Festo teams up with Works Management for Effective PR Programme
Festo Training & Consulting specialises in the development of people, organisation and technology and operates almost entirely within the manufacturing and engineering sectors. Festo was established in Germany in the 1920s and today operates in 176 countries.
The company's PR programme is very focused on ‘thought leadership’, with the programme primarily using placed media articles, strategic media partnerships and the development of whitepapers driven by market research.
Each year, Festo undertakes a piece of research which drives a six-month PR programme. In 2013, we carried out some research in conjunction with Works Management magazine to find out more about skills shortages and working with apprentices. The survey provided some very useful stats and facts, many of which were utilised time and again in feature articles, workshops, presentations and social media.
75% of businesses suffer from a skills shortage
88% say the skills shortage has either not changed over the last year or got worse.
Skilled shop floor workers (40%) and experienced engineers (36%) have the biggest skills shortages
44% say that lack of skills has been a direct cause of downtime/reduced profitability in the last year.
The industry could do better in terms of employee morale – 43% average or below.
71% of employees are between the ages of 40 and 55. Only 6% are under 35
64% of organisations will take on an apprentice this year
52% of apprentices do not have the expected level of design or technical skills
The subject matter of the survey was also discussed at a roundtable event and formed the basis upon which a workshop was delivered at the conference.
The relationship secured with the magazine has resulted in some other really good coverage for Festo, including a front page and double page review of one of its courses – Don’t Just Feed Me Chicken.
Take a look at some of the coverage achieved.