Insider Media Limited

Changing the perceptions of modern manufacturing is “absolutely critical” to re-energising the pipeline of new talent. That’s according to Simon Griffiths, chief executive of the Manufacturing Advisory Service West Midlands (MAS-WM), who spoke to Insider at the UK Manufacturing Summit, attended by business secretary Vince Cable and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

More than 100 manufacturing representatives from across the UK attended the event.

Skills minister John Hayes took the opportunity to announce that the industry is set to receive a boost with the introduction of a National Skills Academy (NSA) for Composites and Biotechnology.

The academy, which will form part of the National Skills Academy for Process Industries, will receive up to £1.98m of funding over three years, matched by employers.

Business secretary Vince Cable said: "I was shocked to hear that a recent survey found 49 per cent of 7 to 11-year-olds think it would be boring to be an engineer. They could not be more wrong.

"That’s why government and industry agree that we have to improve the image of manufacturing if we are to attract the brightest and best into industry.

"Holding a factory doors open week will help us dispel the myth about engineering jobs and show they are challenging, exciting and well paid."

Griffiths said that the announcement of the new scheme was “extremely pleasing”.

He added: “The Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands already runs a programme of best practice visits for companies to see how other manufacturers operate and we find that this really opens eyes to what is possible.

“There is no reason why a similar scheme should not be created for young people, college leavers and graduates. In fact, there used to be one in the region and we would welcome the possibility of restarting this initiative as it resulted in significant positive perception changes at a time when many were considering their future careers.”

“Ensuring the skills of the future is a major challenge - and one that exists now. The government and business have a role to play in meeting this head on and changing the image of manufacturing is an excellent start.”

The West Midlands was represented at the event by several major manufacturers; amongst these was engineering giant GKN.

Andrew Reynolds Smith, divisional chief executive of GKN, said: “The government’s growth agenda is an important building block in accelerating the recovery of the UK economy. Within that agenda, the Manufacturing Summit will play an important part in understanding the barriers to growth as well as providing a better understanding of the importance of investment in key technologies, skills and capital equipment.

"Importantly, it will also emphasise the huge importance of the economies of Brazil, India and China and their influence on the future direction for UK business.”