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Alphacam and Bitmind Help Future Wood Machining Professionals at Euroskills

The Portuguese Alphacam reseller, Bitmind, is sponsoring the international vocational training contest, Euroskills 2010, and providing technical support for contestants.

Bitmind managing director Carlos Rodrigues says as a sponsor and teaching partner for Euroskills 2010, Bitmind is providing distance learning for teams across Europe, and will also attend the event between December 9th and 12th to provide further support and assistance.

The contestants come from colleges across Portugal, Spain, Holland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia, and are also working with local Alphacam resellers in their own areas:
• Nexnet  - Czech Republic and Slovakia
• Proteus – Netherlands
• Licom Italy – Slovenia
• Pathtrace A/S – Spain.

Euroskills 2010 is being held at Lisbon, and brings together schools, colleges, professionals, experts, trainers and enterprises from throughout Europe, with the objective of testing and comparing skills and training methods.

CNC programming and operating is being introduced for the first time this year, with Bitmind sponsoring and overseeing the Woodcraft Technology cluster. Contestants in the CNC machining competition will be asked to produce one cabinet piece and complete two mandatory tests that account for 25 per cent of the final mark in the Wood Machining Technician competition.

Bitmind is providing online distance learning to the six participating teams. “The use of online tools is considered to be an innovation in this respect, and a website has been built to suit the needs of the teams and trainers,” says Carlos Rodrigues. “Online sessions are being provided on a weekly basis, and Alphacam has been made available from each team’s local resellers wherever possible.” Bitmind will also award the three winning teams with a free Alphacam license.

In conjunction with MARJOS, a Portuguese industry leader, Bitmind has also been able to secure a Balestrini 300/1000 5-axis machine with NUM controller, for the contestants to use at Euroskills.  

“Being involved with Euroskills is very important to us as we believe in supporting teaching and developing wood machining professionals. Only with good software and qualified professionals can the industry be driven forward. Euroskills gives us the opportunity to present Alphacam as benchmark software in the wood machining industry, to a wide range of professionals, industry leaders, technicians and customers of the future.”

Carlos Rodrigues (pictured right) founded Bitmind in 2003 with Filipe Rego (pictured left), initially catering for the flourishing furniture industry in the north of Portugal. The company has since evolved to be a leading promoter in the use of CNC technologies and Alphacam in wood, stone and metal machining. 

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