FEBRUARY 2020 THE INTERVIEW
that traditionally, each industry sector, whether
it be aerospace, automotive or rail, had very
distinct skills needs. Those sectors were very,
very different in terms of what they needed from
skills. With the wider adoption of technology and
the growing importance of digital skills, we have
started to see that all of the sectors’ needs were
all starting to align. That change indicated to
us that we had to do something different too.
There was a need for Semta to modernise itself,
and to see what we could do with the new
technology; how we could apply the thinking and
the technologies of Industry 4.0 to the world of
skills, and how we could use that to better serve
employers and their own skills needs.”
Applying Industry 4.0 has seen Enginuity
employ a Chief Innovation Officer, head of digital
design and two data scientists as part of an
internal Innovation Lab. This team is responsible
for, in Watson’s words, “exploring how we can
use technology in a different way to enhance
skills; bringing in technological and digital skills
and blending them with existing engineering
knowledge.”
This isn’t just a soundbite either. Watson
stresses that the Innovation Lab team reflects
the changing skills needs that she has seen in the
industry in recent years. “There’s a great demand
for data scientists and software engineers,” she
says. “We’re now even starting to see gamers being
recruited by engineering organisations because
what they’re really interested in is their ability to
code and their ability to very quickly use things
like virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The
engineering and manufacturing sector is starting to
reach into the tech sector for recruitment.”
Predicting the engineer of the future
All this is enough to make you wonder what an
‘engineer’ will actually look like in the not-toodistant
future. Enginuity is attempting to answer
this by analysing job descriptions in the sector,
looking for new keywords (‘data scientist’, for
instance) that could indicate a changing skills
requirement. One trend this has discovered, says
Watson, is for an increased fluidity of job roles.
“The rate of change that Industry 4.0 brings
about means it’s very difficult to predict skills,”
she explains. “Employers used to have to upskill
and reskill their staff every 10 years. They’re now
saying it’s every three years – and in the tech
sector it’s every 18 months. This makes it quite
a challenge to be able to say, ‘this is what an
engineer will look like in five years’. As a result,
we are seeing employers looking for a broad
base of engineering skills, and quite a lot of the
‘softer’ skills around being able to apply those
engineering skills to different situations. Rather
than saying, ‘I think I’m going to need X number
of mechanical engineers in the next five years’,
employers now want somebody with that broad
base of knowledge who can apply it.”
Before this causes a spate of existential crises
amongst long-standing workers on shopfloors
up and down the land, Watson is quick to point
out that this could help the
industry’s chronic image
problem. “For individuals with
in-demand skills, like software
engineers, it’s important to
demonstrate the opportunities
that come with being part of a
manufacturing organisation, as
well as the wider opportunities
that come from being part of the
sector. As a software engineer,
they would be coming into a
company with a set of skills
that were in high demand, and
the opportunities that will give
them within the organisation,
probably far exceed what they’d
get in a company like Google,
where they are one of many
with the same skills.”
bigger names,” she says. “Quite
often we overlook the great
opportunities within SMEs.”
To combat this, Enginuity
has been working on a matchmaking
service to put youngsters
in touch with local employers
that are crying out for talent.
Called Engineering Talent, it
was launched last year in the
aerospace sector.
“Large organisations get
inundated with applications
for their apprenticeship places
– ones we have spoken to said
they often get 20 applications
per space,” says Watson. “What
happens to the other 19? They
get sent a rejection letter and
that’s that. But then on the
other side of the fence, you’ve
got SMEs who’ve got some great
opportunities but because they
haven’t got the brand name,
they struggle to attract young
people. Often, the young people
don’t even know that this
factory is within five miles of
where they live.”
The skills
needs of the
manufacturing
sector have
never been as
varied as they
are today
Opening doors for SMEs
One issue that won’t necessarily
be solved by the new digital
needs of the industry is that
of smaller companies being
overlooked by prospective
entrants to the industry in favour
of more ‘household’ names.
Watson herself started her career
in the marketing department of
an SME manufacturer, which
she credits as the spark for her
love of engineering. “It’s only
natural that young people in
particular are drawn more to the
“It is quite a challenge to be able
to say ‘this is what an engineer
will look like in five years’.”
Ann Watson, chief executive, Enginuity
Engineering Talent addresses
this by encouraging the
larger employers to signpost
unsuccessful candidates to the
online portal, where SMEs will
have posted apprenticeship
places and job opportunities.
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