Manufacturing and engineering companies have
historically invested little in IT. However, companies that have
survived the repeated recessions and downturns are now investing
heavily, says Ian McKeand, a director at recruitment consultancy
Harvey Nash. "They have realised they need to modernise if they
want to keep their heads above water and retain or win customers
who want to deal electronically with suppliers," he says.
"Commitments are being made at board level to invest in ERP and
supply chain solutions, in internet-based technologies to allow
customers to place and track orders and make payments
electronically, and in better management reporting
tools."
John Gilmartin, director of contracting services for the North
and Midlands for recruiter Spring Group, says this is no
flash-in-the-pan development. He says all the indications point to
the sector remaining buoyant and offering a significant amount of
work in a stable environment for at least the next three to four
years. However, Satnam Brar, managing director of specialist ERP
and supply chain recruitment consultancy Maximum IT, says that the
UK market has begun to reach a plateau, and that the rapid growth
in opportunities is now in mainland Europe. Nonetheless, he agrees
there are still plenty of opportunities in the UK, since there is
always a shortage of people with good skills in the manufacturing
and supply chain modules of the major ERP systems.
With many projects in the UK still at the front end of the
lifecycle, Gilmartin says demand is currently high for
process-change specialists experienced in delivering business
transformation, and for project and programme managers and business
analysts.
At this level, staff may have a traditional IT background, but
McKeand says many of these roles are also filled by operational
managers from the sector who have worked in warehousing, supply
chain logistics or production. Matt Gascoigne, head of the IT
recruitment division at recruitment consultancy Badenoch &
Clark, says that companies recruiting for these roles are also
often not too fussy about which specific software you have worked
with previously, and Brar confirms that what employers are most
interested in is in previous experience in the sector.
Where expertise in products such as SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft, JD
Edwards and Manugistics matters is at the next level down, with
companies looking for technical specialists who can install,
configure, test and train on a particular system. Manufacturers are
also looking for J2E and .net skills and some legacy application
skills to handle the transition from old systems to new
implementations. Gilmartin suggests demand for these more technical
skills will most likely begin to ramp up in the last quarter of
this year.
With much of the activity in the sector based around projects
with a fixed end-point, Gascoigne says that roles are weighted more
towards contract work than permanent positions. However, the number
of permanent roles available is on the increase, especially in
larger organisations, which are now continuously reviewing their
operational processes. Brar says it can be difficult to fill these
permanent roles because people with the right skills mostly prefer
to work in the contractor market. As a result, he says, employers
are often forced to take on more junior staff and offer training to
get them to the level they need, making this sector a surprisingly
heavy investor in staff development.
One of the reasons manufacturing and engineering companies
struggle to recruitment permanent staff, Brar says, is that they
often do not pay well enough to attract those skills. Gilmartin
confirms that even for contractors, rates may be a little on the
low side, but he says that is balanced by the fact that contracts
are typically longer, giving contractors in this market greater
stability in their careers. "We also see a lot of redeployment," he
says. "When a contractor comes to the end of their involvement in a
project for a particular employer, there is often a chance to
redeploy into another project in the same company."
Junior IT professionals contemplating a move into the sector
should also note the difference in demographics in manufacturing
compared with the IT industry as a whole. "Many of the consultants
in the sector have been in it for 20 or 30 years, but the history
of manufacturing in the UK means there is a shortage of younger
people coming through," Brar says. With such a top-heavy age
distribution, there is likely to be a skills crunch in a few years'
time that could drive up rates.
Moreover, although manufacturing and engineering may have a
reputation as something of a slow-moving a backwater, Gilmartin
says that is no longer the case. "Because of the huge amounts of
investment going in, there is a chance to work with the latest
tools and technologies, and be involved in juicy projects," he
says. Gascoigne confirms that many of these projects provide real
opportunities to shape and influence the business.
In addition, because many large manufacturers are
multinationals, Gascoigne says the sector offers plenty of
opportunities to work overseas. However, he warns, you may also
find yourself "living out of a suitcase. With these roles, you can
spend an awful lot of the time away from your base."
Another downside, McKeand says, is the risk of getting stuck in
the sector once you have worked in it for a number of years. "It is
very easy to place candidates, especially at more senior levels, in
another manufacturing and engineering sector employer, but hard to
get companies in other sectors to take them seriously," Gascoigne
agrees that your skills and experience can easily become too
specialised, limiting your opportunities in the wider marketplace.
"The flip side is that the more specialised you become, the more
you will be in demand in this sector," he says.