Outsourcing Manufacturing vs. Workforce Training and Automation

I appreciate that this blog is a thinly disguised pitch to get new business and I am sorry to rain on our parade but to suggest that outsourcing is part of the solution is to miss the point completely. Skill shortages in manufacturing and engineering in particular have been caused by companies taking a short term view and distributing profits to shareholders rather than reinvesting in training. This has gone on for many years and now the chickens have come home to roost. You claim a lack of potential trainees but I think that a much bigger problem is the lack of trainers. Unlike in the distant past when each tradesman was expected to be responsible for a stream of apprentices over his working life, the current workforce has had little or no experience of imparting their knowledge and skills to the younger generation. Imparting wisdom is a distinct skill that took years perfect where tradesmen looked to the older more experienced members of the workforce and absorbed best practice from them. It was a matter of pride to train your apprentice to the highest standard and if possible to a better standard than yourself. As you suggested those who are now nearing retirement age and who were probably trained under the old method so have some knowledge of how it should work will no longer be available in the near future. Outsourcing solves nothing. It does not address the longer term skills shortage. It does not encourage investment in automation. It only allows management to defer the problem further so that the much needed investment can continue to be diverted to shareholders. The system is broken. Outsourcing will not mend it.