Roundtable report
NOVEMBER 2019
The shifting sands of the
engineering skills challenge
At a recent roundtable event, experts from industry, academia and the
UK skills community discussed the challenges of meeting manufacturing’s
changing skills requirements.
The UK engineering skills
shortage is hardly a recent
phenomenon. For decades now
industry bodies, institutes,
and engineering organisations
large and small, have raised
regular concerns over the
quality and quantity of new engineers
entering the profession.
But in recent years, as industry’s
digital transformation has gathered
pace, and a host of new technologies
have reshaped the role of the engineer,
these challenges have become
increasingly acute and complex.
Against a backdrop of rapid and
profound technological change, today’s
engineering employers must ensure
that they have the right skills onboard
to fully embrace current technological
advances; that they are set up to
anticipate and respond to changing
skills requirements; that they are doing
their bit to shore up the future pipeline
of skilled engineers; and that – in the
race to tap into emerging areas of
expertise - they don’t lose sight of the
traditional engineering skills that are
still essential.
Earlier his year (February 2020) The
Engineer, in partnership with electronic
component supplier RS Components,
brought together a panel of experts from
across industry to identify and discuss
these changing skills requirements
and explore some of the ways in which
engineering organisations can address
these challenges.
As the report over the following
pages illustrates, meeting this challenge
requires action on many fronts: from
Jon Excell and Andrew wade report
April 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 30
partnerships at employer-led skills
body Enginuity (formerly Semta),
explained that the changing
nature of engineering skills
requirements had been a key
factor in her organisation’s
relaunch with a renewed focus
on helping employers find
Industry 4.0 skills. Meanwhile,
AMRC’s head of degree
apprenticeships, Louise Cowling
pointed to a sea-change in the types
of engineers that are now required.
“10 years ago the requirement was
for mechanical, electrical and design
engineers,” she said. “The requirement
now is for a deeper focus on software
engineering: software engineers, games
developers and advanced integration
engineers – skilled engineers who
understand the digital links
through manufacturing systems
rather than pure control system
engineers.”
Prof Carl Perrin,
director of the Institute for
Advanced Manufacturing
and Engineering, added that
as a result of this, engineering
is frequently having to compete
with other sectors for the skills that
it needs. “Computer scientists and
mathematicians are needed across all
businesses,” he said, “and that creates
some challenges because there are not
that many people!”
The continued importance of traditional
skills
Whilst digital skills are clearly of
growing importance, our panelists
Prof Carl Perrin
- director, Institute
for Advanced
Manufacturing &
Engineering (AME)
ensuring that engineers in the middle of
their careers aren’t left behind, right
through to inspiring, engaging and
educating the school children
who will become the engineers
of tomorrow.
The changing skills landscape
Kicking off the discussion, RS
Components’ Head of Education
Strategy James Howarth gave a
pithy assessment of the challenging
climate facing engineering employers.
“There’s a shortage of engineers coming
through the system with the skills
to meet the demands of a changing
industry,” he explained, “and those
demands are being driven by changes
in innovation and technology. The
onset of industry 4.0, AI and robotics
are all having an impact. We’ve
got an existing workforce that
is somewhat slow to adapt to
those changes and an existing
education system that’s not
providing our young people
with the skills they need to
meet those demands – it’s really
important that we are looking to
upskill our existing workforce but
also prepare the engineers of the future
and tomorrow to make sure we have
that pipeline of talent coming through.”
Other panelists shared this view.
Indeed Sarah Dhanda, head of strategic
Sarah Dhanda
- head of strategic
partnerships, Enginuity
Upskilling is at least as important
as feeding the pipeline
/www.theengineer.co.uk