Closing the skilled labour gap
18 November 2011
A decline in the number of people entering the UK electronics industry at degree level has raised concerns for its long term sustainability and growth. David Davies, MD of Axiom Manufacturing Services in south Wales, looks at how the company is addressing this and how others could follow suit.
The underlying challenge for our industry is to produce skilled engineers of the future. According to the 2011, State of the Engineering Economy report* the number of further education engineers entering our industry has been in decline over the last five years. This should be a stark wakeup call for companies to do more to support and engage with their local colleges and higher education institutions, companies should not ‘wait’ to be approached or focus blame upon government, it is their own sustainability that should drive their need.
Everyone knows that most businesses are vital to the community - they provide jobs, generate money for the local economy, and often give back in terms of training and donations. Businesses in our industry need to place a greater focus on higher education, as they will be key to giving our industry the knowledge and skills necessary for long term success and sustainability.
It is for this reason; Axiom recently donated electronic testing equipment to our local further education college to not only help ease the financial burden on its budget but to help students gain hands-on experience of life in the workplace.
With a shortage of employees in manufacturing, and as a big employer in the Newport and wider south Wales area, we really see the importance of trying to close this skilled-labour gap. Through the donations and other initiatives we hope to help foster the next generation of high-tech manufacturers and engineers.
We also see the benefit of starting early and nurturing the younger talent, one way we do this is through organising school visits, and sponsoring a ‘Space Day’ at our local primary school. Not only is it good fun for the school children, but is great for our business, as like many other manufacturing plants, the children attending the local schools are those of our employees. So it works to build good working relationships with our staff and the community.
Many universities are now running summer schools to encourage young electronics and engineering students to take part in design and build challenges. Encouraging students to use their talent and enthusiasm in brainstorming ideas for future products is a great tool for finding future electronics engineers. This is a promising response to the industries concerns, but more still needs to be done.
Those aged 16 and 17 are yet to make their degree choices, and so summer schools and other specialist courses highlight advanced electronics technologies and give and insight into studying the subject at university.
The term ‘manufacturing’ encompasses many skills e.g. sales, purchasing, logistics, software development, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, IT, finance etc. Students do not think of these disciplines when they think of a career in ‘manufacturing’; so there is an image problem that we also need to address. The manufacturing industry and its long term sustainability is dependent on attracting high calibre, innovative and creative students.
The UK electronics manufacturing sector has been described as ‘indispensable’ to Europe’s economic future – a key enabling technology for scientific research.
By attracting more of the brightest students to study engineering at university, they will be better prepared for a vibrant and innovative electronics career.
Success comes when we nurture talent at the grassroots level. The UK electronics sector is among the best in the world, but we need to attract the students back into the courses if it is to remain successful.
