Scottish Engineering – Quarterly Meeting – October 2014

As active members of Scottish Engineering, our specialist recruiters regularly attend the quarterly regional meetings across Scotland.

Duncan Clark, Design & Development Engineering Recruiter with Escape attended their most recent event held at FMC Technologies in Dunfermline on 23rd October.

“I have always found Scottish Engineering’s meetings hugely beneficial to keep myself up to date with developments in our client markets as well as gaining an opportunity to continue building my own knowledge relating to the specialist sectors and organisations within Scotland’s engineering and manufacturing industry.”

Overview of Key Discussion Points
This was the first meeting following the recent independence referendum and was an opportunity to understand what impact this had on the markets and how they are moving forward. Unsurprisingly, this point was the first on the agenda and as expected the referendum had shown to have led to a decrease in orders over the last quarter mainly within defence and marine markets which would have been directly affected in the event of a yes/no vote. Other contributory factors included ever-increasing austerity measures within the Eurozone and Russian export sanctions, which have also resulted in a decrease in exports to this region in the last quarter.

However it wasn’t all doom and gloom, overall output volumes are positive and the general confidence within the Scottish engineering market is very good with many Scottish businesses, especially within Oil & Gas, also enjoying great levels of success in exporting to regions such as West Africa and South America.

From an employment point of view, it’s a good time to be a Welder or Precision Engineer with increased hiring requirements from organisations coupled with a continued shortage in available skilled labour are leading to employers exploring more innovative recruitment methods such as ‘fast-tracked’ apprenticeships.

Following the meeting we were given a tour of the facility at FMC, with delegates enjoying the opportunity to be taken through each stage of the process in the build of a subsea Xmas tree, an impressive and slick operation thoroughly enjoyed by delegates from across the Oil & Gas industry. From Dunfermline to operating wells in the Gulf of Mexico, 13,000 below the sea, it was definitely a chance to see Scottish Engineering at its best!

Our Engineering, Manufacturing & Supply Chain team specialise in recruiting within: