Pharma firms focus on skills

EMPLOYERS in the West Midlands wanting to create a world class workforce and beat off global competitors as the economy starts to recover have been offered extra support to boost their skills.

Businesses in the UK’s £67bn polymers, chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors, which together employ 28,000 people in the West Midlands, are facing skills challenges that threaten their survival, according to skills body the National Skills Academy Process Industries.

The academy’s board chairman Chris Horton, who is also director and vice president of £500m-plus business LINPAC Packaging, will be outlining the skills strategy needed at a breakfast seminar tomorrow.

Mr Horton, whose firm employs 4,000 staff, will be urging employers to begin their drive for improvement by signing up to the Skills Pledge.

“The stark truth is that businesses which don’t have a well thought out skills development framework in place are unlikely to survive over the next 10 years,” he said.

“As the economy starts to recover, we need to enlist all the support we can get in order to upskill our current workforce and attract more young people into the industries, especially if we are to meet the challenges posed by overseas competitors.”

Competition from the emerging markets of China and India will intensify, while developing manufacturing economies in countries in the Eastern Bloc, such as Poland, will also pose a threat, he added.

Many of the latter are benefiting from the extra financial support offered to new EC members.  

“In the UK there are also new opportunities in sectors like advanced composites, which will benefit from the increase in wind turbine production and other green initiatives,” said Mr Horton.

“If we can’t compete with overseas competitors in areas such as labour costs, we must put ourselves in a strong position where we can out-skill them, and with the continuing emphasis on budgets, that means accessing all the funding and practical support available to us.”    

The breakfast event takes place at the offices of Business Link West Midlands in Quinton, beginning at 8am. It will also include presentations from Business Link speakers, who will outline the regional support and funding packages available to employers.

For more details and to book a free place at the event, firms should call Lisa Maw on 0845 607 0140, or email:  industry@process.nsacademy.co.uk