Purpose: This paper explores how education and training systems can support a digitally-enabled workforce for the Australian manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on interviews with 17 sector-level manufacturing stakeholders from industry, government and education/training organisations. Semi-structured interviews…

Purpose: This paper explores the implications for higher education of the rapid development in technology used by the manufacturing sector. Higher education programmes change or new courses are introduced in attempts to match labour market demands. However, the pace of change in the manufacturing industry challenges the authors to reconceive how…

Purpose: Although considerable attention in the extant literature has been devoted to knowledge acquisition and transfer within firms, there is a dearth of research on the effectiveness of outside sources of knowledge for technology-based small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the majority of empirical studies in this area focus on…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify key factors influencing employee learning from the perspective of owners/managers. Design/methodology/research: Data were gathered from owners/managers in a total of 27 small manufacturing and services firms through interviews and analysed using content analytic procedures. Findings: The…

Purpose: This paper aims to report findings from a North East (of England) study co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Learning and Skills Council to explore the issues around the provision of vocational training for women in Northumberland, focusing on the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors. The aim of the research was…

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate how science and engineering graduates can be recruited and trained to Masters level in precision engineering as an aid to reducing the skills shortage of mechanical engineers in UK industry. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes a partnership between three UK academic institutions and industry,…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the factors influencing the provision of increased training in Australian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have embarked upon different growth development pathways. Design/Methodology/Approach: The longitudinal panel data employed in this research are drawn from the…

Purpose: In this paper empirical research is presented that investigates managers' perceptions of a variety of component management skills and techniques. The aim is to identify which management development needs manufacturing SME managers perceive as most important for their continued development, and to consider contextual factors that might…