Skills shortage is becoming a critical issue

Skills shortage is becoming a critical issue

Groups across the manufacturing and engineering industry are highlighting the issue of skills shortages for the future of the manufacturing and engineering sector. A combination of poor reputation from a perceived lack of pay, lack of prospects and a poor working environment have meant that successive groups of students are not seeing the sector as an aspirational path to follow. As a result the continued growth of the British manufacturing industry could stall as an older generation of engineers come to retirement age and there are not the graduates below them learning the skills and gaining the experience to become the managers for the future. The CBI – the Confederation of British Industry - recently warned that the situation was so severe that it could, in fact, stall the sector completely, whilst the sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, SEMTA, highlights a potential shortfall of some 80,000 workers across the next 2 years.

With the prospective situation looking so desperate a number of schemes have been introduced across the sector from education at a school level to the implementation of apprenticeship schemes by business, in an effort to create more uptake for the future.

Industry organisation warns of shortages

The EEF, the manufacturer’s organisation, comments that 80% of manufacturers that they have spoken to are already experiencing skills shortages and that with the increased business in the sector and many order books bulging this situation can only become worse. Added to this is the new competition from the financial services sector which has been actively recruiting those with a maths and science background for some of the risk analyst roles within the sector. And, whilst these numbers are currently small it could be argued that it is a sector that may grow and so pose more of a threat in the future.

More must be done by the education system

One of the other key issues it seems is an image one – manufacturing has a serious branding problem. Not only is there a low general uptake within schools for the science and maths courses to  the required level, but also many are arguing that more must be done to encourage girls to take up these subjects. Some are even suggesting that there should be positive discrimination at university level to encourage more women to take courses that will lead to a career in manufacturing or engineering. The Government has committed around £385 million to university facilities and teaching, whilst the CBI is arguing that university fees for certain  courses should be reduced to help the numbers to rise.

Arguably the salaries in many of these roles not only rival but in certain areas outstrip the salaries in most other careers and yet there still appears to be a stigma attached to these jobs. In response the Telegraph has recently announced the winner of their new competition to encourage innovation across five areas - pharmaceuticals, automotive, the environment, construction and defence - by students in the sector. It is offering a £25,000 prize (courtesy of Babcock Group International) to the entry that is decided displays the most positive change to the sector. This is a competition that is pushing the skills of engineers and science to the forefront and highlighting the sector in a more positive light.

Apprenticeship schemes partly hold the answer

The Government has also been pushing Apprenticeships for a number of months and it seems that for those that are heeding the advice and looking at establishing schemes where young people can be nurtured and grow has proven successful. A great example of this is a local manufacturing business, MEP, who are a multi award winning manufacturing business that specialise in moulding and machining.

Their commitment to an apprenticeship scheme is paying dividends – five years ago they decided that in order to create a workforce that would grow with their business they would need to create an apprenticeship scheme. They employed two to start with and have since then taken on an additional apprentice each year until last year when they took on six. Phil Hart from MEP comments “My ambition was to have an apprentice across all departments, including our support teams and we achieved this last October. We are seeing the benefits already as they begin to deliver value to the business, overall it’s been a really positive move.”

The Manufacturing and Engineering Expo run by the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and supported by MAS and the EEF. The Expo is addressing the issue of skills shortages in its programme via the networking breakfast where Nick Holbrook-Sutcliffe from East Kent College will be speaking about their experiences and in a workshop that will feature the scheme run by MEP. Alongside this workshop are keynote speakers including Will Butler-Adams of Brompton Bicycles and Kevin Gaskell, the former MD of Porsche and BMW. It’s a free event to attend and there will be over 80 exhibitors and live demonstration areas.