Augmented reality: The answer to the skills gap?
Author : Sophia Bell, Group Editor, Connectivity & Mike Loughran, Director, Rockwell Automation
25 November 2022
Mike Loughran, Director, Rockwell Automation
The labour shortage has long plagued the manufacturing industry – and it’s a problem that has only been exacerbated in recent years. So, how do we solve this pressing issue? In this exclusive interview, Connectivity’s Group Editor, Sophia Bell, chats to Mike Loughran – Director, Intelligent Devices, Software & Control Business at Rockwell Automation – about how manufacturers can harness AR to help close the skills gap, optimise production, and enhance profitability.
What impact does the skills gap have on the manufacturing sector?
The skills gap has a hugely negative impact on the profitability of the manufacturing sector. First of all, it means that manufacturers are unable to run and optimise production, due to a lack of supporting personnel and skilled knowledge. This results in increased operational costs, scrap and production time, as well as more energy and raw material being used to produce lower output. All of this cumulates to reduce the productivity of manufacturers’ operations significantly.
A lack of knowledge in the production process also causes reduced output quality and manufacturers being unable to meet supply chain demand. This leads to customer dissatisfaction, meaning companies could lose out on all-important business, as their customers look elsewhere.
The problem can also be exacerbated by the impact on your existing workforce. A lack of support, heightened pressure and longer hours all risk lower employee engagement and can even lead to more people leaving the business, creating an even greater shortage of skilled workers.
How has the UK’s approach to filling the skills gap evolved over the past few years?
Over the past few years, there has been a growing recognition of the skills gap problem within the UK. This has led to a number of new initiatives being adopted to help address this issue.
We have seen an increased promotion of apprenticeships and graduate apprenticeships to capture diverse talent at all ages. Companies have additionally invested more time in upskilling existing employees, and providing flexible working options to retain and attract skills.
The adoption of technology and digital transformation are also helping to augment and support existing employees. Manufacturers are increasingly taking steps to automate production, freeing up employees to focus on higher-value jobs and activities.
Secure remote connectivity and support tools are enabling access to experts, regardless of location and time zone.
Meanwhile, zero-touch/low-touch analytics and analysis are providing deeper manufacturing insight in real time, with role-based context. This allows for a high-speed roll-out across multiple sites, without an in-house skill set and infrastructure.
In general, do you believe smart technology and the Industrial Internet of Things help to address the skills gap or do they, in fact, worsen the problem by putting new demands on the workforce and increasing the need for more skilled workers to operate this technology?
I strongly believe that technology and IoT can help address the skills gap and increase productivity. However, this must be as a joined-up approach which includes people, processes, and technology.
If companies don’t do this, they will face greater challenges in the future, the skills gap will increase, employee numbers will reduce, and it will be harder to attract new talent, as they will be drawn to other companies that provide greater opportunities.
How can a clear workforce development and training strategy help your business mitigate workforce challenges?
All companies should have a multi-tiered workforce development and training programme, one that addresses the short-, medium- and long-term challenges.
First, companies should be looking for ways to capture the knowledge of their existing workforce, concentrating on skills which are specialist/high demand, or could soon be lost to retirement.
Technology can be easily used to capture these skills in a digital and augmented format. These can then be utilised to help train existing or new employees – and can be reused and repeated as required to provide guidance when needed.
For the existing workforce, opportunities should be identified to retrain or upskill. As previously mentioned, the adoption of automation and technology can be used to automate low-skill and repetitive tasks of the manufacturing and operating process, freeing up time to retrain staff.
Medium to longer term, companies need to be proactively looking to attract and retain a diverse workforce. This may require a new way of looking at recruitment, looking for a broader range of candidates. This involves providing every candidate with equal opportunity, regardless of their age and background, and looking for key attributes which support your business – rather than those based on pure educational prestige.
What role does augmented reality (AR) play in this strategy – and what are the main benefits of the technology?
AR can provide multiple benefits. For example, it can be used to capture digitally the workforce skills which may otherwise be lost. This can then be used to provide training and support tools for existing and future employees.
Additionally, it can help provide access to expertise and skills, regardless of where they are physically located. This provides support to multiple manufacturing sites, remotely and virtually, speeding time to resolution, lowering support travel and support costs, and increasing productivity.
Lastly, AR can be utilised to enable multi-skilled workers to carry out tasks which may, in the past, have required dedicated skill sets. AR work instructions can provide real-time, digitally overlaid instructions and guidance – both verbally and visually – in conjunction with the physical asset. These can be fully interfaced with the machine’s operation, to ensure the safety of personnel. This helps address skills gaps, as well as increasing the productivity and employee engagement.
How has manufacturers’ relationship with augmented reality changed since the beginning of the pandemic? Has it become more necessary – and more popular?
Adoption has grown significantly since the pandemic. For some companies, it has become a necessity to implement new machines and keep existing plants going, especially with travel and site-access restrictions.
Meanwhile, others have sped up adoption to provide the option of a more flexible working environment, or to capture high-value employees' skills prior to them taking retirement/early retirement, something which has increased as a result of the pandemic.
Furthermore, the reduced cost of technology entry points for AR has encouraged companies to start exploring the art of the possible, focusing on what can realistically be achieved and taking practicable, proactive steps to achieve this.
What does the future hold for augmented reality? Do you believe it is the answer to the increasing pressure to fill the skills gap?
Augmented reality will become a fundamental component of any new machine/plant from the design stage onwards, and will form part of the digital twin of a plant. This digital twin will be utilised to train employees, enable virtual engineering and testing of new products and production techniques, provide business analytics, and provide remote support capabilities.
Adoption of the technology will provide enhanced opportunities for existing employees and help encourage more diverse talent into the manufacturing workforce, who may not have considered entering manufacturing previously.
A digital future
Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that will instantly solve the labour shortage. However, it’s clear that implementing advanced technologies, such as augmented reality, will go a long way in helping companies to bridge the gap, and bringing the UK manufacturing industry securely into a bright, new, digital future.
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