At the recent Air-Tech exhibition, BEKO TECHNOLOGIES challenged visitors to the show to test their knowledge of compressed air quality to win an IPAD. The challenge was to identify compressed air quality at different points of a circuit. The overall winner, selected at random from the correct answers was Andy Jones of Mattei Compressors. Martin Potter, general manager for BEKO TECHNOLOGIES UK awarded Andy with his prize.
As you can imagine the draw of winning an IPAD attracted many people to the stand, all wanting the chance to win. The surprise was that with several hundred attempts to identify the correct answers there were actually only around 15 correct responses. This does go some way to highlight the skills gap we have with compressed air knowledge. Outside of electricity, compressed air is the second highest energy consumer. A lack of knowledge here is costing the industry additional energy costs and is an area that needs to be looked at closely.
BCAS is doing its part to help bridge this gap, with a variety of compressed air related training courses including the Diploma in Compressed Air Management, DipCAM qualification. DipCAM is a distance learning qualification developed and awarded by the British Compressed Air Society which aims to provide a comprehensive technical grounding in the principles of the operation of compressed air systems. It has been created to meet the needs of people who have responsibility for a compressed air installation and wish to attain a level of technical knowledge.
Recognising the need for end users to be more knowledgeable on compressed air and control their energy costs, BCAS is currently offering end users a free 12 month associate membership, if they have their compressed air supplied or serviced by a current BCAS member, giving access to discounted training and the vast technical knowledge BCAS has to offer on the compressed air world.
