Latest News
June 26, 2012
The lack of skills is a serious barrier to growth that must be tackled" Sue Witcutt, Managing Director, James Grove & Sons
A shortage of skilled workers to replace ageing workforces is holding back some West Midlands businesses from growing.
Business leaders from the Halesowen and Birmingham area attending a manufacturing round table also identified a number of other issues holding them back including the high level of taxation, Government interference and difficulty in getting finance from banks.
The round table organised by Halesowen accountancy firm ER Grove was held at the nearby premises of button manufacturer, James Grove & Sons. There was strong support for an idea from John Blee, managing director of Zotic in Birmingham, for small and medium sized businesses not to be taxed on the first £100,000 of profits.
Will Brinkman, director of Glassworks Hounsell in Halesowen, said it would enable firms to invest in plant and machinery without having to go to banks. Mr Brinkman also called for the establishment of an engineering academy to help businesses like his experiencing problems with recruitment. “We export all over the world – 90 per cent of our business is abroad but we are currently turning new business away. We can’t find staff. We have built a new factory and got the machinery but can’t find people to work the machines.”
James Grove managing director Sue Witcutt, confirmed her 155 year-old firm had a similar problem with an ageing workforce and difficulty in replacing skills. “The lack of skills is a serious barrier to growth that must be tackled” she said.Bob Whiston, owner of Whiston Industries in Cradley Heath, said he had begun taking on apprentices in November last year and was planning to take on two more over the next month. He said the shortage of people with language skills in manufacturing was the biggest single obstacle to growing exports and he called for better teaching of languages including German, Spanish and Chinese in schools.
John Nicholson, a director of Vacuum Furnace Engineering in Halesowen, urged the Government to consider dropping university tuition fees for students going into engineering to encourage more engineers to train. David Austin, of AD&C Group in Birmingham, said he was concerned at the poor level of training being given by some organisations set up to deliver NVQs.
ER Grove partner, Steve Lomas, who chaired the meeting, said West Midlands manufacturers were doing well at the moment and urged businesses to get their good news out and explain their success.
Mr Blee put the success down to worldwide demand for niche products being made in the UK while Brian Rymer of IMM Hydraulics in Halesowen, said the high level of service to customers was a factor. Mr Brinkman said a lot of European customers they had lost to China in the early 2000s were coming back because they now appreciated the difference between cost and value.
Mr Austin said his business was winning back business from China because of lead times with customers not wanting to hold large amounts of stock and have to wait for shipping from China. Mr Whiston added that some businesses that had bought press tools from China had found they were poor quality and had had to spend considerable amounts of money to correct them. He said in his industry of tool making his company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, had traded successfully through the recession and 70 per cent of its business was now from exports.
“We are looking for new export markets as we speak. Our object is to turn the table round and start exporting to China,” he added.
For more information contact
Cathy Connan Communication Strategy
07976 669089
