Page 24 - trends in automation

We might presume that
because we work in the
technical arena that this
is the only area to be
investigated. While technical capability
is important it is definitely not the only
area. In our research technical capability
has the lowest results (55%) for skills
that need to be developed, with 33%
saying skills are adequate. Alongside
technical capability there are other key
areas that need to be developed such
as leadership, management skills, and
people skills.
Leadership and management skills
The major need for skills in
manufacturing and engineering fall
into the Leadership and Management
categories. The Leitch Report in 2006
cited leadership and management
skills as a main skills gap in
manufacturing and engineering firms.
Lord Leitch said,“Our nation’s skills
are not world class and we run the
risk that this will undermine the UK’s
long-term prosperity. Productivity
continues to trail many of our main
international comparators.”
Since 2006 things do not seem
to have got much better. A recent
government report [ONS: 2/13]
Training & Consulting – where the skills gap lies
Manufacturing –
a people business
‘Manufacturing suffers from a lack of skills’ is the
phrase that we’ve all heard before. The question that
we raise in this article is ‘What are these skills exactly?’
Festo conducted research with over 100 manufacturing
and engineering firms to investigate their views on
skills and the image of British manufacturing.