians upon their return from both TTE in the UK and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).
This NVQ2 proficiency was subsequently validated on our actual plant equipment.
They were joined by an Equato-Guinean from our laboratory who studied for her HNC in Chemical Engineering.
There was an equally outstanding performance from the 8 production trainees who all successfully completed the 12 month program at the UTT leading to the Certificate in Process operations.
Acquiring a global perspective
A key challenge in the development of our national staff is the ability to provide them with a global perspective of both their role and our industry in general.
This year AMPCO has been able to provide 4 Equato-Guinean employees with such exposure.
In March, AMPCO's Government Relations Supervisor attended a 10 day seminar on the role of National Oil Companies run in the London by the CWC School for Energy and in addition stayed on for a further two weeks to undertake an intensive “English for Translator’s” course in Oxford.
In addition, a Human Resources Representative attended a Society for Human Resources Management training course, an Information Technology Administrator attended Microsoft training, and a Finance Clerk completed an Accounting Secondment. All of which took place in the United States.
Keeping on TRACC!
In conjunction with TTG, a training and development solutions consultancy, AMPCO have introduced TRACESS a competency based training and record keeping system that allows individuals to both undertake computer based learning and to record and share their progress with their line managers and coaches.
The system is currently being used as a fundamental part of the GTKY program and the early feedback from students, trainers and managers alike has been very positive.
It is also being used to support the training in the plant operating procedures in conjunction with a project also being conducted by TTE to make these user friendly and unambiguous to individuals for whom English is not their first language. In this regard it should provide a great impetus to the development of our national operations staff.
However the system is applicable to the learning process across the totality of the organization and will be rolled out across the organization in a phased manner throughout next year.