An online resource to help smaller manufacturing companies identify skills gaps associated with Industry 4.0 will be developed by the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), after it received grant funding.
The firm is one of three organisations to have secured investment from independent grant funding charity Ufi’s Manufacturing Skills Fund to support the development of adult vocational skills through digital technology.
Coventry-based MTC’s Online Training Needs Analysis System is a response to a widening skills gap in the manufacturing sector, particularly in the use of emerging digital technologies.
Small and medium companies, the organisation says, must adopt advanced technologies and processes to increase productivity. But they often lack the means of identifying their skills gaps and accessing appropriate learning to meet their needs.
“Current provision mainly consists of internal assessments in which staff identify their ‘level of confidence’ in completing tasks. These lack measurements or links to new and emerging technologies not yet in use,” says MTC.
“SMEs can struggle to determine the gap between current and future skills needs, and are overwhelmed with the selection of training available, which makes it difficult to identify what training to invest in and who to invest with,” said learning development and delivery manager Steve Picker of MTC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre.
“With this funding, the MTC aims to develop an online training needs analysis system to provide SMEs with a fast and easy tool to analyse their current skills and identify the skills needed,” he said. “The system will then recommend quality providers of relevant training solutions and access to learning materials.”
MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, one of more than 10 Government-backed organisations which seek to bridge the gap between business and academia to help bring new ideas to market in key sectors.
Other recipients sharing the Ufi’s £1m grant were the National Composites Centre – also part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult – and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).
Ufi chief executive Rebecca Garrod-Waters said: “This is a critical time for manufacturing industry – at the same time as demand is peaking, the industry’s access to skilled workers is diminishing.
“The projects we are funding will help transform how vocational learning is delivered to the UK manufacturing workforce, using digital solutions to upskill workers in a cost-effective way.”
The National Composites Centre’s solution will use augmented reality tools to provide training for manufacturing processes requiring high dexterity skills, while AELP will develop bite-sized learning tools embedded in remote workplaces.