ATA Recruitment
What is the solution for the current shortage of skilled Permanent Maintenance Engineers and the increased amount of downtime in the Manufacturing Sector?
The manufacturing sector is currently facing an unprecedented challenge with a real shortage of Maintenance Engineers in the industry. The Industry in Motion 2023 Maintenance Engineering Report was compiled by RS Group in conjunction with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). It has highlighted several challenges that the manufacturing sector is facing.
1. Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) strategies are being neglected due to too much time spent on Reactive Maintenance
One of the challenges manufacturing companies are facing is the lack of time to focus on PPMs. This is having a massive knock-on effect on the number of breakdowns and increasing downtime for a lot of companies. Several manufacturers ATA Recruitment have spoken to have invested in Centralised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), but have been unable to use it effectively due to the number of breakdowns and required reactive maintenance. Utilising contractors in this situation can allow manufacturers to stay focused on the PPMs which should help reduce the amount of downtime and increase output.
2. True hourly cost of downtime
The report highlighted that an average of 20 hours a week is spent on unscheduled maintenance and the average hourly cost of plant downtime for businesses is approximately £5,121. This means companies are losing around £100,000 per week because of machine breakdowns and it is also reducing the time that can be spent on preventative maintenance. According to the report, the two main causes for machine breakdowns is Ageing Assets and Mechanical Failure.
3. The impact on your current Maintenance team due to the downtime
Not having enough Maintenance Engineers on your team will have a major impact on the rest of your team and could potentially create reasons for those people to leave. Struggling to attract Maintenance Engineers and running under the optimum team size could mean that the team need to work longer hours, are under pressure to complete tasks faster and could mean dissatisfaction within the team. Engaging with ATA Recruitment to identify contractors to help reduce the impact of the downtime on the rest of the team will buy you time to find the right Permanent Maintenance Engineers.
4. Key challenges for maintenance in the next 12 months
The report also looked at the key challenges that may occur for maintenance departments. The two key challenges that Engineering and Maintenance Managers highlighted were attracting and retaining talent and inflation and higher costs. These were highlighted by nearly half of the 700 respondents, so these are clearly seen as a significant issue that will affect the manufacturing sector in 2024.
5. The skill shortage of Permanent Maintenance Engineers is concerning
The ageing skilled workforce and the age gap to the next engineers coming through is concerning. Companies are finding it tough to recruit Skilled Maintenance Engineers and this is having a knock-on effect and increasing the amount of downtime and ultimately costing the business a significant amount of money. Over 60% of companies have chosen to outsource their maintenance to contractors over the last 12 months and these businesses cited the skills gap among the reasons for doing so with other causes including cost effectiveness, flexibility and overall efficiency.
What can ATA Recruitment offer as a solution to these challenges?
Contractors can offer a flexible solution and fill the skill gap that manufacturing companies are facing, allowing you to flex your workforce to help reduce the impact of the lack of permanent Maintenance Engineers on the market. This will help reduce your downtime as a manufacturing business and ultimately save your company money.
Specialising in the recruitment of contract and temporary Maintenance contractors across the UK, ATA Recruitment have a database of over 10,000 contractors that have all been interviewed by one of our trained consultants.
ATA Recruitment fills on average 80% of the assignments that companies have engaged us to source contract Maintenance Engineers
When a contract Maintenance Engineer is placed, over 90% of those contracts are extended past the expected end date
We supply countless major manufacturing and logistics companies across the UK
Contract Maintenance Engineers are a fantastic opportunity to introduce a workforce into your business that you can flex up and down depending on the workload
"Over the last 2 years I have being dealing with ATA Recruitment and Hassan Choudhry, he has provided me with over 20 Maintenance Engineers, both in electrical and mechanical disciplines. He has met the brief regarding candidates I would like to review and supplied CV’s for me to make a decision on. Hassan is very easy to deal with and is professional in how he conducts his work and deals with concerns or issues raised. I will continue to use Hassan to provide engineering support for my department” Engineering Manager
If you need a Maintenance Engineer on a Temporary or Contract basis, then please get in contact with Hassan Choudhry on:
07989 063 940
Send your CV to Hassan.choudhry@ata-recruitment.co.uk
Connect with Hassan on LinkedIn
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