MMMA members grow their business. Reshoring UK will also prove an invaluable tool for the MMMA to grow its membership. Marketing coordinator Bill Neal explains: “It is up to us to keep our members up-to date about what opportunities are out there for them, as certainly, the indications are there in some industries that companies are looking to bring production back into the UK. “When they do that, these companies will need to employ the latest production techniques and technology in order to compete, and many of our members are in the right position to deliver that.” BLACK HOLE The engineering industry is suffering from a skills shortage and a lack of talent coming through, as the younger generation would often rather pursue other ways of forging a career and making money – leaving somewhat of a ‘black hole’ knowledge gap. One of the aims of the MMMA is to boost interest in engineering and careers in the metal forming industry, making it more desirable for young people to follow a career path in it, as there is a lack of skilled engineers in the 20s to 30s age range. Leath-Dawson believes the skills shortage is a “massive issue” for the industry and the biggest challenge it faces, as the average age of employees is so high, but they will need to be replaced sometime in the near future. “For the last 20 years engineering has been looked on as a bit of a ‘dirty industry’ and is not appealing enough for young people, as they can make more money on YouTube and think - why would I want to do engineering that takes four years to serve an apprenticeship in before I can start adding value,” he says. “The benefi s of bringing in this recruitment company, are that we can make engineering more appealing to people. There are great individual skill sets out there, but it is making
them understand that engineering is somewhere these skill sets can be used.” Haller notes there a wide range of engineering opportunities for the youth, but the industry has to market itself better and more attractively to attract young people to pursue careers. At the MACH shows, students are be taken around the event and the MMMA Metalworking Village, which presents a chance to show what opportunities are available and how interesting a career in metal forming can be. Haller says: “The more we can get young people coming to see things for themselves – the better. You need to get into their knowledge and see whether they want to work on these machines, do they want to work for a living and are they prepared to put five years of time and understand how it all works.” Digitisation is evolving fast in the metal forming industry, like in many industries and Haller believes that the key job skill for any young engineer coming through is mechatronics. “Every machine tool and everything you touch nowadays, there is some sign of electronics or computer-control with it and if you do not understand them both then you have not got it,” he says. However, despite the technological advancements in machines, Haller believes engineers still need to understand traditional skills and how to use traditional milling machines like reverse mill, end-mil, before they can go on to a CNC machine and need to know the basic skills, but also have electronic skills in the back of the mind. He adds: “We have got to train time-served engineers from senior guys through to the youth who have the electronic skills. You still need the seniors to look at this and do that, but that is where our black hole is at the moment. “We are training these guys up by the senior guys, who are ready to retire and there is a black hole, where we have lost years and years of experience.”
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