27/05/2025
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A new ‘Wood Product Manufacturing’ Qualification has been launched for the joinery industry which brings in a fresh focus of new and innovative skills for joinery and machine operatives.
The new qualification has been shaped with the help of BWF members to ensure it provides the skills, flexibility and robustness that industry needs to train its new and current staff.
The qualification was built to help fill the gap in qualifications for larger joinery manufacturers, who have traditionally not had a qualification that meets their needs, but has been written in a way which makes this a key qualification for all joinery firms to consider, whatever their size.
The unit choices allow larger companies with operatives with specific tasks to specialise only the skills they do as part of their job, for example – assembly. spray finishing or CNC machining – but allow smaller firms to chose a range of units for operatives that need a wider skill base. There will also be the opportunity for single units to be taken to up-skill as a joinery business invests in new machinery and embraces new methods of production.
The structure of the qualification is available for download.
Dave Campbell, BWF Training Manager said:
“The industry’s new qualification will provide a flexibility in the way joinery firms train their existing workforce and apprentices. The qualification is structured in a way which allows companies to choose the right modules for their business, and allows them to choose a qualification that is adaptable as their own processes and machines innovate”.
In England & Wales, it can be delivered from 1st August 2014 as an NVQ only qualification at Level 2, and will be approved ready for delivery as part of an apprenticeship framework for the new academic year in September. Scotland will also have both SVQ and apprenticeship options available shortly, as approval is expected from the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
Employers will be able to access government apprenticeship funding, CITB apprenticeship grants (if in-scope of CITB), and WITForum/CITB grants for NVQ only through the BWF OSAT Scheme.
There will be a limited number of training providers available to deliver the qualification from the start, but the BWF’s main training provider, Didac Ltd, will be able to offer the qualification nationally on behalf of BWF.
Dave continued:
“We are pleased that BWF can from the outset offer the qualification across the country through our training provider Didac, but we will also be working with our network of colleges to get more and more local providers offering this new and fantastic qualification.
”I’d like to thank our members and other organisations that have worked incredibly hard to both lobby for this qualification’s development, and for their input in writing the qualification”.
The qualification has been produced with input from members Cotswold Manufacturing and West Port Timber Windows and Doors Technology; associate members Lignum Associations and Didac Ltd; along with BWF staff, Sector Skills Body ProSkills, and awarding body PIABC (part of the Wood Technology Society/IOM3).
The Wood Product Manufacturing qualification joins a suite of qualifications that have been produced for the wood and timber supply chain to revolutionise training, covering merchanting, wood machining, coatings/preservatives, tooling technology and engineered wood.
To find out more information on how this qualification could help up skill your workforce and help you train the next generation of the joinery industry, please contact BWF Training Manager, Dave Campbell.
