Automation, education, and motivation: Training the workforce of the future
29 May 2024
Automation is set to transform the world of work, requiring people to learn completely new skill sets as new roles are created. Making that happen is the responsibility not just of workers but also of policymakers, educators, and industry, as Paul Garner, Account Manager, Education & Collaborative Robots for ABB Robotics UK, explains.
Automation is offering business owners new opportunities to streamline their operations by using technology to carry out tasks faster, more efficiently and with minimal risk of error.
In manufacturing and distribution applications, robots are being used to handle an expanding array of tasks that have traditionally been carried out by human workers.
Yet, the future workplace will increasingly see humans and robots working together to make production and operations faster, more efficient and more resilient.
Few people want to do dull, dirty, and potentially dangerous jobs anymore. This has led to a labour gap in unskilled work as well as a shortage in some labour-intensive but skilled jobs like welding.
It is this shortage of labour that is driving automation, with global robot density accelerating especially in the transportation and storage, manufacturing, and construction industries.
Automation is also the result of a growing need for faster, more flexible performance and the need to be able to respond quickly to changing requirements.
In the e-commerce sector, the inherent flexibility of robots is providing the answer to meeting tight margins and fast turnaround times, as well as the need to respond to massive upsurges or falls in demand and unexpected changes in consumer behaviour.
Similarly, in manufacturing applications, the flexibility, accuracy, and consistency of robots present an ideal way of making production more efficient, ensuring that goods are produced correctly with no reprocessing, waste, or excessive energy use, reducing the impact of manufacturing on the environment.
New technologies, new opportunities
While a growing range of manual tasks are being automated, this doesn’t mean that fewer jobs will be available. Estimates from the World Economic Forum[1], for example, predict that by 2025, technology will generate at least 12 million more jobs than it displaces, opening possibilities for the creation of new roles.
As this happens, it will be the responsibility of education and training to help equip both future and current workforces with the necessary skillsets.
Initially, the requirements of automation itself will boost the jobs market. As the number of robots being deployed grows, so too will the demand for engineers and qualified technicians who can program, operate, service and maintain them.
The list of jobs they could be doing is a long one and includes robot maintenance programming and skills training, data analysis, process automation, automation procurement, and multiple engineering, design, safety, and planning jobs.
All these new posts will be enabled by the switch to more automated systems. The increased role of AI, machine learning, big data, VR and AR, sensing and remote communications, to name only a few drivers, will further expand the job market.
Automation will even extend its influence into some less obvious areas. One potential growth area is ‘green’ roles, where automated technologies, including robots, are being deployed in applications such as vertical farming, renewable energy, green construction, sustainable fashion, remanufacturing, and recycling.
Another benefit will be greater diversity. With its reliance on heavy manual labour, the manufacturing sector especially has traditionally been male dominated.
But when such work becomes automated, and manufacturing becomes more about problem-solving and collaboration, such considerations become irrelevant and gender diversity becomes a reality. There are, potentially, jobs for all in 21st-century manufacturing and engineering.
Bridging the skills gap
This may seem like good news but there’s one obvious question: where is the workforce?
In theory, it’s all around us. Young people, surrounded by screens and smart technologies, are more tech-savvy than ever before. But that’s not enough. They will need more focused education and skills training to manage an automated, robot-led future.
That’s not the only issue. Many of the most urgently needed automation-related jobs are in the manufacturing and engineering sectors – sectors still weighed down by negative and often outdated perceptions.
Few people, it seems, realise that modern manufacturing techniques involve exciting technologies ranging from smart sensors and mobile robots through to intelligent production management systems. It’s no longer about lifting and hauling. Young jobseekers need to be better informed as well as better educated.
Sowing the grassroots
Engaging children with technology at an early age is key. If young people see technology such as robots as exciting and something to be embraced – and if they understand their use in a real manufacturing or commerce environment – then their perceptions of both automation and manufacturing will be positive.
This means that educational institutions, right from primary schools to colleges and universities, have a crucial role to play in helping to teach skills that will be sharpened and refined – first in the educational system and then in the workplace.
It's important to note that there is already a high awareness among educational institutions of the potential impact of robots and automation on these changing employment trends and of the need to introduce robots and automation into schools at the earliest opportunity.
Some colleges and universities have either created robot-specific courses or are using robots as part of learning delivery.
However, in many countries, the adoption of robots in education has not kept up with this awareness. Funding and teaching resources are major issues but often there’s a more fundamental problem: some teachers and institutions simply don’t know where to start.
Structures need to be in place that enable easy and equal access to lifelong learning, involving the provision of training at every level. Education curriculums need to be reimagined to reflect and cater for the needs of modern manufacturing in particular, where automation is making a major impact.
Students need to be taught about new technologies and given opportunities to use them in solving real-world problems. This is where companies involved in the world of manufacturing can help.
As a robot supplier, ABB is actively involved in many projects around the world providing schools, colleges and universities with the equipment, expertise and course materials needed to teach robotic automation. In this way, students are equipped with the skills needed to program and operate robots, and apply them to solving real-world production problems.
This same support also extends to educating teachers. Partnerships between education and industry can play a key role in providing teachers, tutors and lecturers with the knowledge, context and, importantly, equipment needed to deliver relevant and high-quality instruction to students.
Companies in automation, manufacturing and other relevant fields can also offer training and support at every level, from schools through to on-the-job training to provide both future and current workers with skillsets that will help them to work with automated and digital technologies.
The use of new production technologies, the real application of technical, language and numeracy skills, and insights into career options in the changing workplace – all of these can be demonstrated by companies that will themselves be boosted by a better-trained workforce.
To achieve this, there needs to be closer cooperation between policymakers, educational institutions, manufacturers, automated technology providers like ABB and the wider business community. Jobs, skills, products, services, and the environment will all benefit.
Find out more
For examples of how ABB is working with educational institutions and partners worldwide to prepare future and current workers for an automated future, visit ABB's website.
[1] World Economic Forum (WEF), (2020) – ‘Don’t fear AI. It will lead to a long-term job growth’
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