Training of staff only the highest priority for a further 16%

Employee upskilling is not on the priority list for as many as 15% of manufacturers, with only 16% placing it at the very top. This is according to research by Visual Components of manufacturing decision-makers in the UK.

Despite a lack of prioritisation, the labour shortage is expected to have a significant impact on productivity and output over the next five years for 45% of organisations. Only 3% believe that the shortfall will have no impact on their operations.

And many manufacturers have taken insufficient action to address the issue, particularly in terms of supporting tools and technologies. 64% are only somewhat equipped or not very equipped to reskill and retrain existing employees to address the skills gap, and 73% are only somewhat ready or not very ready to adopt and implement new technologies that can improve factory floor efficiencies.

“It’s time for manufacturers to place training at the top of their priority list. Simulation software and robot offline programming (OLP) allow staff to upskill in factory floor processes and save time on manual work by effectively deploying robots on repeatable tasks. Any staff member, regardless of experience and skill, can make a difference with the right tools to hand,” says Mikko Urho, CEO, Visual Components.