By WANJIRU MACHARIA
In Summary
- The technology helps manufacturers to capture 3D pictures of designs, which are either improved or reproduced en masse.
- Twenty-four instructors from the 10 technical colleges where the pilot projects will be conducted were trained in operating the equipment shipped in from China.
- Once the technology is transferred to industries, Kenyans will not need to spend millions of shillings importing spare parts, toys and even utensils.
Jared Ndubi, a 23-year-old student at the Rift Valley
Institute of Science and Technology (RVIST), is upbeat that he will be
in the first group to step up Kenya’s industrialisation goal.
He is one of the beneficiaries of a Sh2 billion joint
programme between China and Kenya to train personnel in production
technology, which will upgrade manufacturing.
The prototyping technology targets electrical,
electronic, and mechanical engineering students to equip them with
skills to reproduce motor vehicle spare parts, bottles, toys, laboratory
equipment and also design original art.
Rapid prototyping catalysed China’s growth to
become a global economic powerhouse. The technology helps manufacturers
to capture 3D pictures of designs, which are either improved or
reproduced en masse.
“By the time I leave college, my colleagues in this
programme in 10 other colleges and myself will be properly armed to
take Kenya to the next level of industrialisation. I am thankful to the
two governments for initiating the project,” says Mr Ndubi.
Under the deal, Kenya will get equipment and
trainers from China in a project to upgrade technical institutes through
a Chinese firm, Avic International. Prototyping enables mass production
or reproduction of equipment in plastic, glass or metal form.
After the technology is fully transferred, Mr Ndubi
and fellow technicians would be able to reproduce spare parts ranging
from nuts to car bonnets.
Twenty-four instructors from the 10 technical
colleges where the pilot projects will be conducted were trained in
operating the equipment shipped in from China. Among those who went
through the four-month refresher course at different cities in China is
David Maru, lecturer at RVIST who is “in love” with his new rapid
prototyping laboratories where he takes his students through the steps.
The laboratories are in sections, including a
reverse room where the devices for reproduction are captured in 3D.
This is the information used to build from scratch.
Mr Maru says the project is timely since Kenya
needs technically-skilled workforce equipped to start own small
businesses. “The country needs youth equipped with practical skills and
that is what we are doing here.”
Once the technology is transferred to industries,
Kenyans will not need to spend millions of shillings importing spare
parts, toys and even utensils. They will be made locally.
China donated a Sh16 million power back-up
generator that will ensure training and production are not interrupted
in case of power outages. So far, 153 containers with the machines have
been imported and are being installed by a team from Avic of China.
Apart from RVIST, other technical institutes benefiting are Bushangala, Murang’a, and Technical University of Kenya.
The second phase of the project will see 40 other
training centres roped into the project, in what will be a major boost
to Kenya’s technical training.
Industrialists and employers have faulted local
polytechnics and universities, accusing them of producing half-baked
graduates who have to be trained on the job to cope with the demands on
the factory floors.
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