THE INTERVIEW FEBRUARY 2020
SKILLING THE
FUTURE
Semta has undergone a radical
change to become Enginuity.
The company’s chief executive,
Ann Watson, speaks to
Manufacturing Management
about the new name, and
the evolving skills needs of
BY CHRIS BECK
the sector
My niece is two-and-a-half years old.
She can just about count to 20 (although
the numbers 14-17 occasionally prove
tricky) and she knows what noise all the
animals on a farmyard make (apart from
a duck). On top of this, she can also unlock an
iPad, open YouTube and find countless episodes of
Peppa Pig. Her technical proficiency is a striking – if
slightly silly – example of how the skills of the next
generation of workers will need to be much more
tech-focused than before.
The manufacturing and engineering sectors
are in a similar position. Industry 4.0 has brought
the need for technological competency into
focus, and those who don’t adapt are starting to
find themselves being left behind. Indeed, recent
research from The Knowledge Academy found that
over two-thirds of advertised manufacturing jobs
now require specific digital skills.
The industry is changing, then, in new
and exciting ways – and not just for
manufacturers themselves. Semta, the
not-for-profit organisation that promotes
the skills needs of the UK’s manufacturing
and engineering companies, has also
undergone a major change. From
February, the company is known as
Enginuity – a change designed to better
reflect the current state of the industry.
The company’s chief executive, Ann
Watson, explains how the decision
to rebrand started two years ago,
following a major review conducted
by Semta chair, Dame Judith Hackett:
“Through that strategic review we
started to look much more in terms
of the impact of Industry 4.0 on the
sector. Something we noticed was
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