Manufacturing Growth: Skilled labour will secure long-term future

THE need to secure long-term skilled labour is one of the critical elements which will determine the future success of the manufacturing sector in the West Midlands, firms believe.

All this week, TheBusinessDesk.com, in association with DLA Piper and Deloitte is taking an in-depth look at the region’s manufacturing sector and identifying areas of potential growth.

At a round table event hosted by DLA Piper at its Birmingham offices and chaired by the editor of TheBusinessDesk.com in the West Midlands, Marc Reeves, manufacturers spoke about their concerns over the skills agenda.

Gerry Dunne, managing director of Aston-based Westley Engineering said his firm had had to endure some difficult days during the recession and had been forced to lay off a large part of its workforce in order to survive.

• To read more about how to secure growth in the Midlands manufacturing sector download the free DLA Piper/Deloitte supplement by clicking here

However he said as things began to improve he looked to try and recruit a fresh batch of skilled workers, only to find the cupboard bare.

“We were looking to take on people but the skills that we need are in short supply. As a result we have started up our apprenticeship programme again – we have to look one or two decades now in order to close the skills gap,” he said.

Andrew Church, managing director of Nuneaton-based JJ Churchill, said his firm operated in key sectors such as aerospace, defence, industrial and power generation therefore it was critical he had the necessary skills in order to meet the requirements of his customers.

“We are increasing our apprenticeship programme because I spend millions on new machinery and I want to know that I will have the skills there in the future to operate them,” he said.

He said perceptions about manufacturing had to change and younger people needed to see that the old dirty, greasy mage of grimy factories was a thing of the past and it was now a clean, high-tech industry with good career prospects.

If this could be overcome then he said the industry could be set to enter a golden age as the increase in university tuition fees meant there was likely to be a huge new pool of young talent into which manufacturers could trawl for new recruits.

•    The focus of tomorrow’s feature on securing manufacturing growth will be the opportunities presented to the industry by innovative new technologies.