2019 PAR Insights: Automation Workforce Development Trends

Summary

Sixty-six percent of automation professionals under the age of 35 believe updating one’s own skills is a personal responsibility, according to an automation workforce survey conducted at the annual Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable (PAR) in 2020 at a Novo Nordisk facility. The survey was designed to gather information about automation challenges, solutions and new ideas. This evaluation will feature statistics drawn from the survey as well as PAR members’ comments about their experience, ideas and challenges relating to the presented topics. Presentations and comments by PAR members are reported anonymously.

Approximately 100 people from 19 pharmaceutical companies completed the survey. About 60% of respondents were from North America; 30% from Europe; 8% from Asia; and 2% from South America. Fifty-three percent were between the ages of 35 and 50; 30% were older than 50; and about 17% were younger than 35.

General opinions about the automation field

“I’m involved in recruiting at the universities, and we still don’t see students come out with any kind of knowledge about automation,” one PAR group member commented.

Another chimed in: “Schools are focusing on data science and these people have more knowledge than our current employees, but they don’t have the knowledge and skill set to apply in real-world automation applications.”

According to the survey, 75% of those over the age of 50 believe that automation is the key discipline, and 65% of all respondents indicate a desire to learn new skills. Only 22% believe their current skill set is sufficient. Eighty percent indicated that updating skills is the personal responsibility of each automation professional. Only 8% of all respondents believe automation will put jobs at risk. Overall, 20% said there is no more stable, long-term employment.

Here are some of the responses divided by age:

 
One PAR group member said, “Younger people believe it’s the company’s responsibility to train them.” Another commented, “Younger people have an expectation that the company will provide an upward career path for them.”
 

Skills needed for future success in automation

Respondents were asked to rank skills necessary for success in automation in order from most important to least important. Survey results indicated this list as the average of the responses:

1. Understand the equipment and the processes.

2. Strong communications skills

3. A firm understanding of software development and programming

4. Creative thinking and detail oriented

5. Equipment troubleshooting skills

6. The ability to perform complex system tests

PAR members discussed these automation skills. Comments indicated how important it is for automation engineers to understand the full process, get on-the-job training when they’re new to the field, and understand the content and applications regardless of what new tools and technology are available. One PAR member commented, “Developing troubleshooting skills poses a real learning challenge. We see automation engineers going through troubleshooting to learn from problems.”
 

Survey respondents’ view of future educational requirements

The survey also revealed participants’ views regarding what educational attainments would be necessary for success in the automation field in the future. More than half (57%) said a four year technical degree (B.S.) would be necessary; 19% said a postgraduate technical degree (M.S.) would be needed; 13% said a two-year technical degree; 9% said nontraditional learning (e.g., online education); 1% said post-graduate technical degree (Ph.D.); and 1% said no technical degree.

One PAR group member emphasized the importance of learning on-the-job no matter what educational background one has: “You need to have some automation engineers who can learn and understand the specifics of the company’s processes and automation requirements so that they can move into other functional leadership positions in the company.”

College technical courses and content

Survey respondents were asked what type of college technical courses and content they would like to see engineers learn in addition to automation fundamentals. The following chart lists their top pick, Software Development Techniques, followed by four more courses listed from most to least desired.

Training and development activities

Survey respondents ranked the importance of training and development activities. Twenty-nine percent of all respondents indicated that involvement in automation projects is the most important training and development activity. Sixteen percent of respondents said peer interactions on the job are most important. Notably, 20% of respondents who were younger than 35 said that formal training (outside of school, not vendor) is most important, while only 7% of those between the ages of 35 and 50 and 2% of those older than 50 chose that answer.

Older people value peer interaction on-the-job more importantly as an important part of training and development than younger. It’s interesting to note that professional organizations and coaching from management did not appear to be an important part of training and development activities. One PAR member said, “Our philosophy is 70% of learning is on-the-job, 20% technical mentoring program, and 10% formal classroom.”

See the chart below for a full breakdown of responses by age group.

Current professional development courses

These are the top three professional development courses respondents thought were most important: 1 - Automation, instrumentation and Traditional Control Technical Content, 2 - Quality, Qualification, and Computer System Validation, and 3 – Leadership. Many comments from survey respondents indicated people don’t have any spare time for personal training and development.

Respondents noted an average of 60 hours of formal training today, whereas respondents from the 2011 survey averaged 40 hours; this is a 50% increase. One PAR member said, “Whenever we need to trim expenses external training gets reduced.” Another said, “I find that by the time I find out there is a formal training program I’ve already acquired the knowledge on-the-job.
 

Certification for automation professionals

“When the FDA comes in and asks how you know people were qualified to do their task, you need an answer,” a PAR member commented when discussing certification.

Survey respondents commented on whether or not they are required to be certified and whether or not they are encouraged to be certified. See the chart below:

 
Respondents then indicated what type of certifications they currently possess. More than half (58%) did not have a certification. Twenty-four percent have CSE-PE (Control System Engineer – Professional Engineer), 21% are Professional Engineers, 13% are ISA Certified Automation Professionals (CAP), 12% are ISA Certified Control System Technicians (CCST), and 12% have other certifications.

Several survey respondents commented that they held an engineering degree in conjunction with Instrumentation and Automation background; some UK & Ireland respondents said they are Incorporated and Chartered Engineers; some cited CDS Vendor System certificates and advanced programming; some listed soft skills certificates such as advanced programming; and others listed items such as CCNA, CCIE, VMWARE, HyperV, CISSP, and GICSP.

Other PAR members said automation professionals seem to be motivated to become certified because they want to improve their career standing. Cybersecurity training and master’s degrees are becoming more common, too, they said. “I see a lot of automation engineers involved in project delivery and pursue project management training and certification,” one said.
 

About Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable (PAR)

Every year, I have embraced the opportunity to attend the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable (PAR) meetings, as the only outside observer. Lead automation engineers from around the world attended this user only, two-day event. This group of engineers boasts wealth of practical knowledge and knowhow and is always willing to share with other participants creating a collaborative learning environment for all. Thus, the PAR meetings represent one of the most knowledgeable groups of automation professionals gathered in one place, at any one time, to discuss automation issues. The participating companies in the 2019 PAR include: [ Abbvie, Amgen, Baxalta, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, ImClone Systems, Lilly, Merck, NNE Pharmaplan, Novo Nordisk, Perrigo, Pfizer, and Sanofi Pasteur]. The PAR meetings consist of various presentations, given by PAR members, on specific automation-related topics.

About PAR

PAR was founded over 20 years ago by Dave Adler and John Krenzke, both with Eli Lilly and Company.  At the time, the purpose of the PAR roundtable was to provide a means of benchmarking and sharing best practices for automation groups among peer pharmaceutical companies. The group specifically does not discuss confidential or proprietary information, cost or price of products, price or other terms of supply contracts, plans to do business or not do business with specific suppliers, contractors or other companies.

Read the other article about the PAR survey.