A winning formula to topple skills shortages

Much has been made of the skills shortage in manufacturing. Managers bemoan the lack of skilled engineers and technicians and point to the relative glut of students with degrees in subjects like media studies and social science. Manufacturing wasn't seen as an exciting growth market that provided interesting and exciting opportunities in the UK – and, frankly, that was because manufacturing in the UK simply didn't. Today, manufacturing is in the ascendant but let's not kid ourselves – it is little more than a small recovery after years of decline. If we can't substantially grow our exports at a time when interest rates are low and the pound is weak, then I fear we never will. I realise that raw material costs are high and banks are proving reluctant to lend, but if your manufacturing business is about adding value then the premium you can charge your customer should far outweigh the increased input costs. Innovation in manufacturing is all about making better widgets that you can charge a premium for, because global demand exceeds supply. When our manufacturing base rivals that of Germany, then I think we can pat ourselves on the back. So we need to make manufacturing attractive to the brightest students; we need schools to go on factory visits to dispel the myth that factories are noisy, dark places where workers lead an almost battery-hen-like existence. Children studying the industrial revolution at school have little reason to believe things are radically different now, especially if they have never been around a modern manufacturing plant. We need to make ongoing education and operational excellence a real priority. We must regain our curiosity for new ideas and a thirst for knowledge and, most important of all, apply this knowledge to meet the global demand for innovative technologies and products. The best way to make manufacturing an attractive career proposition is to create opportunities for people within a vibrant, growing manufacturing base that makes things people are proud of. Tell a class of seven-year-old boys that your factory makes the iPhone and see where your street credibility goes. There was a time when half the globe aspired to own something that was made in Britain. We need to recapture that desire and enthusiasm to move from being good to being great. We need to utilise every methodology, technology and innovation that could give us an edge. This is what countries like India, China and Brazil are doing. We can't rely on the government or the Skills Funding Agency or Business Link to fix our training and skills needs, let alone our capital investment ones. We have to take responsibility for it ourselves. At Bourton Group, we strive to make manufacturing companies world class in operational performance, but at times it feels like we are pulling teeth. Some manufacturers tell us that lean and Six Sigma are "old hat" or "don't work" and yet they either fail to apply them at all or apply them badly. We sense a lack of interest, enthusiasm or innovation in either the thinking or application of new initiatives, and a general lack of zest and excitement in too many manufacturing plants. However faith is restored when we find exciting, thriving, innovative manufacturers who form the backbone of our manufacturing strength. The fact that a company like Bombardier can even consider leaving the UK is a black mark on all our copy books. To me, it is a bit like the Bank of England deciding to leave England. We are still a sizeable manufacturing nation and we can become a great manufacturing nation again, but we have to genuinely believe that together we really can achieve anything and get on with the business of making stuff the world wants to own. Then perhaps the rest of the world will cease calling us the UK or Britain and get back to calling us Great Britain. Stuart Smith is chairman of Bourton Group and its subsidiary The Six Sigma Group www.bourton.co.uk