Blindspots in Planning – the Unsustainable Factor, by Rob Picken

By Victoria Fellows

May 10, 2025

In today’s world of advancing technology, tariffs, investment in facilities and deep shortages it’s easy to think that solutions are themselves technological. Much of the promised funding and construction – particularly in USA – is geared to safeguard supply chains, and to develop national resilience to external factors and risk.

While important – the ability to produce chips, to build stuff and physically have enough production capacity is key to the economy, not only votes in an election year – the press and coverage tends to gloss over one critical piece of the puzzle…..where are the qualified personnel going to come from to sustain this growth? To deliver the materials promised by politicians?

Looking to the USA for example, various think-tanks estimate a shortfall of 50-75,000 qualified people (heavily biased to engineering) by 2030. This may seem far off, but the problems are being felt now. Almost every one of the critical fabs and foundries committed to under CHIPS act funding are delayed. Why? Lack of personnel. If factories cannot be built, or advanced semiconductor capital equipment operated and calibrated then progress is necessarily delayed. I’d be keen to see an AI that can build a factory!

So how can you, as a consumer of talent, safeguard yourself against problems in finding enough people to run your operation? You could poach from competition, but that’s expensive and ultimately a zero sum game. You could re-hire your retired engineers as consultants, and pay them $1,000 a day. Or you can invest in training programmes, and develop your people from an early stage to bring in the customised, focused talent you desire. Perhaps you partner with technical colleges and offer apprenticeships.

People are a competitive advantage, but by their nature are not sustainable or resilient. Planning to sustain their capacity by augmenting their skills with data tools and systems is wise, but by developing process and strategy, hand-in-hand with a focused agency like IC Resources should be a go-to for your sustainability needs.