UK’s manufacturing sector uses the QLBS Diagnostic Systems to lift business and skills.
The British Government’s National Skills Academy for Manufacturing (The Academy) has been charged with a lead role in not only transforming the manufacturing sector, but also leading the way for other sectors in the way skills needs are identified and development plans are generated. Essentially the challenge was to enable the industry to assess itself against new ways of business that were necessary to survive and thrive, and to do this via web based self assessment, workshops and one to one expert facilitation. After conducting a worldwide search for technology that would assist in this mission, the Academy chose QLBS, an international company that has implement similar diagnostic systems in Silicon Valley and the Pacific Region. Using this tool suite, HR and organizational development assessors can rapidly, thoroughly and objectively carry out skills gap analyses for firms, government agencies and non-profits, allowing them to identify organisational shortfalls and implement a skills development plan. The QLBS tools are being used as a key feature of the “Learning Engine” portal which is planned to go live in October 2009.
Bob Gibbon, chief executive of The Academy, says,
“The use of web based technology to distribute best practice models and help companies assess themselves against these models and develop skills development plans is key. A big advantage of the QLBS system is the ability to capture these “needs assessments” in a permanent database so that regional, cluster, and industry-wide skills needs can be identified and tracked over time.”
Dr. Emma Mulligan, business development manager of The Academy, says,
“Each assessment will be captured in a database enabling the Skills Academy to aggregate skills needs by region or industry type and channel skills development to the areas that will truly strengthen the industry. We will also track capability improvements over time and report back in a measured approach to funders of the skills development program.”
Ongoing Partnership to Develop New BPM’s
In 2008, The Academy purchased and installed the QLBS system as its platform for developing and distributing best practice models and assessing skills needs. To date, eleven best practice models, from strengthening supply chains to enhancing innovation have been made available through the QLBS system. The Academy will also be drawing on the library of BPM’s that QLBS has already developed and deployed in other parts of the world. Together they will work with the five strategic sector groups identified to date: the automotive, marine, aerospace, biosciences, and electro-mechanical industries, to establish BPM’s and deploy them widely. One example of this partnership in action is the development of the Strategic Workforce Planning Model for the aerospace sector, led by British Aerospace, Rolls Royce and other industry leaders. Together with The Academy and QLBS, these firms developed a targeted BPM in record time and are now driving implementation through a series of workshops and industry consultative engagements.