According to Benedikt Ilg, UK manufacturing faces a knowledge cliff no one’s talking about 

In any manufacturing business, people are the engine that keeps everything moving. Regardless of automation, machinery or muscle, operations are held together by the quiet confidence of those who’ve seen it all, solved it all, and know how to keep things running smoothly. In fact, research shows 87 percent of UK manufacturing managers believe most of their technical know-how sits with older workers. 

Yet rarely, is this knowledge written down anywhere. The problem? Those people are about to retire. 

In other words, once older employees walk out the door without passing on their knowledge, that expertise disappears. And as the sector continues to battle challenging global competition, economic instability, and increasing demands for productivity, it will soon face a generational handover it may not be prepared for. 

A system under strain 

Manufacturing has long relied on practical, hands-on training. Skills were passed down on the line, standing side-by-side, through mentorship and shared time. But somewhere along the path to digitalization, that knowledge transfer has started to break down. 

Newer recruits, particularly those under 25, are entering the industry lacking essential technical skills. Ninety-four percent of managers say young workers are unprepared for the roles they’re stepping into. As a result, managers are asking experienced staff to pick up the slack for those who haven’t been given the tools or training they need to succeed. This includes spending time on correcting mistakes, doing unstructured training, and covering for others. 

What does this look like on a timesheet? Each person is losing more than 16 hours a week just fixing preventable problems or helping someone else do their job. That’s eight full days a month, per employee, just to make up for poor onboarding and missing skills. 

But the impact isn’t just on output. Over 75 percent of managers warn that poor onboarding and training processes are leading to health and safety risks. A red flag in any high-risk environment. 

Not a pipeline problem  

but a planning problem 

There’s a tendency to paint this issue as a ‘skills pipeline’ problem, one that places the burden squarely on schools, apprenticeships, or government intervention. Good examples of recently launched initiatives include Skills England, from the government and the Industrial Strategy Skills Commission, from Make UK. 

But this is only one part of the story, the truth is, many organizations lack structured strategies to develop and retain knowledge within their own walls. 

Nearly three in five managers admit their companies don’t invest enough in onboarding and training tools. And 69 percent say they aren’t confident their business can prepare for future skill demands. So, while the industry is off to a positive start, a lot of headway must still be made to adapt to the reality of workforce transition. 

Smarter solutions,  

not bigger budgets 

It’s easy to say, ‘just invest in training’, but in a sector where margins are thin and economic headwinds remain strong, that’s not always feasible. What’s needed is perhaps a smarter unified solution. Without having to download multiple apps, login to multiple portals, and remember a dozen things. 

That might mean digitizing onboarding processes so new starters can access information in real-time, rather than relying on fragmented documents or informal instructions. It could involve creating systems that capture the tacit knowledge of senior employees before they retire – through mentorship programs, peer learning, or internal documentation projects. 

It also means rethinking how success is measured. If onboarding is considered complete when a worker clocks in on their first shift, expectations are already misaligned. Getting new hires to full productivity can take months. Supporting that transition with the right tools and feedback loops is crucial to bridging the gap. 

Time for change 

As the looming retirement wave nears, UK manufacturing leaders must treat this issue with the urgency it demands. The focus shouldn’t be on simply replacing retirees with fresh faces. Rather, recognizing that the expertise of seasoned workers is a finite resource, and once gone, it won’t be easy to recover. 

If knowledge isn’t transferred, if skills aren’t developed with intention, and if support structures aren’t modernized, the sector risks more than just short-term disruption. Some may see this transition as a threat. But with the right leadership and foresight, it could be a turning point. By investing in sustainable talent strategies, better onboarding, the right technological tools and continuous development, manufacturers have the opportunity to approach this cliff edge fully equipped with the parachute (or glider) they need to come out stronger, smarter, and more resilient.   

Benedikt Ilg 

www.getflip.com  

Benedikt Ilg is the founder and CEO of Flip, the leading employee platform for deskless workers in Europe. Before founding Flip, Benedikt worked as a project manager at Porsche AG. There, he noticed a gap in the market for a standardized, easy-to-use tool that enable internal communications with all employees – including the deskless workforce. He was guided by one specific aim: to create an employee-focused solution that digitizes the work of billions of deskless workers, enabling them to connect with each other and the company, and that is both quick to implement and easy to use. Together with Giacomo Kenner, Benedikt leads a 160-person team at Flip’s headquarter in Stuttgart.