Two of our Engineering students are in the running for a place at the WorldSkills UK National Finals after impressing judges in one of the country's leading Industry 4.0 skills competitions.
First-year student Ben Cannings and second-year student Alfie Ellison, who are both studying the BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Engineering, travelled to the Festo Didactic Applied Automation Centre in Northampton to compete in the WorldSkills UK Industry 4.0 National Qualifier 2026.
The competition challenges students to apply their engineering knowledge in real-world scenarios inspired by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where advanced technologies such as automation, digital manufacturing and intelligent production systems are transforming industry.
Ben and Alfie completed a series of technical tasks, including programming Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), working with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, and configuring Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and CIROS robot simulation software.
Alongside their technical expertise, the pair were assessed on essential workplace skills including analytical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication and time management.
Following the national qualifying round, Ben and Alfie have been selected as a Reserve Team for the National Finals. Competition organisers praised the high standard of their performance, highlighting that the difference between finalist teams and reserve teams was extremely small. Should a finalist team be unable to compete, the North Kent College students remain in contention for a place in the finals.
Congratulations to Ben and Alfie on this fantastic achievement.
You can find out more about the Engineering courses available at North Kent College here.