The manufacturing industry needs to invest in training its employees of the future and get behind a new government drive to offer vocational subjects at school, delegates attending the first annual meeting of Improve were told.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, are one of 25 sector skills councils established by the government to take the lead in driving up skills in the workplace in order to promote higher productivity and stronger competitiveness for UK businesses in the global market.
Chairman Paul Wilkinson, delivered a speech to members from all areas of the manufacturing industry, outlining the need for help with the design of the new 14-19 Diploma in Manufacturing, one of 13 new vocational courses offered as part of a new government drive.
Wilkinson explained that the government are trying to reflect the industry want, rather than what colleges want to sell. This, he explained, meant a vital opportunity for the industry to contribute to the design of the course.
“It has to start at school; we want to get kids to think that having a career ‘making things’ is once again fashionable, “he said. “Forget media studies, retailing, and communications or IT. This is why we are leading the new 14-19 Diploma in Manufacturing in our schools. We need the best from the education sector to work in our industry.”
Throughout the meeting, Wilkinson explained to delegates that the success of the food and drink manufacturing industry was significantly attributable to the skills of its workers, but globally, the industry did not operate on a level playing field: “The danger for our industry here in the UK is that we get picked off at the edges, which erodes the critical mass and eventually causes much more damage to the overall competitive position…in addition to all this are the issues of regulation, food safety, health and safety, environment, special employment benefits; and now pension regulation and levies. These are all eroding the benefits achieved through increased productivity,” he said.
He told the crowd that increasing skill levels and productivity would be the key to overcoming the industry’s setbacks and the quest to drive up skill must intensify.
He explained that the council are encouraging suggestions on the structure and planning of the course in number of ways: “We are engaged with trade associations in any of our projects, but we have a good website - improveltd.co.uk, and we encourage people to send their views in. We see it as our route to the market and we hope people can find a answer to any question,” he said. “At the end of the day, our role is to ensure that we can help employees improve their skill level, making sure there’s training and encouraging people into the industry,” he said.
“I think we need to emphasise the point that an investment in skills and people is not a cost but an opportunity to make more money where margins are tight, getting a reward like this needs to be considered.”
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