More than 100 students and apprentices from across the UK initially entered the Skill Auto 2017 competition for automotive refinishing, run by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI).

Only 18 of them made it through to the Atherstone heats where they went head-to-head in five key areas of expertise – panel painting, bumper repair, scratch removal, masking tape precision and colour matching.

As well as hosting the event, 3M supplied many of the products used in the contest, including abrasives, polishes, masking tape and the Paint Preparation System (PPS).

The six top-performing contestants will be announced in September. They will go on to take part in the WorldSkills® UK refinishing finals, which will be held at the Skills Show, a careers event taking place at the NEC in Birmingham in November.

There, talent scouts will pick one or more of the finalists to represent the UK in the international WorldSkills contest, which will be held in Russia in 2019.

The Atherstone site has hosted the refinishing heats at the ARC every year since the facility opened in 2013 and 3M has been a Global Industry Partner of WorldSkills UK for the past five years.

Zoe Cookson, competition co-ordinator at the IMI, which is the Skills Show competition partner in the automotive categories, commented: “The chance to represent the UK in the global WorldSkills competition is highly sought after.

“3M was very gracious in once again letting us hold this event at its superb ARC facility, so we’re extremely grateful. We’re incredibly lucky to be able to benefit from the company’s first-class facilities, as well as its products and expertise, which are second to none.”

Paul Larking, application engineering manager, said: “3M is proud to support WorldSkills UK, whose work to foster trade skills among the next generation is invaluable.

“We look forward to hosting the refinishing heats every year, as it is always great to see such talented young people who are so passionate about this industry.”

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