Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economic & Business Research, or Cebr have published a âGo Fourthâ report that explores the latest trends in the industry and how these trends could have an impact on the manufacturing sector. The new technologies that are being developed as a part of the so called Industrial Revolution 4.0 are causing concern for some workers, who feel that their jobs could be at risk as automation is increasingly implemented.
The use of these Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies, or IR4.0 technologies in factories across the UK could lead to the development of Smart Factories which could deliver a wide range of benefits to the manufacturing sector. These benefits include a higher level of productivity and production speed as well as an improvement seen in product quality.
However, amongst promotion of increased productivity, there is a fear that IR4.0 will lead to job cuts. According to the report published by law firm Irwin Mitchell and Cebr, this is not the case. According to studies, employment levels in the manufacturing sector are actually expected to increase by 0.8% between 2017 and 2021. This increase in employment has been directly attributed to the use of IR4.0 technologies ion factories.
The report that has recently published by Irwin Mitchell and Cebr shows that over the course of the next four years the lower skill professions and administrative jobs will fall, but there will be a 12% increase in the number of managers, directors and senior officials and a 7% rise in professional occupations. The study recently published showed that the East Midlands, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire employ the largest amount of at risk occupation groups, while London and the South East employ the least. The regional results could mean that IR4.0 technology could lead to a change in the distribution of manufacturing jobs across the country.
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