TALKING POINT
Automating a Brexit
skills gap solution
It’s fair to say that broadcaster
Andrew Neil isn’t best known
for his views on the UK
manufacturing sector. But
he certainly hit a nerve when
he used his keynote slot at
Make UK’s annual conference last
month to call on manufacturing
business to raise wages and invest
in automation.
Indeed, industry’s growing
struggles to recruit skilled
workers, coupled with an
anticipated shortfall in the
number of low skilled workers
coming to the UK, is leading to a
renewed focus on the importance
of investing in automation
technology.
It was a point echoed again
last month by Kuka Managing
Director and chairman of the
British Automation and Robot
Association (BARA) Mike Wilson,
who, speaking at an event in
London, warned that against
the backdrop of Brexit it is now
more important than ever that
UK engineering businesses
embrace the latest manufacturing
technologies.
“We are already seeing
labour shortages within our
manufacturing facilities because
all of these workers we’ve brought
in are starting to go back to their
own countries, partly because of
the environment over here, but
partly because the economies
in their own countries are
improving,” said Wilson.
“The government’s latest draft
immigration policy is going to
make it difficult, if not impossible
to bring in replacements for
those workers,” he added, “so
it’s important that we use
automation to do the mundane
repetitive tasks so we can utilise
our workforce on the tasks that
add value.”
To achieve this, the sector
faces something of an uphill
With UK industry facing growing challenges
recruiting the skills it has traditionally relied
upon, the need to automate has never been
more pressing writes Jon Excell
struggle. Automation levels are,
said Wilson, embarrassingly low.
Of the 422,000 robots installed
globally in 2018, the UK accounted
for just 2,425. This compares to
154,000 installations in China, the
world’s biggest user of industrial
robots. Meanwhile, the UK’s robot
density – a measure of the number
of robots per 10,000 workers –
is just 91 compared to 338 for
Germany.
Wilson was joined at this
week’s event by his opposite
number at German trade
association VDMA, Patrick
Schwarzkopf, who argued that
that alarmist headlines about
robots stealing jobs haven’t helped
April 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 20
UK industry’s case. “It’s important
to do a reality check,” he said.
“We see all of these alarmist
headlines….but the reality is very,
very different. The problem is
that robots are not installed and
it could be a problem for jobs and
workers in the future and the
competitiveness of the UK.”
Schwarzkopf added that all
of the statistics suggest that
investment in robotics actually
increases the number of jobs,
quoting figures from the German
automotive sector demonstrating
a correlation between increased
deployments and increased
number of jobs, as well as figures
demonstrating that the countries
with the highest robot densities
have lowest unemployment
levels. “If you look at the facts
there’s really nothing that
suggests that a higher level of
use of robots would lead to more
unemployment.”
Wilson added that this is
borne out in the sectors where the
UK has invested in robots, such
as automotive. “I would argue
that JLR, for example, has put in
thousands of robots over the last
few years. If they hadn’t put those
robots in the UK, they’d have built
their car factories somewhere else
and none of those jobs would be in
the UK.”
Whilst automotive is
something of a UK outlier for
automation, there are a number
of factors behind the relatively
low deployment in other sectors,
said Wilson. Many manufacturers
have, he said, tended to
favour low skilled labour over
investment in technology,
perceiving robots as a risky, highcost
investment. He also pointed
to a somewhat damaging UK
industry culture of taking pride in
keeping old equipment running
for as long as possible.
“We’re very proud of keeping
old machines running, in
Germany they’re very proud that
they’ve bought new ones,” said
Wilson. “We keep old machinery
going and should be buying new
equipment.”
Clearly, investment in robotics
and automation is going to be
essential if UK manufacturers are
to grow and compete in the years
ahead. Indeed, the governmentled
Made Smarter study estimated
that robotics and automation, if
deployed correctly, will be worth
over £180bn to the UK economy.
Overcoming the ingrained
reluctance to invest in technology
will be key to delivering this value.
Credit: Nataliya Hora/stock.adobe.com
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