MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & DEVICES  SOLUTIONS PT


Addressing the skills gap in the pharmaceutical sector


The skills gap is an issue that stretches across the industrial landscape. From manufacturing lines to offshore process facilities, trained and skilled employees aren’t entering the workforce as quickly as those retiring from it


By Ken Molloy, Technical Success Manager, SolutionsPT


across all sectors working without the right level of  Or a deepening of an issue that we can already


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observe to some extent; businesses spending vital budget on keeping the ageing workforce on  pendulum swings, the skills gap needs to be solved  


pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, and I’ll explain 


PHARMACEUTICAL EXPERTISE Pharmaceutical manufacturing is inherently more complex than most other manufacturing   highly educated, either through schooling or workplace apprenticeships, the pharmaceutical operator typically requires an advanced knowledge of processing, quality control, chemistry and 


In some cases, depending on the business,


pharma operators may even need a masters or  the skills gap as new employees can’t gain the  intervention has to come earlier in the career 


The skills of a pharmaceutical operator   and have all the tools and knowledge to address maintenance issues and ensure production can continue while adhering to some of the strictest 


They then need the skills of a scientist who


understands the active ingredients and the role  a pharmaceutical operator must also have the  requirement is imperative so that an operator can apply different data sets to models, be that for  No matter where in the supply chain the pharmaceutical operator is working, they must


30 July/August 2025 Irish Manufacturing


ithout proper course correction this issue could reach a critical point whereby we see operators


possess the skills of these three job roles, and without new blood entering the workforce the  


hand, never before have the skills of pharmaceutical  this incredibly important skillset the world would never have been able to recover so rapidly from the recent pandemic, not only producing viable  On the other hand, the sector specialism isn’t promoted heavily to those looking to the  will be pushed to either research roles or the  are important, they don’t keep the wheels of pharmaceutical manufacturing moving, which for a vertical that affects everyone’s life (at some point or another) is a problem


DIGITALISATION OF SKILLS To ensure a steady stream of new talent and competent operators, the sector needs to take  First, the position of pharmaceutical operator needs to be promoted to school leavers and  Those unaware of what a pharmaceutical


operator might do need to be shown that it isn’t about keeping a machine oiled, in fact, the areas most in need of new talent are pharmaceutical  multiple opportunities for new entries into the workforce, even those that started their education  to advance their education to the right level must see that this exciting vertical uses the latest technology, and while it has been slow to adopt digital transformation previously, it is now rapidly 


The second step to close the skills gap rests


 around capturing that invaluable knowledge of the experienced workforce before it is gone forever  As a large portion of the workforce reaches  has been collected and honed throughout their careers could be lost and without that guiding


hand nurturing new talent, the skills gap will  the proactive step now to start digitalising that knowledge and capturing those vital skills, so that  Pharmaceutical companies can choose the right software that will enable rapid skills development, dramatically reducing the time it takes to get frontline workers up to speed with the complex  step needs to be taken sooner rather than later, because the longer it’s left, the harder it will be to secure knowledge and prepare the next  AVEVA Teamwork enables pharmaceutical


manufacturers to capture and share critical knowledge in one digital platform, designed to empower their workforce with the digital resources they need to do their jobs effectively  training videos, work instructions, valuable troubleshooting knowledge, and collaborate and solve problems/capture best practices across the 


 gap issue within the industry it offers the fastest  The remaining responsibility to encourage young  roles is one that will require industry and educators to work closely together to understand 


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