With too many jobs and too few people to do them, companies in the technical industries and manufacturing facing a serious skills gap in Europe and elsewhere – including the UK.
High precision injection moulding operations, among others, are finding it virtually impossible to recruit and retain experienced people. And like businesses in other sectors, injection moulders are fast discovering that sustainable operations go beyond environmental concerns and circularity. When it comes to sustainable employability, there are still considerable gains to be made.
Sustainable employability is an important tool to guarantee long term employment.
It is often defined as the extent to which employees are able to work, either with or for the organisation, in a productive, motivated and healthy way.
UK-based Bespak, a leading manufacturer of respiratory drug delivery devices, valves and actuators, and injectable devices has now taken action to address this and the skills gap issue with a single initiative.
The company has invested in its own Academy at King’s Lynn, Norfolk, providing industry recognised training, to ensure enployees are able to utilise all the technical innovations required for increasingly complex medical devices. It has also enabled them to give all their employees an appreciation of injection moulding.
The initiative has been supported by Engel UK, who has supplied an e-mac all-electric injection moulding machine to the training facility, featuring an innovative energy recovery system and providing high productivity from a small footprint.
Bespak believe that apprenticeship programmes are fundamental in supporting future growth. But it’s not just apprentices that benefit from the facilities on offer. Operators, technicians and engineers take part in a range of injection moulding process courses up to RJG Master Moulder certification onsite. These courses are enhanced with a range of other learning initiatives including validation, statistics, DOE, Moldflow & Polymer Science.