APRIL 2020 COVER STORY
19
SKILLING
THE FUTURE
As the skills gap widens, training providers are
beginning to take a novel approach to meeting
the need – both in the short- and long-term
BY CHRIS BECK
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
The manufacturing industry’s skills
defi cit is acute and well-publicised:
approximately 186,000 new engineers
and manufacturers are needed every
year until 2024, but the industry is
currently facing a defi cit of 20,000
graduates annually. In addition, a survey of
to hire employees with the right
qualifi cations and experience.
And with Brexit likely putting a
stop to the supply on overseas
workers that form the backbone
of many manufacturing
to disappear any time soon.
the gap is that the industry is all too often
seen as a boring, dead-end career, which, in the
era of automation and Industry 4.0, couldn’t be
further from the truth. This fact is often lost in
translation amongst not just school children, but
their parents and teachers as well.
“The increasingly smart-connected,
automated environments in which we operate
see the human element play an even more
central role, as long as it has the skills to lead the
transition toward Industry 4.0 practices and the
industrialisation of the workshop,” says Damien
Marc, CEO of French aerospace manufacturer
JPB Système (pictured, inset). “The career
opportunities in such advanced, progressive
companies are as plentiful as they are interesting.
But despite this, the message still fails to reach
many of today’s pre-work generation, and – in
some cases – even their parents and educators
in schools. We’re experiencing a hangover from
a previous age, when the working environments
within manufacturing were considered outdated,
inadequate and uninspiring.”
Even within the industry,
argues Marc, the industry’s
recruitment has, for the
most part, not kept up with
the technological changes.
“Industry 4.0 has led to a
needed in today’s production
environments and the abilities
of an existing workforce.”
An alternative way?
It’s not just the shopfl oor
that is “outdated, inadequate
and uninspiring”, but the
classroom as well. Walk into
any school or higher education
establishment and you’ll fi nd
rows of desks, with the teacher
at a whiteboard at the front of
the room.
81%
of manufacturers
struggle to hire people
with the right skills
6,000 UK manufacturing businesses by the
British Chamber of Commerce at the
end of 2018, found that 81% struggle
workforces, the problem is unlikely
A common argument as to why
manufacturers are struggling to plug
new manufacturing paradigm
that, regardless of
the industry, has
seen many
manufacturers
typically require
workers with an
expanded skill
set,” he says.
“Such a rapid
evolution can often
lead to a disparity
between the skills
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk