Most professionals understand the concept of life-long learning. As your career progresses, so too must your learning. Certifications, degrees and new trades are all tools that enable career growth and, ultimately, professional and personal satisfaction. Manufacturing companies invest in employees because it eventually pays off for the employer as the engineer can be at the forefront of innovation, finding new, more innovative ways of doing things. Technology has evolved exponentially in the last 10 years, much faster than the 10 years before.
So, a gap will undoubtedly develop if technology evolves faster than our skills. Therefore, we must start immediately identifying the gaps and what skills we need to fill them.
Technology (r)evolutions
A few years ago, we all embarked on the buzzword project, digitalisation, which aimed to turn the physical into digital, getting data from equipment that otherwise would not have been shared. Most readers would agree that we are well grounded in digital technology implementation in South Africa, especially with technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). However, today, the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) requires the attention of the manufacturing industry.
In the modern world, technology changes every few years. As recently as 10 years ago, we didn’t think of drones as a viable tool in the manufacturing industry to inspect pipelines or powerlines. Seven years ago, we didn’t think of using touchscreen technology underground or virtual reality goggles in training sessions. Two years ago, we didn’t think we could operate manufacturing operations remotely. Every two or three years, a better, more accessible machine language is developed for convenience, efficiency and applicability.
The low-code movement is also gaining traction where dependence on ground-up application development is no longer required – 20 years of experience in a specific coding language is irrelevant in the application development sector today. We have non-invasive leak detection, artificial intelligence technology that can inspect welds, and augmented reality that integrates with physical products for training and quality assurance. Technology is moving ahead fast, these revolutions are not waiting for us.
We are there, but the industry is not
The manufacturing IT industry is influenced by 4IR, modernisation, technology transformation and sustainability. The need to manufacture and produce more with less is becoming a permanent KPI in many blue-chip manufacturing companies. These trends are influencing the careers of IT and engineering professionals.
All readers have access to the internet and a smart device, so personally we are very much aligned with 4IR. We consume 4IR technologies every day, on demand. However, our manufacturing industries are not. Why? Because security fears mean sharing data on the internet is a no-no. Smart devices are not allowed in some volatile regions of plant areas; oh, and 25-year-old business models claim the old ways of doing things still work. This is the problem we have to address and overcome. And we will overcome it with mass upskilling of our industry.
Man vs machine
One of the biggest concerns 4IR introduces to the manufacturing industry is the question of robots; will our jobs be on the line? Repetitive and administrative positions are currently being swallowed up by automation. The mining industry, specifically, is a target of automation in order to preserve human and environmental life.
Robots are safe and efficient; they don’t die, rest, or strike for better work conditions and salaries. Robots work faster than humans do. However, skilled humans will still need to define the parameters in which these robots will operate, humans will still need to interpret the data, and more importantly, humans will need to maintain these robots. And that is where the upskilling opportunities and initiatives need to focus – where the human and the robot can align their skills with the requirements of 4IR.
What do we do?
Institutions like the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) have taken the lead in establishing some form of official guide to 4IR learning. The CSIR has an excellent programme called the Learning Factory, where 4IR skills development and transfer are supported. ECSA, on the other hand, recently announced that it has conducted a study to ascertain the impact of 4IR on its members. It aims to address the 4IR skills shortage by ensuring Continuing Professional Development (CPD) providers include 4IR-related studies in their engineering curriculums.
These are only two examples of institutions that have taken the bull by the horns. They realised the impact and importance of 4IR technologies on the engineering profession and in turn on the manufacturing environment, and put action plans in place to address the existing gap. If you’re an IT or engineering professional, you need to pay attention to the disruption that 4IR introduced. Your experience is valuable, but as we know, continuous learning is an absolute must for career progression and value contribution to yourself and your employer. There must be a change in our thinking; 4IR is here, and the skills gap exists and grows fast. The learning needs to start today.
About Lance Turner
Lance Turner is an MES/IIT/OT specialist employed at Sasol’s Secunda plant. He has an honours degree in Information Systems and an Adv. Diploma in Industrial Data Communications, Networks and IT. A certified MESA MES/MOM student, his passion is amalgamating general IT across the manufacturing spectrum. Lance’s vision is for a converged IT and manufacturing discipline that will become the reality of Industry 4.0. His team motto is MES services that are always available, always stable, and always dependable.
For more information contact Lance Turner, [email protected], www.lanceturner.co.za
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