Engineers Production Production

Engineers represent a considerable share of total employment with every eighth job in the sector. Furthermore, it is the most important job category for growth and wealth creation as the sector is science-based, making research and especially development key functions in the chemicals sector. With both scenarios characterised by fast change and dynamic markets, the move towards sustainable market niches and market segmentation are a key differentiator for the skills and knowledge requirements of engineers. The fast changing environment in combination with flexible regulation aimed at stimulating sustainability requires innovation whose key source are engineers. Increasingly, engineers will move into services (health and other) which will imply strong competition in recruiting engineers.

Innovation requires certain technical but also organisational and social skills:

• Under both scenarios a change towards market niches in sustainable production (technologies) requires certain technical knowledge from engineers related to a move away from basic feedstock, products and processes to alternatives. While technical knowledge is a prerequisite for innovations to be successful, also business understanding / customer understanding is crucial.

• Innovation is organised around interdisciplinary expert teams on a project basis and in a collaborative working mode, even incorporating external experts either from universities or other firms. This requires strong project management skills from engineers.

• Additionally, team and project drive work requires increasingly social skills to engage in networking with necessary language and intercultural skills as well as strong communication skills.

• The use of hazardous materials in the sector with potentially high impacts on the environment and health make risk management a crucial skill also for engineers.

Specific knowledge requirements include:

• Interdisciplinary studies – future markets are chemicals related. Previous studies therefore envisage future chemists / chemical engineers as researchers in chemicals related multidisciplinary subject areas (e.g. KNCV, 2003).

• Potential for bio-based chemistry is not in replacement of fossil materials / processes but in new, better products and processes (HLG, 2008). This likely requires new technical knowledge to be built up by the scientific community.

• Toxicology is an increasingly important subject just as risk assessment driven by legislation.

• Focus on a good basic chemical education; industry partly notes that some universities focus on nanotech / biotech without laying a good foundation in basic chemicals.

Table 13.4a Emerging skills and knowledge needs: Engineers (production) 2009-2020

Green and Global Green and Focus Europe European Retreat Global pressure

Legislative / regulatory knowledge (environmental;

safety; labour; contracting) e-skills

Technical knowledge Product knowledge

Knowledge

Product development Team working skills Social perceptiveness Communication Networking Language

Social Skills

Intercultural Analytical skills Interdisciplinary Initiative Multi-skilling

Problem solving skills

Creativity Planning

Stress & time management Flexibility

Self management

Multi-tasking

Understanding supplier &

customers

Business development Marketing skills

Entrepreneurship

Trend setting / spotting Strategic & visionary Coaching & team building Collegial management style Change management Project management Process optimizing

Management skills

Quality management

Total Emerging skills and knowledge needs Count 21 Count 22 Count 16 Count 16 Note: shaded areas highlight specific skills and knowledge that will become relatively more important in the future, and require up-skilling and knowledge upgrading. This does not mean that blank areas are irrelevant; rather here no change in terms of up-up-skilling and knowledge upgrading is needed. The darker the area shaded the more important it is in the scenario.

Differences between subsectors:

There are clear differences between subsectors related to skill requirements of engineers.

Pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals have much higher R&D spending and rely on the creativity of their engineers. However, in pharmaceuticals the focus is more on biotechnology. Furthermore, particularly in bulk chemicals, engineers’ technical knowledge is required for process optimisation and development of substitutes.

Research and Development (R&D)

Next to production where most engineers work, research and development (R&D) is another key area for engineers to work requiring specific skills. While the emphasis in skill needs in production is on implementing and managing production (efficiency gains / product performance), in R&D the emphasis is on developing and updating scientific knowledge.

With the changing science landscape becoming more open and interdisciplinary with concepts such as open innovation, managing necessary relations with research partners such as universities and other research institutes becomes a key skill for scientific personnel. Furthermore, in research it is particularly important to keep scientific knowledge up-to-date as the research function also acts as absorptive capacity, bringing knowledge from academia into the firm.

As competitive pressures faced by the sector also require efficiency gains in R&D, identifying product needs and sufficient product knowledge become increasingly important in the early research phase requiring entrepreneurial skills from engineers and collaboration with sales and marketing.

Similar to all job functions e-skills are crucial for R&D with additional specific skill requirements. Modelling software replaces more and more tasks that previously had to be conducted in experiments. Operating and understanding modelling software is therefore a key emerging knowledge need.

Differences between scenarios:

While emergent skill requirements of individual engineers are similar across scenarios, volume effects differ between scenarios. High growth in “Green and Global ” requires more engineers and production workers especially in light of very fast changes. This poses a challenge to recruit the right talent from the labour markets with the demographic factor hitting the industry in 2012. Demand for new engineers in the “Green and Focus Europe” scenario develops slower but due to the demographic factor and low numbers of graduates nevertheless poses a challenge as well.

Table 13.4b Emerging skills and knowledge needs: Engineers (R&D) 2009-2020

Green and Global Green and Focus Europe European Retreat Global pressure

Legislative / regulatory knowledge (environmental;

safety; labour; contracting) e-skills

Technical knowledge Product knowledge

Knowledge

Product development Team working skills Social perceptiveness Communication Networking Language

Social Skills

Intercultural Analytical skills Interdisciplinary Initiative Multi-skilling

Problem solving skills

Creativity Planning

Stress & time management Flexibility

Self management

Multi-tasking

Understanding supplier &

customers

Business development Marketing skills

Entrepreneurship

Trend setting / spotting Strategic & visionary Coaching & team building Collegial management style Change management

Industry / University relations Project management

Process optimizing

Management skills

Quality management

Total Emerging skills and knowledge needs Count 22 Count 23 Count 16 Count 16 Note: shaded areas highlight specific skills and knowledge that will become relatively more important in the future, and require up-skilling and knowledge upgrading. This does not mean that blank areas are irrelevant; rather here no change in terms of up-up-skilling and knowledge upgrading is needed. The darker the area shaded the more important it is in the scenario.