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Wolfson looks to England for engineers

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"'Wolfson has always gone for the top 10% of engineers'"
Published Date: 20 August 2006
By BILL MAGEE
A SCOTTISH company providing microchips for the latest media gadgets says it can no longer find enough top-quality design engineers in the country that gave the world John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell.
In what could be seen as a further decline in the country's skills base, Wolfson Microelectronics has turned to England to find urgently needed staff to meet its expansion plans.

The company, which makes parts for the Apple iPod music player and
Microsoft's Xbox games console, has been a hit since floating on the London Stock Exchange in October 2003 and now wants to expand. It will be looking for small bolt-on acquisitions and more microchip design engineers to help meet demand.

However, marketing vice-president Julian Hayes said the firm was struggling to source staff locally due to a shortage of specialist engineering graduates in Scotland.

"Wolfson has always gone for what I would describe as the top 10% of engineering calibre, but for some time now we've had real difficulty in recruiting and just cannot find what we need here," said Hayes.

"We've already said that we are acquisitively minded, and so we now intend to try England to add to our staff."

Earlier this year the Edinburgh University spin-out company's founder and chief executive David Milne said he had plans for substantial recruitment at Wolfson.

The company anticipates that more mobile multimedia deals will lead to its portfolio of portable products topping 100 - supplying microchips for a growing range of devices such as iPods, DVD players, MP3 music players, flat-screen televisions, games consoles, digital cameras and mobile phones.

Wolfson outsources all of its manufacturing to Asia and has bases in Tokyo, China, Taiwan and India.



The full article contains 305 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 19 August 2006 7:18 PM
  • Source: Scotland On Sunday
  • Location: Scotland
  • Related Topics: Wolfson Microelectronics
 
1

Mugen,

UK 20/08/2006 10:02:59

Really what do companies like Wolfson expect. All too often we see companies move overseas in the manufacturing sector and information technology. If you read or watch any media you'd be nuts to advise your children to become an engineer. the end result of this is we are rapidly becoming a nation of big brother contestants and hairdressers. Also there is added factor that currently there is a lot of peer pressure within scots schools to be stupid, this coupled with a school system that rewards less than mediocrity means that the days of the likes of Adam Smith, Logie Baird etc. would sadly seem to be numbered

2

gj,

west lothian 20/08/2006 22:05:55

They aren't looking very hard then !!
Lots of electronic companies in Scotland have made very good design engineers with years of experience redundant in the last 12-18 months.
What about all the IC/ASIC/pcb designers that used to work at BAe (South Gyle), Cadence in Livingston, Intel in Glasgow, Motorola in Livingston & Irvine, Acuid in Dalkeith ... to name but a few.

3

Here Today HBOS Tomorrow,

21/08/2006 09:30:06

It depends on what you count as the top 10%, if it is like the other Edinburgh University mafia run companies then it will mean only students from there. Perhaps though they have set their sites of lesser places like Cambridge.

I am not sure if Wolfson is like that, at least I have not heard if it is or is not. But the E.U. mafia are slightly snobby when it comes to looking at people from other insitutions.

4

PeterP,

Scotland 21/08/2006 10:05:46

After 30 years working in high-tech I have observed that companies usually complain about skill shortages when they have failed to:

(1) Retain key people.
(2) Work with universities and agencies to identify, motivate, recruit and develop new people well ahead of time.
(3) Likewise work with and develop the skills that are available as GJ above points out
(4) Own the problem as a management team.

Its is naive and arrogant to expect to select the top 10% and running south to find them is no solution. Supply does not meet demand there either. Anyway native Thames Valley tekkies do not generally beat a path north.

It is best not to publicising a skill problem, not to scare customers, not to help competition, not to rubbish Scotland, but to attend to points (1)-(4) above.

The talent is right there in Scotland if you have the determination to unlock it, not to mention a work ethic second to none.

5

Here Today HBOS Tomorrow,

Ex-Scotland 21/08/2006 10:45:44

Dave, I think you are spot on with your four issues. However there is also the problem with the value placed on people in Scotland within IT and I assume electronics. Firstly salaries often get stuck at certain levels, therefore forcing people to move South or in my case abroad to find work. Other issues include the de-skilling of the economy through the fixation on supporting large "call centre" type operations which often offer (at the outset anyway) better pay and conditions than working in other sectors. This combined with shortages of good quality jobs in the past encouraged many people to work in call centres, as opposed to other areas. The result is that we now have call centres filled with engineers, mathematicians and scientists.

There is also a problem with the type of education on offer, with the exception of the new univiersities there was often very little link between academia and industry. At least the new universities often have work placement as a compulsory element of many degrees. Here in Germany, I frequently meet students who are studying for their degree and have also worked here (a leading employer) and have heard of many others who are working for BMW or similar companies. The result is that even people from perceived lesser institutions leave having worked with some of the top people in their area, they have learned some workplace skills and have also worked on a useful project. In my opinion a far more sensible approach to what happens most of the time in the UK and Scotland. Some universities I have seen do an excellent job of providing such schemes, others consider it as a little below them. The result is that many people do not reach their full potential while studying. With the result that companies like Wolfson assume that only 10% of those available are actually any good.

Before anyone asks I am ex-both older and new universities so have no axe to grind with either type. I am also a Wolfson shareholder so hop

6

PeterP,

Scotland 21/08/2006 20:00:31

Rod raises a very good point.

In Germany, especially, the title Engineer, is greatly valued and much respected. Likewise Japan Korea, China, USA. In the UK this is not so. These economies have recognised that technology is a massive wealth creator. As a result young people are motivated to acquire the necessary skills and business are enlightened enough to harness them at the highest level. Critically these companies INVEST to achieve and retain technological leadership supported by financial institutions and markets that understand and back them. In the UK this is not generally so.

In reality Wolfson is a prime example of this working well. Certainly Scotland, has recognised the importance of stimulating value adding enterprises in fields like electronic design, software development, photonics and life sciences.

However, without a UK culture that respects, motivates and rewards its engineers, without a management culture that has a pathological will to win and without a financial sector that is prepared to invest till it hurts, the Wolfsons will continue to be rare examples of the genre.

7

Here Today HBOS Tomorrow,

Ex-Scotland 22/08/2006 09:17:50

Dave, I also fully agree with your views on the financial institutions in the UK, and experience tells me that the mainstream banks in Scotland are even worse than the rest of the UK. Past experience tells me to look across the pond when looking for funding and not even to waste time sharing a room with financiers from the UK, who often can only claim to be there because fifty years ago they or daddy went to the right school.

The Scottish Executive really should be looking at how it can set the agenda for growth within science and engineering. This can be achieved through serious changes in the way we structure the education system with a greater emphasis on links between industry, academia and research organisations. We also need to create state run research organisations which partner with academia and industry. I have worked with various such organisations and their staff frequently split their time between university, industry and academia. This allows such people to spot the talented young scientists and engineers of the future, and provide them with projects and even future work which contributes to their personal development and the wider economy. It also allows the knowledge gained in such organisations to spread throughout the economy and academia and not just remain stuck in a journal publication somewhere. In the UK we tend to assume that it is the academic persuit of knowledge which should be supreme. While academic research is valid, there is a need for applied research too - something which we often sneer at. Also when I say state run I am not suggesting the government pays for everything but rather that it partners or shares the costs with industry, and in return it would receive some money back in royalties should the technology be of any use. In the organisations I have come across the money from government only flows when their is contribution from industry. In nearly all cases these organisations are autonomous, thus keeping meddling po

8

Here Today HBOS Tomorrow,

Ex-Scotland 22/08/2006 09:22:31

Oops there are a few mistakes in my previous post, the main one being:

"university, industry and academia" should read "university, industry and (applied) research".

There are also a few others lurking around but they are not as important, sorry about that.


 

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