Engineering news
British companies must do everything in their power to support the development of engineering technicians to complement graduates coming through more academic routes, a top executive on the largest infrastructure project in Europe has said.
Chris Sexton, technical director at Crossrail, warned that a failure to adopt a dual-pronged approach to Stem recruitment and career progression would see worsening skills gaps across industry.
Sexton said: “How we got ourselves into a position where we thought graduates could do everything, I will never know.
“We need engineering technicians just to fill our contractual obligations. We need skilled technicians at the coalface.”
Sexton said that both graduates and technicians played a crucial role in the delivery of the Crossrail project. “We have graduate engineers who are involved in design work and in the supervision of works. But the everyday coal face engineering and construction is carried out by engineering technicians.”
Sexton's remarks came at the House of Commons launch of a white paper aimed at boosting the number of youngsters working towards EngTech status. The EngTechNow document claimed that the UK's future economic growth would be hindered by a significant experience gap in engineering if good practice for developing technician careers was not adopted more widely.
The report, entitled ‘The Experience Gap: the unspoken skills gap’, looked at examples of clients playing an active part in strengthening skills through their supply chains, companies professionalising their technicians to improve career flexibility, recruitment and retention, and collaborations to improve routes into engineering.
Blane Judd, the chief executive of EngTechNow, said: “Engineering underpins the productivity of everything from manufacturing to the postal service, and unless something is done about the experience gap now, the UK will struggle to compete internationally.
“We face a technician shortage of 450,000 by 2020. Fortunately solutions are emerging from forward-thinking infrastructure projects, employers and trade unions, which, if adopted more widely, will see the skills and experience gap overcome.”
Alongside the white paper, 13 industry figures have signed an EngTechNow charter - two infrastructure projects, nine engineering employers, and two trade unions, each signing up to practical steps to ensure their technicians and apprentices are supported to achieve professional status. The signatories are: Amey, Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Crossrail, Doosan Babcock, E.ON, Jaguar Land Rover, NG Bailey, Prospect, QinetiQ, Royal Mail, Thames Tideway, and TSSA.
The EngTechNow campaign has also received the backing of the IMechE. Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of the institution, said: “To ensure UK companies can compete on an international level, we need to work hard to encourage more people to join the engineering profession and to ensure that they have the highest professional skills and abilities.
“EngTech Now is a hugely exciting initiative which is working to ensure that the UK has a growing stream of engineering technicians being developed to a level that is recognised and respected around the world.”