Current and Future Skill Needs

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Current and Future Skill Needs Regional
Skills Partnerships in a Global Economy
Conference 23 June 2005 Reg DSouza SEMTA
Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering
and Manufacturing Technologies
14 Upton Road, Watford, Herts, UK WD18 0JT Tel
01923 652308 email rdsouza_at_semta.org.uk
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Outline

• Role of SSCs
• SSA pathfinder report
• Priority skills issues from the SSA
• Future skills requirements
• SSCs and RSPs
• Challenges for RSPs

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Role of SSCs

• Four key SSC goals
• Improve productivity, business and public service
  performance.
• Increase opportunities to raise the skills and
  productivity of everyone in the sector.
• Improve learning supply, including
  Apprenticeships, Higher Educational and National
  Occupational Standards (NOS).
• Reducing skill gaps and shortages and
  anticipating future needs.

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SSA pathfinder report

• SEMTA covers 13 broad sub-sectors
• Pathfinder report covers Electronics, Automotive
  and Aerospace
• Marine and Bioscience reports are in progress

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SSA content

• The SSA has 5 components
• Assessment of current and future skill needs
• Assessment of current provision
• Analysis of the gaps and weaknesses
• An assessment of the scope for collaborative
  action by employers
• Developing a costed action plan

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Drivers of change affecting skills

• Rapid technological change
• Product life cycles
• Globalisation of the supply chain
• Intensification of competition
• Regulation
• All of the above have led to increased demand
  for higher-level skills.

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Issues contributing most to the productivity gap

• UK compared to US
• Working practices such as Lean manufacturing and
• High Performance Working.
• UK compared to France and Germany
• Mainly due to skills, innovation and investment.

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Priority skill issues

• Management and Leadership
• Productivity and Competitiveness
• Recruitment and Workforce Development

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Management and Leadership

• Team leaders and front line supervisors,
  competent in high performance working.
• Managers need upskilling in commercialisation,
  financial management, lean principles and
  workforce development.
• Engineering and science graduates lack
  employability skills and need work experience

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Productivity and Competitiveness

• New product and process development and
  implementation (NPPDI)
• Supply chain management
• Continuous improvement and Lean/Process
  Excellence

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Recruitment and Workforce Development

• Increasing the supply of skills at N/SVQ Levels
  3, 4
• and 5 by upskilling and recruitment of under
• represented groups
• This will allow engineering to
• meet the need to move to higher value products to
  remain globally competitive
• counter the low levels of young people coming
  into the engineering sector

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Future skills requirements

• Professional engineering skills greater demand
  to meet requirements for NPPDI, supply chain
  management, lean/process excellence and
  management and leadership skills
• Technician and craft level technical and
  practical skills - greater demand to meet need
  for higher value added processes
• Operator and assembler skills less demand due
  to increased automation and changing technologies
• Basic skills greater demand for basic literacy
  and numeracy skills to upskill the workforce to
  deliver globally competitive work practices

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Supply side issues

• The quality and capability of recruits into the
  sector
• Provision
• Key barriers to training and development
• Information, Advice and Guidance

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SSCs and RSPs

• SEMTA is working with West Midlands RSP
• input into RSP data group
• response to Leitch review
• manufacturing skills profile
• learning and skills balance sheet

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Challenges for RSPs

• Using a data driven approach
• Align and integrate training supply with employer
  demand
• Ensure employers understand their future skills
  needs