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As the skills crisis worsens , automation ’ s time is now
Edgetech Managing Director Chris Alderson argues that , for IGU manufacturers , automation is the only long-term solution to the ongoing skills crisis .
It ’ s been looming for decades – but it looks like it ’ s the painful combination of Brexit and coronavirus that will finally tip Britain ’ s skills shortage into a fullblown crisis .
Back in January 2019 , the British Chambers of Commerce released a report claiming manufacturing was facing the worst skills shortage in 30 years .
Having conducted a wide-ranging survey of UK manufacturers , they ’ d found that an alarming 81 % were struggling to recruit and retain experienced staff .
Really , that should ’ ve been a wake-up call for everyone in the sector – a sign that , without urgent action , the skills shortage wouldn ’ t just severely hamper its prospects for growth , but seriously affect its ability to operate at even the most basic level .
But it was something we ’ d all heard a thousand times before . We all knew it was a problem – but it was one we ’ d learned we could repeatedly kick into the long grass without much consequence . The sector would muddle through , because it always had .
A crisis waiting to happen
But this was of course before what will almost certainly be looked back on as the two defining events of the decade – Brexit , and the arrival of COVID-19 .
The scale of the challenge was already enormous . A third of the British workforce is aged 50 or over , meaning that millions of the country ’ s most experienced workers will retire in the coming decade .
But since Britain officially left the EU in January 2020 , an estimated 1.2 million foreign workers have left the country . Around 90,000 Bulgarian and Romanian workers have returned home , and , according to jobs site Indeed , there are 36 % fewer EU citizens looking for work in Britain than there were pre-Brexit .
The impact has been enormous , and felt in virtually every sector . The lack of qualified HGV drivers has been especially damaging – the Managing Director of supermarket chain Iceland recently revealed it was seeing between thirty and forty deliveries cancelled every day for that reason .
And given that the government is rejecting calls to relax its post-Brexit immigration rules to try and ease the skills crisis , the Confederation of British Industry is predicting the current severe labour shortage could go on for two years .
Against that backdrop , I think it ’ s time that our sector , and many others , started to take a very serious look at automation .
Futureproofing the IGU industry
In glass and glazing , the arguments for automation were already extremely strong .
By far , it ’ s the best long-term strategy for boosting productivity and improving quality in IGU production .
Switching to a high-speed automated Super Spacer line can yield savings of up to £ 180,000 , and increase output by 18 %, all while requiring less than half the number of operators .
But in the years to come , those gains will become even greater .
The severe labour shortage we ’ re experiencing at the moment will inevitably lead to wage inflation – with more vacancies than there are qualified workers , the price tag for finding and keeping quality personnel is bound to significantly increase .
In five years ’ time , your wage bill for the same number of employees could be 20 % higher – let alone if you want to grow .
At Edgetech , we ’ ve seen interest in embracing automation soar over the last year . Prospects and customers who previously saw it as a ‘ nice to have ’ are reassessing their priorities , and making investing in automated lines a key part of their expansion plans for the years ahead .
For greater quality , efficiency , productivity and a long-term solution to a skills shortage that ’ s going to get much worse before it gets any better , we encourage you to do the same .
www . edgetechig . co . uk
60 DECEMBER 2021 CLEARVIEW-UK . COM