Editor’s comment: August 2017

It seems bizarre that in a country so entrenched in manufacturing heritage, we find ourselves with a severe skills shortage – but tragically that’s where we are.

Many things have contributed: respective governments not protecting, nurturing and developing our once proud manufacturing industries in the same way a country like Germany has; the rise of low-cost manufacturing countries; engineering and technical subjects falling off school curriculums – the list goes on.

The question is, what do we do? Well we can’t rely on government to turn things around. It just feels that all they do is pay lip service to what is, without exaggeration, an absolute crisis. Getting manufacturing and engineering back to where it belongs, at the very heart of our economy, seems like a pipe dream at the moment so businesses are taking things into their own hands and coming up with their own initiatives. The dramatic rise in apprenticeships is a beacon of hope, but more needs to be done. Much more.

So when Martin Doyle and his team at the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) announced the launch of their Technical Academy initiative recently, I paid attention. This is a £6 million project that will see 15 Academies developed across the length and breadth of the country in partnership with likeminded strategic manufacturing partners. This will provide companies with the opportunity to upskill their staff on the latest CNC machine tools as well as potentially develop dedicated apprenticeship programmes.

I attended the official opening of the first academy at Norton Motorcycles in Castle Donington a couple of weeks ago and it was very impressive. Norton, headed up by the highly charismatic and unquestionably entrepreneurial Stuart Garner, will use the Academy as a prototyping cell for the manufacture of new parts for their range of British manufactured bikes. He’s as fired up about the whole thing as anyone because he’s seen, first-hand how the lack of skills can absolutely devastate the prosperity of a manufacturing business.

As is Martin Doyle. He’s witnessed the effects in his own business and those of his customers and believes the fight against the skills gap must be industry-led: “Put bluntly, the current education platform is broken and not relevant to the world we operate in,” he declared. “Instead of bemoaning our luck and lack of support, we decided to do something about it with the launch of our national network.”

Take a look at the article in August issue of PES on page 16.

Dave Tudor Editor