INTELLIGENT VERTICAL: MANUFACTURING
more important than technical knowledge,
and as we dive deeper into Industry 4.0,
this will become clearer. Bringing in a
development and training specialist can help
manufacturers perform a skills gap analysis
to ensure that any training plan is not only
going to address the current pressure points,
but also future-proof the company.
Aligning training to the overarching
business strategy
Forward-thinking leadership teams are
developing their workforce upskilling strategy
– a task that has historically been the
responsibility of HR – as an integral part of
their strategic business planning process.
Andy Coussins, senior vice president and
head of international, Epicor Software
have been created around job descriptions.
Instead, manufacturers need to review tasks
– including labelling, packaging, and shipping
– rather than job roles, to reap the benefits of
digital data sharing.
Software platforms, such as modern
enterprise resource planning (ERP), provide
employees across departments with real-
time information and a 360-degree picture
of what’s happening in the business.
By allocating tasks to both machines and
people, manufacturers can ensure an
efficient level of automation, freeing up
employees’ time to focus on new, less
manual and more skilled tasks that deliver
greater value to the business.
Identifying where upskilling needs
to happen
Beefing up engineering talent on the shop
floor is, without a doubt, vital; however, skills
gaps higher up in the business are just as
pressing. Manufacturers should therefore
think about technical knowledge and skills
gaps, but also consider potential gaps in
management and leadership skills.
It is worth remembering that leadership
skills and human ingenuity will become
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INTELLIGENTCIO
This planning process includes a
comprehensive review of how external
trends are affecting existing structures, jobs
and skills across the business. It considers
which roles are strategic and core to the
business, which ones will appear, and which
will change or disappear completely.
Technology can play a key role in this
strategic planning process, using real-
time, data-driven insight to analyse
and review where training is required
across an entire manufacturing business.
Specifically, software such as modern
enterprise resource planning (ERP),
customer relationship management (CRM),
and manufacturing execution systems
(MES), can deliver actionable insight on a
company-wide scale – from core business
processes, to interactions with customers
and manufacturing operations.
By using the insights that data from these
systems can offer, businesses can uncover
opportunities to educate the workforce at
every level.
In addition, using new technologies can also
help drive recruitment. Recent research from
Epicor Software revealed that nearly half
(41%) of young people want to work with
the latest innovations, demonstrating that
implementing new technologies can make
businesses very attractive to an emerging
pool of new, digitally-skilled talent.
This underpins the need to implement
training in time for the arrival of these new
technologies on the shop floor, for both
existing and incoming staff – it could even
become the new competitive advantage in
the Industry 4.0 era. Manufacturers need to
do their research to understand which are
going to be the key skills profiles needed
for future success, and then develop a
people-centric work environment to help the
business thrive.
Understanding the scale
and timeframes
Helping employees to upskill in this fast-
changing world of work also needs to
happen at speed and to scale. The skills
revolution that we are seeing goes hand-
in-hand with innovations, and as new
technologies emerge, the skills requirements
will change. In order to keep pace with
changes in the sector, manufacturers need
to consider upskilling an ongoing long-
term investment and develop strategies for
continuous upskilling, or ‘lifelong learning’ of
their employees.
This upskilling process does not have to
mean traditional classroom-based training.
In this digital age, personalised learning
opportunities, such as on-demand training
and e-learning, allow manufacturers to
cater for a large workforce where individual
employees are at different stages of learning
and acceptance of new technologies.
As the pace of technological change
increases, manufacturers need to act to
ensure they are not constrained by an
increasing gap between supply and demand
for talent. To address the growing skills gap,
smart organisations will consider turning to
their current workforce and investigating the
transferable talent and skills it holds.
Technologies like modern ERP and MES
solutions are fast becoming the foundation
for Digital Transformation in manufacturing
by functioning as the fabric that connects
people, processes, data and things in an
intelligent and strategic manner.
A skilled and agile workforce that can
successfully use these technologies can
enable manufacturers to rise to the
challenges presented by Industry 4.0. These
companies will then, in turn, be in a strong
position to navigate the ever-changing
economic and international business
environment, improve productivity, and drive
future business growth. n
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