Interview: How Semta helps businesses develop the skills they need

Investing in skills and training is a serious business: one that can directly impact on the success of a company. But to find a way through the multitude of courses and training available, finding out which one is best for you and ensuring that the investment pays off is a tough task.

Director of Employer Engagement for Semta (Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance), Lynn Tomkins, tells us what manufacturers need to know.

What are the main concerns of manufacturers when it comes to finding skills and training courses?
“Finding the provider. Someone to explain the kind of training needed to undertake and, importantly, linking that to their business. Semta is able to supply a one-stop shop for that. We will know all the support that is available, the providers and the qualifications. We will sit with them and take them through that process.

What are the main skills issues affecting manufacturers in the Northwest?
Research shows us clear gaps in skills:

•Hard-to-fill vacancies will cost the economy more than £107 million in lost productivity
•From 2008 - 2014 the Northwest engineering sector needs 32,500 more people
•22% of engineering companies reported skill gaps, two thirds of these are in technical skills
•17,000 of industry workforce in the Northwest have no qualifications
•42% of the region’s engineering workforce is 45-64 years old”

How important is training to the success of Northwest manufacturing?
Vital. Manufacturing is a world-class centre for aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and bio-medical technology and is building the foundations to lead in emerging sectors such as photonics, nanotechnology, and low carbon energy. To secure competitiveness as the global economy emerges from recession, the Northwest needs to invest in the skills of its science, engineering and manufacturing workforce.

How do Semta help?
We have a simple tried and tested diagnostic. We talk through their business objectives, look at the key functions in the business, what they need to be trained in and how will they measure that investment. We identify a training plan, work with them to find the most suitable training provider and can also advise them on funding. We’ll even work with them about releasing staff. Understanding employers’ needs for a simplified skills landscape, Semta now has an end-to-end service for employers:

•An assessment of training and development needs against a company’s business objectives with a focus return on investment
•Advice on the best training and qualifications including the nationally recognised quality products from The National Skills Academy, designed to provide sustainable improvement
•A training management service to support smaller companies with no HR resource
•Research training needs and trends, such as advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies, and work with regional and national governments to influence support for strategic skills priorities”

What are the obstacles to training?
Cost and also the ability to release staff from their day jobs for training. However, Semta can help overcome that by sign-posting available funding and through its framework of bite-sized training which can add up to full qualifications. More than 900 companies in England have been referred for sector compact funding in the past year through Semta - 79% of them SMEs, with £60 million to deliver 45,000 qualifications. Around 10% of these companies are in the Northwest where, as a result, employees have taken more than 2,500 qualifications. SME’s are taking advantage of up-skilling their workforce in the recession in spite of their order-books might be quite tight.

What are the practical implications of skills and training on an individual business?
If people don’t have the skills to do the job, then a company is not performing at its best. Training will actually improve a business, which is why Semta usually starts with its Business 2 Skills assessment to understand who needs what training to make sustainable improvement. The Skills Academy uses The Learning Engine concept to ensure business needs are met. One of our most popular programmes is Business Improvement Techniques (B-IT), which in the past year created more than £50m benefit to the manufacturing base.

How do you assess benefits to business?
With targeted improvements. More than 500 companies tested show delivery has improved. It might be only one small measure: you might be looking develop your sales team and target five new clients. It’s definitely measurable. At the start of a programme like Business improvement Techniques the employer will identify key performance indicators such as quality, cost or delivery. After the training, the trainees are supported to carry out improvement activities, which can be measured against the base line. In 2008 Skills Academy programmes helped companies achieve £12m benefit from a £2m investment in skills" a 6:1 return on investment. We look at why they are investing in training that person, what it is that they want that person to do better and review the return.

What needs to happen going forward?
This isn’t a short-term fix. This is looking at apprentices coming in, manufacturing being promoted as a positive career with a future. Promotion of the sector and contribution to the UK in terms of jobs and GDP is important. And continued work streams for skills and higher education sector also needs to continue to understand the importance of science and sustaining that sector. We’d like to see further securing funding for skills for priority sectors going forward. The Government have a big priority in terms of how they want to grow that. Essentially it’s all about prioritising people and their skills.