Digital tech drives hiring surge for aerospace manufacturers

This is according to Made Smarter, the movement helping businesses grow through technology adoption.

Half of the 126 businesses adopting technology with the support of the Made Smarter North West pilot have put data and systems integration at the heart of their productivity and growth plans.

By embracing technologies which connect disparate systems and unify data residing in different sources, companies are spotting trends in production, labour, maintenance and quality issues. They are also able to minimise safety risks, business risk and operational downtime throughout their production.

But while this technology is solving business challenges and driving growth, it is also highlighting a digital skills gap across industry and emphasising the need for existing workforces to be upskilled.

One way that Made Smarter is helping bridge that gap is through a digital technology internship programme which has so far connected 31 university students and graduates with SME manufacturers to work on live digital transformation projects.

Meanwhile, undergraduates, master’s and PhD students, as well as graduates from UK universities, are benefitting from paid work experience, valuable hands-on practical work experience, a taste of a potential career path, and a foot in the door of a forward-thinking company or industry.

Beverston Engineering, a Knowsley-based manufacturer of components for safety critical industries such as aerospace, is implementing an ambitious digital strategy with the support of Made Smarter.

Beverston has managed to partially plug that skills gap through Made Smarter’s digital technology internships using Oliver Miller, a Master’s student in aerospace engineering at Liverpool University, who is developing a new quality management system.

“The opportunities Industry 4.0 brings are really exciting, and I am keen to share that enthusiasm with colleagues at Beverston and upskill them as to the benefits of new technologies,” Miller said. “As an SME, the native digital skills aren't there, so it has been a great opportunity to share my experience of software, programming languages and other data skills, and what I have learnt during my studies.”

www.madesmarter.uk