March 2019

44 n EXECUTIVE VIEWPOINT March 2019 www.drivesncontrols.com The People’s Revolution We need to bridge the skills communications gap “How can 4IR technologies expand the human potential in your business?” It’s a great pleasure to be invited back to offer my thoughts in the eagerly anticipated biennial Drives & Controls Executive Viewpoint feature. The most important message I can offer to UK industry is to grab Industry 4.0 with both hands, right now. This sort of opportunity is not just once in a generation, it will define many generations to come. If you haven’t embarked on a 4IR (fourth industrial revolution) strategy already, start one now. If you have started one, accelerate it. If you’re advanced, review and improve it. I’ve gone on record before as saying that when we look back at this era, it won’t have been Brexit that defined it, but rather the extent to which the UK took advantage of the 4IR, and I believe it now more than ever. I’ve been closely involved in the 4IR journey over the past few years, both as the UK director of a company that is at the forefront of the technologies, strategies and approaches that help industry to leverage it, and as the leader Country Director, Rockwell Automation UK Mark Bottomley Director of Sales, Lenze Lester Bull It’s shocking to think that in 2019, only 11% of engineers are female. 11%! In an economy where we are struggling to find engineers of any gender you have to ask: how do we change this? What more can we do? We need diverse skills today and females more than ever before, but recruiting both men and women into engineering seems like an overwhelming challenge. Do we need more investment? Do we need to change the perception of engineering? Bring STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) into the curriculum earlier? Do we need to change the narrative of what’s being said? The reality is, it’s a lot of things that need to happen to effect change, and fast. Additional investment in STEM subjects is seen as a key component to introducing engineering to the next generation of young engineers. Plugging the skills gap is a prime concern for the engineering sector and the government. A staggering 44% of engineering enterprises state that hard-to-fill vacancies are directly affecting the production of new products and services – critical to the growth of the UK economy and the engineering industry. When the government launched its Industrial Strategy, it promised to invest an additional £406m. This is needed to help steer education and present the opportunities in engineering to deliver students into apprenticeship programmes.