With students showing little interest in FMCG, university courses focus assignments elsewhere, and so students miss the chance to consider the fascinating, meaningful problems of food security, healthy eating and sustainability.
Dario Riccomini, Managing Director of Scottish confectioners Aldomak, says it is difficult to attract the right talent: “We need generalist, multi-skilled engineering talent who do not need to be told what to do but are solution-focussed and self-starters. But many of those people want to work in automotive and aviation.” This rings true based on insights from universities and students alike. University attempts to get food engineering courses off the ground have stumbled as there has not been enough interest from undergraduates, while engineering courses tend to focus on the knotty problems in automotive and aeronautical. Project engineers, scientists, lab technologists and plant engineering technicians often do not even consider entering the food manufacturing industry 16 .
Raising awareness of the meaningful career opportunities within the sector is becoming increasingly urgent, as is expanding the use of AI, robotics, and automation to enable employees to focus on areas where they can make the greatest impact. Practical steps organisations, the industry and the government can take to overcome these capability hurdles are outlined in the activating talent section ofthis report.
16. Labour shortages are stifling economic growth for the UK’s food and drink producers, FDF, (2023)
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