SMMT News

Research to support supply chain growth in UK automotive sector

21 May 2015 #SMMT News

Automotive manufacturers are asking supply chain employers to support an industry wide skills survey, to help ensure the skilled workforce needed to boost the proportion of vehicle components manufactured in this country.

New investments, economic recovery, overseas demand and continued technological advances, all point to continued substantial increases in UK vehicle production in the coming years. This means significant opportunities for those domestic suppliers able to respond.  (Currently only 40%1 of components are sourced from the UK).

To ensure the industry is equipped with the right skills to support this growth, the Automotive Industrial Partnership – the recently formed body that brings the industry and government together to secure the sector’s skills pipeline – is conducting the biggest ever survey of its kind aimed at vehicle manufacturers and the 2,0002 UK based supply chain employers.

Jo Lopes, Chair of the Automotive Industrial Partnership, said, “This initiative is unprecedented. There have been many other surveys covering the engineering and manufacturing sectors as a whole – but none that drill down to this level of detail and meet the unique needs of automotive manufacturing industry.

“It’s vital that we know the views of employers of all sizes if we are to take the right action now to ensure an effective pipeline of future talent – from new entrant technicians through to the specialist engineers and managers we will need.

“By working together we have the opportunity to mould the future of our industry – and address the very real challenges that we face.”

The findings will be used by the Automotive Industrial Partnership to determine where, when and how future skills investment should be prioritised. In turn, this will inform the development of learning solutions that are relevant and accessible to the whole industry, including smaller employers.

Among the household names driving the Automotive Industrial Partnership are Bentley, BMW, Ford, GKN, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall.

Not-for-profit employer led skills organisation Semta and industry trade association SMMT, working through the Automotive Council, also support the Automotive Industrial Partnership in conjunction with Industry Forum, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

Employers can complete the survey online, or arrange a face-to-face interview with a researcher.

The survey will be completed by mid July – with the results to be published this autumn.

To take part in the survey, go to www.automotiveip.co.uk or email enquiries@automotiveip.co.uk

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