Towards the end of this decade, there will be a ‘tremendous shortfall’ in engineering talent – both graduates and apprentices – that will affect not only the car industry but also related industries, especially in the supply chain where employers are seen as less attractive.

That’s the view shared by Graham Hoare, Ford's global director for vehicle evaluation and verification, and Jo Lopes, Jaguar Land Rover’s head of technical excellence. And it’s one echoed in the aerospace industry where it is described as a ‘bow wave’ caused by a generation reaching retirement age with too few engineers coming through the system to replace them.

While Hoare believes that the ‘Blue Oval is still a desirable brand to work for, so we are ok for today and tomorrow’, he adds that there is a big fall-out of engineers after university. ‘Of the 800,000 engineering undergraduates just in the UK, only 22,000 remain in the pipeline. Some study in Britain and return to their homeland while 40% choose to use their degree for something other than engineering,’ says Hoare, adding: ‘It’s really important to promote engineering as a way of changing the world.’

Hoare’s colleague Paula Leach, who is head of learning and development, Ford of Britain, echoes concerns that a skills shortage is looming, ‘but because Ford is a relatively attractive employer any shortage is likely to hit us last.’

Ford’s UK base takes the global lead in engine development and engine technology described by Leach as ‘pretty exciting especially with green engines,’ so the company needs engineers who can ‘focus on small changes to help us meet emission targets,’ as Leach puts it.

Other imperatives for the industry include finding graduates with the skill to work on advanced manufacturing and product development processes and design for lean, efficient manufacturing. This means ‘refreshing the talent pool with much higher technical capability than previously required, especially in the areas of low carbon emissions concentrating on both advanced and conventional powertrains,’ says Hoare.

A report published in December by Engineering UK which projects the country’s capacity for industrial growth reveals that the shortfall of under 19s taking advanced engineering apprenticeships could jeopardise the UK’s ability to compete with leading economies, such as China and the US.

The report highlighted a decline of 12.2% to 16,280 young people under 19 taking engineering-related Advanced Level Apprenticeships – a downward trend which, the organisation says, would damage the UK’s current and future capacity for growth if left unaddressed.

Engineering UK chief executive, Paul Jackson, said at the time the report was published that, ‘positive action has been taken to address the skills gap at all levels. The recent Perkins review and announcement of investment in universities and further education colleges’ science and engineering facilities will build a foundation to accelerate skills growth in the sector.

‘However, as these findings show, it is vital we focus on attracting new talent into the industry. As the UK economy’s engine for growth, it is crucial that engineering gains sustained support for education, training and careers inspiration.’

It’s a message that the car industry is already heeding. ‘We try to intervene with scholarship programmes, sponsorship and outreaching to schools and colleges,’ says Ford’s Hoare.

‘The role of engineers is to develop products for people so having input from guys and girls is really important. We have fewer women engineers than in China, Turkey (where Ford has a key manufacturing centre) and even Germany so we have to work harder in the UK to demonstrate that women can add tremendous value especially at human machine interface level.

‘Auto engineering is a great opportunity for women, 25% of all successful scholarship applicants are women which might not sound much but it is significantly higher than in the workplace at the moment.’

Ford’s rate is also higher than at JLR where the female intake is around 15-16%, up from just 7% four years ago. JLR notes that seven out of 10 women who study engineering decide not to pursue it as a career. ‘There is still a misconception about engineering as a career,’ says Robinder Gill, who is responsible for graduate, undergraduate and apprentice recruitment at JLR. He notes that for some reason not fully understood, women tend to study civil or chemical engineering rather than mechanical or electrical.

Set against this background of concern, Ford has launched its higher apprentice scheme; the next intake is September 2014. This is a four-year scheme, which takes post-A level/ Baccalaureate students and combines an apprenticeship with a degree at Greenwich University in London.

Ford recruited some 100 graduates in the UK in 2013. While most are British citizens, some are from within the EU or further afield. In Germany, Ford recruited 40 graduates, a figure that embraces finance, HR and purchasing.

JLR’s recruitment drive has been well publicised as it expands its product portfolio. It is recruiting between 200 and 220 graduates a year to work in product development and manufacturing. In 2010 it had what was then a record intake of 150 and in September this year [2014] it expects to be taking on around 230 graduates.

JLR’s Jo Lopes says the car industry is much more diverse than it was, but laments the fact that seven out of 10 women engineering graduates choose not to pursue engineering as a career. ‘There are still misconceptions about engineering,’ he says which is why JLR sponsors and mentors women engineers.

One recent recruit is Lucia Carassiti, an Italian who studied materials engineering in her home country before taking a post-graduate course at Glasgow University. While there, she attended a Jaguar Land Rover ‘women in engineering’ networking event and learnt from other women what life was like at JLR. ‘Talking to other women was reassuring,’ she said. Carassiti discovered that there was a need for lightweight materials specialists and joined JLR in September 2012. ‘I didn’t know much about the product, so I spent four months working at a Land Rover dealership in London which was fun,’ she explains.

But both JLR and Ford do better than the average – only 6% of the UK engineering workforce are women according to the Women’s Engineering Society.

To 2020… and beyond

One of the concerns raised by both companies is how the industry will find the right engineers to take the car into the 2020s and beyond.

As the day of the driverless car approaches, what you do inside a car becomes more important than what you do with a car. ‘The car is becoming a second home on wheels especially in Europe, North America and China with complete connectivity demanded by customers so we’re looking for engineers with human machine interface (HMI) capabilities, possibly from outside regular engineering,’ says Ford’s Graham Hoare.

‘We need engineers who understand people’s behaviour,’ he says, noting that particular skill is one reason an Apple iPod is superior to a regular MP3 player.

The industry also needs engineers with multi-discipline capability. ‘Safety has been a major focus since the 1970s but there has been a revolution in the last 10 years in active safety – protecting the driver and passengers with active steering, active braking but also with on-board systems that, for example, let the emergency services know how many people are in a car so they know how many ambulances to dispatch,’ says Hoare.

The industry also needs those who understand Bluetooth® coding and infotainment systems, notes JLR. ‘We attract many people at Jaguar Land Rover – the shortage is in the supply chain who need the same people as us but struggle to find them,’ says Lopes.