Walk into almost any modern manufacturing site and you will see the smart factory taking shape: connected machines streaming data, predictive maintenance systems flagging faults before they happen, and cobots working alongside operators. The technology conversation is well advanced. The people conversation is lagging behind.
Every week I speak with manufacturers who have invested heavily in automation, only to find they cannot recruit the engineers, technicians and data-literate operators needed to get full value from it. Make UK’s Industrial Strategy Skills Commission estimated that there were around 55,000 long-term unfilled vacancies in the sector in 2025, costing the UK economy roughly £6bn a year in lost output. Meanwhile, the UK still sits well below its European neighbours on robot density, with 112 industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers against an EU average of 231, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Those two numbers are connected. We cannot accelerate the adoption of smart technology without the people to install, maintain, programme and improve it. And we will not find enough of those people if we keep looking in the same places, in the same way.
The Skills Gap Is a Design Problem, Not Just a Supply Problem
It is tempting to treat the skills gap purely as a pipeline issue: not enough apprentices, not enough graduates, not enough experienced engineers. All of that is true. But in my experience, a large part of the gap is self-inflicted. Job specifications are often written for the workforce of fifteen years ago, demanding a narrow list of qualifications and years of time-served experience on a specific machine or system.
Smart factories need something different. They need people who can diagnose problems across mechanical, electrical and software systems, who are comfortable working with data, and who can learn new platforms quickly as technology evolves. Those capabilities are as much about aptitude and attitude as they are about certificates.
Upskilling the Workforce You Already Have
The fastest route to smart factory skills is often already on the payroll. A skilled mechanical maintenance technician who understands the plant inside out is a far better candidate for training in PLCs, condition monitoring or robotics than an external hire who knows the technology but not the process. An experienced operator who has spent years spotting quality issues by eye can, with the right support, become an excellent user of vision systems and process data.
The manufacturers I see doing this well share a few habits:
• They map skills, not job titles. They know what capabilities sit in their teams and where the gaps will be in three to five years, not just today.
• They build training into the technology roadmap. When a new line or system is specified, the upskilling plan is budgeted alongside it rather than added as an afterthought.
• They create visible progression routes. Operators can see a path to technician, and technicians to multi-skilled engineer or controls specialist. That visibility is one of the most powerful retention tools available.
• They harness experience. Pairing long-serving employees with newer, more digitally fluent colleagues transfers process knowledge one way and digital confidence the other.
Upskilling is not cheap, but neither is a vacancy that stays open for six months while a new production line runs below capacity.
Looking Sideways: The Value of Transferable Skills
When external recruitment is needed, widening the lens pays off. Some of the strongest smart factory candidates I have seen came from outside traditional manufacturing: former armed forces engineers; technicians from automotive, rail, energy or facilities management; and people from logistics and warehousing who already work every day with automated systems and warehouse management software.
Fault-finding is fault-finding. Working safely under pressure, following procedures, reading technical drawings and managing shift handovers are skills that move between sectors far more easily than many hiring managers assume. A short, structured induction into a specific process will often close the remaining gap in weeks rather than years.
To unlock this, employers need to assess candidates on capability and potential. That means writing job adverts around the problems the role solves, using practical assessments rather than CV keyword filters, and being honest about which requirements are essential and which are simply habit.
The Talent Pool We Keep Overlooking
There is another, even larger, source of talent hiding in plain sight. Women make up nearly half of the UK workforce, yet hold less than a third of manufacturing roles, according to research from the University of Cambridge’s Industrial Innovation Policy group. The government’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan now sets a target of 35% female representation by 2035. Reaching it will take more than good intentions.
The smart factory should make this easier, not harder. Automation is removing much of the heavy, repetitive work that once put people off certain roles, and much of the work in data analysis, remote monitoring, planning and controls can be organised far more flexibly. Yet many manufacturers still default to rigid shift patterns and full-time-only contracts. In doing so they exclude a huge pool of capable people, including many women balancing caring responsibilities, as well as experienced workers who would happily stay longer on a reduced pattern.
Flexibility in manufacturing will never look identical to flexibility in an office; production lines need people on site. But there is far more room than most businesses use:
• Job shares in day roles such as planning, quality, continuous improvement and engineering support.
• Shift patterns built around school hours, or compressed working weeks.
• Hybrid arrangements for roles where data, design or reporting work can be done remotely for part of the week.
• Returner programmes that give people, often women, who have stepped away from technical careers a structured route back in.
Representation matters too. When women see other women in engineering, maintenance and leadership roles, on site, in adverts and at careers events, they can picture themselves there. Inclusive language in job adverts, diverse interview panels and visible female role models are small changes that make a real difference to who applies.
People Strategy Is Smart Factory Strategy
The manufacturers that get the most from Industry 4.0 will not necessarily be those with the biggest technology budgets. They will be the ones that treat workforce planning as part of their digital strategy: investing in their existing people, recruiting for potential and transferable capability, and designing jobs that a wider range of people can realistically do.
Technology can transform how we make things, but it is people who will decide how quickly that transformation happens. If we want smarter factories, we need smarter ways of finding, developing and keeping the talent to run them.
About the author
Emma Devereux is Managing Director of Maintech Recruitment, a specialist recruitment business supporting UK manufacturers with engineering, maintenance and technical talent. She is a passionate advocate for workforce upskilling, transferable skills and attracting more women into manufacturing careers.
