Johnson Matthey is new Gold Corporate Partner

SPECIALITY chemicals company Johnson Matthey has become the latest company to achieve IChemE’s Gold Corporate Partner status.

Johnson Matthey, which employs more than 560 chemical engineers, achieved Bronze Corporate Partner status in 2014, but has now met the requirements for Gold status. As a Bronze Corporate Partner, the company already had an IChemE accredited company training scheme (ACTS), but has achieved Gold status through additional activity, especially with young people and promoting professionalism.

The company has set up the Process Engineering Development Programme, which works with young people studying for their A-levels who want to be engineers. It works with university students in partnership with the British Chemical Engineering Contractors Association (BCECA), and has set up volunteering programmes for its engineers to promote engineering at local schools and careers fairs. Johnson Matthey also provides mentors to its existing engineers to help them to achieve Chartered status.

“We are really pleased to be awarded IChemE’s Gold Partner status. It’s a great reflection of all the hard work the team has done to engage young people, and develop our engineers. Chemical engineering is central to Johnson Matthey’s success, and we feel we have a duty to invest in its future,” says Bill Cotton, principal process engineer at Johnson Matthey, who leads the company’s engineering undergraduate training programme.

Johnson Matthey joins nine other fellow Gold Corporate Partners, including BP, Ingen, Sellafield Ltd, Shell and KBR. Earlier this year, United Utilities became a Silver Corporate Partner, while Arup, Penspen and Lorien achieved Bronze status.