Sector Skills Councils’ partnership plan set to benefit small
companies
- PAC pilot sees 14 companies increase profitability by more than
£1.3million
- Skills shortages are costing £700 million per year in lost
productivity in England alone
Four Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) have
announced they are joining forces to secure the future of the UK
manufacturing and engineering sectors through the Productivity and
Competitiveness (PAC) programme. The PAC Programme has been
formed by leading engineers who have pooled their core techniques
in lean process and manufacturing to create a new and different
approach specifically designed to help smaller companies.
The alliance of SSCs, called the Manufacturing
Skills Alliance (MSA), is made up of:
- Cogent, the SSC for the Chemicals and
Pharmaceuticals, Oil and Gas, Nuclear, Petroleum and Polymer
Industries
- Improve, the SSC for the Food and Drink
Manufacturing Industry
- Proskills, the SSC for the Building Products,
Coatings, Extractives, Furniture, Glass, Paper and Printing
Manufacturing and Processing Industries
- Semta, the SSC for Science, Engineering and
Manufacturing Technologies
A recent PAC/B-IT pilot programme in the West
Midlands has anticipated a total increase in profitability of more
than £1.3million. The pilot saw 14 companies go through the PAC
programme with companies involved seeing an average of £93,000
increase in profitability. One company involved, HydroBolt, a
manufacturer and supplier of bespoke fasteners from Wolverhampton,
saw a continuous improvement and a £9,000 increase in output.
Through measurements of quality, cost and
delivery, on site PAC analysts work to assess the performance of
manufacturing and engineering companies and facilitate increased
productivity and bottom line benefit through seven key measures. In
order that skills and knowledge acquired are sustainable, selected
staff subsequently undertake Business Improvement Techniques (B-IT)
NVQ qualifications.
Philip Whiteman, Chief Executive of Semta, a
member of the Manufacturing Skills Alliance said:
“We are delighted that the pilot has been such
a tremendous success. PAC enables employers to really increase and
sustain productivity and competitiveness. According to recent Semta
research, skills shortages are estimated to cost £700 million per
year in lost productivity in England alone which highlights that
programmes like PAC and B-IT are essential in enabling UK companies
to compete globally; the benefits of PAC are clear and quantifiable
and can have a huge impact on the bottom line of small to medium
sized businesses.”
Companies interested in finding out more about
PAC should contact Semta Customer Services on 0845 643 9001 or
email Customer
Services
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NOTES TO EDITORS
- The PAC programme is an initiative by the
Manufacturing Skills Alliance i.e. Cogent, Improve, Proskills and
Semta and various National Skills Academies. PAC was originally
launched by Industry Forum.
- The PAC and B-IT programme takes 6 to 9
months, and the total cost to the company ranges from £3k to
£5k.
- There are currently around 20 PAC analysts in
the UK and the number is growing.
There is a network of 25 employer-led Sector
Skills Councils (SSCs) tasked by the governments of England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland with ensuring employers have people
with the right skills to boost productivity and
competitiveness.
Cogent (Sector skills council for the
chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, oil and gas, petroleum and
polymer industries): http://www.cogent-ssc.com/
Cogent is the sector skills council for the
chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, oil and gas, petroleum and
polymer industries. It is the voice of employers in these sectors
and is working with them to create a skills environment that
businesses need to be innovative, competent, productive and
sustainable. There are 20,000 companies and 90,000 employees
in Cogent’s sector.
Improve Ltd (Sector Skills Council for
the Food and Drink Manufacturing Industry in the UK):
www.improveltd.co.uk
Improve Ltd is dedicated to addressing the
skills needs of the industry. ImproveSkills has been introduced to
highlight the great work which Improve Ltd is undertaking in
addressing the specific skills issues faced in the industry.
Proskills (Sector Skills Council for
the process and manufacturing sector): http://www.proskills.co.uk/
Proskills is the SSC for the Process and
Manufacturing sector, a major part of the UK economy, including the
Coatings, Extractives, Glass, Building Products, Printing, Paper
and the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors industries, consisting
of 55,000 employers and over 800,000 employees.
Semta (Sector Skills Council for
Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies):
http://www.semta.org.uk/
Semta is the employer-led skills council for
Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies in the
UK. The sectors it represents are: Aerospace,
Automotive, Bioscience, Electrical, Electronics, Maintenance,
Marine, Mathematics, Mechanical, Metals and Engineered Metal
Products and Science. Its role is to the raise skills levels
and competitiveness in the 76,000 companies and 1.9 million-strong
workforce that make up these sectors.