AUTOMATION IS OUTPACING THE PEOPLE WHO MAINTAIN IT
UK MANUFACTURERS ARE ADDING ROBOTS AND CONNECTED MACHINERY FASTER THAN THEY CAN TRAIN THE ENGINEERS TO KEEP THEM RUNNING. BEREND BOOMS, HEAD OF ENTERPRISE ASSET MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS AT ULTIMO ARGUES THAT THE ANSWER LIES IN HOW MAINTENANCE KNOWLEDGE IS CAPTURED AND SHARED, NOT JUST IN RECRUITMENT.
Walk around most UK factories today and you’ ll see two generations of equipment working side by side. A robot cell installed last year feeds a packaging line that has been running since the 1990s. A new vision system checks parts coming off a press that’ s older than some of the people operating it. Each upgrade makes the line faster and more capable. Each one also adds a layer of complexity that somebody needs to navigate at two in the morning when it stops.
That part rarely makes it into the business case. Automation projects are planned around throughput, labour savings and payback. Far fewer are planned around who will be left to maintain the equipment in five years’ time, and what they’ ll need to know.
The people problem
The numbers are hard to ignore. Make UK reports that nearly three-quarters of manufacturers see a shortage of technical skills as the biggest barrier to recruitment, and the IET has found that 76 percent of engineering and technology employers struggle to fill key roles. Apprenticeship starts in manufacturing and engineering have fallen by around 40 percent since the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced. Meanwhile, the existing workforce is getting older. In Ultimo’ s Maintenance Trend Report, 63 percent of maintenance professionals named the ageing workforce as the most pressing trend affecting their maintenance strategy.
14 MACHINERY, AUTOMATION, CONTROL & ENGINEERING