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Douglas Alexander MP - Former Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness

Launch Printed Circuit Board Design Scheme
Left DTI 29/5/02


Tuesday, January 08, 2002


Other speeches
(Left DTI 29/5/02)

Thank you, Anthony. I am delighted to be here today at the launch of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Design Scheme. I believe that this project will continue to develop the United Kingdom as a leading global player, in this important high value added area.

As the Government recognised in the 2001 White Paper, "Opportunity for all in a world of change", the development and maintenance of a healthy skills base is vital for ongoing economic success and productivity in the UK. This is especially so in the all important enabling technologies that make the UK a leading Knowledge Economy: IT, Communications and electronics. This is why my Department, in partnership with the Department for Education and Skills, supports a major strategy to maintain and improve the supply of skilled labour for these vital industries.

  • Our strategy has three key planks:

  • Maintaining the skills pipeline, so there is a plentiful pool of skilled labour from which business can recruit;

  • Encouraging diversity in employment in IT, communications and electronics industries - we really must work hard to tackle the under-representation of women in the industry;

  • Developing new learning content and learning approaches that directly address the needs of business;

This PCB project is part of that third objective, to ensure that industry gets the people it needs, through a ground breaking partnership between industry, the Education system and government.

Printed Circuit Boards are found in most electronic products, virtually all electronic equipment contains one or more. The UK is particularly strong in electronics design. It has the EU's largest independent industry for silicon chip design, with;

  • 40% of all the independent design houses in Europe and;

  • more than 5,000 PCB Designers.

But if Britain is to continue this work then the number of PCB Designers needs to be maintained and opportunities opened for those currently in the profession to refresh their skills.

PCB Design is one of the highest value-added activities in the production process. Design underpins many of the technical advances in chip speed and new product design and current practitioners need to constantly refresh and update their skills. But we need more than that. We need :

  • In excess of 500 additional PCB Designers to cope with the growth predicted over the next four years. This is a substantial challenge for various reasons.

  • First, the traditional methods of entry to this profession through mechanical apprenticeships is now inappropriate for the skills required.

  • Second, the age profile of existing practitioners is such that we have a real task to encourage and train new entrants just to meet the shortfall that will arise through retirements.

The project will therefore establish PCB design centres in six academic institutions throughout the UK;

  • Napier University, Edinburgh

  • University of Glamorgan, South Wales

  • Castlereagh College, Belfast

  • Bolton Institute, Bolton, Lancashire

  • University of East London

  • Newbury College, Newbury, Berkshire

These institutions will be charged with:

  • producing, by 2006, up to 500 additional PCB Designers and

  • retraining over 200 existing practitioners

Improving the status of PCB Designers by creating a more recognisable career path, with three levels of expertise :

  • Technician, at HNC level

  • Engineer, at degree level

  • Architect, through peer review

  • providing up to date industrial based training for lecturers;

  • providing work placement for new entrants, with an expectation of future employment for those who qualify;

  • improving the link between education and industry.

In addition to the centres, the project will provide distance based learning. We hope that this will be of particular help to SMEs who find it difficult to release key workers and also for helping key workers keep up to date.

The DTI is therefore pleased to be able to put in funding of £1.229m, with matched funding from industry of £1.6m.

An early outcome of the work is a redefining of the job description as Electronic Design Realisation Professional to encompass the broader responsibilities of the Designer.

As a Scottish MP I am pleased to see that the validating Higher Education Institute is Napier University and that the project will utilise the facilities of the Centre of Excellence in the Borders, which is being supported by Scottish Enterprise Borders and the FEI, The Centre is being launched later this month.

I am grateful for the work of both the Printed Circuit Industries Federation and the Federation of Electronics Industries in bringing together the project. I congratulate Anthony Parish, Brian Haken, William Campbell, Martin Tarr and Frank Coultard on all their hard work which has ensured that the project can begin. I commend their efforts and wish the project every success.

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