Skills and training in manufacturing - the future

A clarion call has been issued to manufacturers across the North West to enhance their long-term profitability by investing in employees’ skills and training.

This was the resounding message that emerged from a special roundtable discussion organised by ThisisManufacturing.co.uk in conjunction with Kinetic plc, which provides recruitment and human resource services to the UK and worldwide manufacturing, engineering and technical markets.

The panellists included: Miles Lloyd, director of business development and improvement at Kinetic plc; Gareth Humphries, head of HR at missile developer and manufacturer MBDA; and Mike Brown, sector manager for training programmes provider Skills Solutions.

The line-up was completed by: Nicola Eagleton-Crowther, campaign manager for ‘Make It’ which is run by the Manufacturing Institute; Graham Fisher, employer services director at the National Apprenticeship Service; and Lee Harris, director at LHM Consulting which helps SMEs develop business development strategies.

Among the issues highlighted during the discussion were:

•How the aging population within the manufacturing sector could leave a real ‘skills shortage’ unless prompt action is taken;
•How small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need to collaborate to help overcome skills shortages;
•How sub-contractors remain the ‘life-blood’ of manufacturing and their skills and training must not be overlooked;
•How a ‘Make It In Britain’ campaign could be a useful tool to promote the need for more skills and training.

There was universal agreement that the manufacturing sector continues to suffer from a ‘tarnished’ image - although this is lessening - which is proving a barrier to addressing the skills gap.

Miles Lloyd, of Kinetic plc, said: “Fundamental to addressing the skills gap is letting people know just what a great career - and life - they can have if they enter the sector.

"I always find it interesting that if you ask people whether a dirty and smelly factory or a clean, scientific environment such as a laboratory epitomises manufacturing - they invariably pick the former despite the latter being equally relevant.”

Mike Brown - of Skills Solution - echoed this sentiment, saying: “I think that the first thing that we've got to do is change the image of the sector in order to get people to realise that it's not dying,

“It’s just changing for the better and that there are rewarding careers which can help us recruit people into the sector.”

Gareth Humphries, of the Bolton-based division of MBDA, gave the manufacturer’s perspective on the issue, saying: "We've taken ownership over the last 20 years for attracting new recruits including young people into the business.

"The way we do it is by offering visits to local teachers and career advisers in those geographical areas where we are based.

"We've got a really high-tech company which promotes engineering and electronics - and if other companies could take this approach onboard then we could probably start to turn things around."

Lee Harris, of LHM Consulting, highlighted research showing that Britain’s higher education establishments need to produce 25,000 engineering graduates a year.

He added: "But quite apart from this fact, I think that there's the potential for this issue to result in a tiered problem.

"In addition to recruiting engineering graduates, there's the issue of the shop floor staff. At the moment, many of these guys can earn more on the dole, so where is the pride in doing an honest day's work for an honest day's pay?"

The panellists also asserted that skill shortages are affecting all sectors within manufacturing.
Miles Lloyd expressed his belief that a more "fluid working pool" would help alleviate this situation.
He said: "If we were to foster a more fluid working pool - by which I mean getting people to be more prepared to move around - then I think that we can meet a lot more of the needs within manufacturing.”

Mr Lloyd also called on more large manufacturers to adopt the far-sighed approach of MBDA to address the skills gap and urged the small and medium enterprise (SME) community to work more closely together.

Nicola Eagleton-Crowther added: "A lot of the smaller companies clearly don't have massive resources at their disposal to launch major training initiatives.

"But if you can’t get the right people for the job then ultimately it is going to impact on your business.

"I think that SMEs need supporting and I think that there's a responsibility on organisations like the Manufacturing institute - through the Make It campaign - to get them in front of the young people in schools in order to help broker those relationships.”

Gareth Humphries, of MBDA, made the point that the skills of subcontractors must not be overlooked for the future wellbeing of manufacturing.

He said: "At the moment, we've got a core workforce and the average age is 44 to 49. When we need to increase production, we tend to go out to our subcontractors and their age is also around the same age.

"In 15 years time, a lot of our people will be retiring - and that's why we've actively been recruiting young people. But it raises the question about where the rest of the subcontracting workforce we need will come from."

WHO HAS RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE EMPLOYEES WITH SKILLS AND TRAINING?

Graham Fisher, of the National Apprenticeship Scheme, expressed his belief that a 'partnership' approach is fundamental to achieving the best results.

He said: "The benefits of ensuring that young employees have the requisite skills are reaped for many years to come.

"I think that it requires a number of organisations to work collaboratively. Businesses know better than anyone else what skills they need and they must work with colleges and organisations like the NAS to ensure that their future needs are met.”

Lee Harris said that it is imperative that the new Government talks to manufacturers directly to ascertain exactly what they need during these tough times.

And Mike Brown, of Skills Solutions, called on the Government to relaunch a ‘Make It in Britain’ campaign.

He said: "The government needs to get behind manufacturing and support it - maybe even relaunch a 'Make It In Britain' campaign.

“It worked well in the 1960s - and there’s no reason why it couldn’t work well once again today.”