A Case Study on Managing ‘Age Gap’ and ‘Skills Gap’ in Nuclear Industry

Prof Nawal K Prinja, B Tech(Hons), MSc, PhD, FIMechE, CEng

Technical Director, Clean Energy, AMEC Foster Wheeler

Honorary Professor, Aberdeen University and Brunel University, UK

IAEA 3rd NKM Conference

7-11 Nov 2016, Vienna

Prof. Nawal K Prinja

Clean Energy –What we do and whereSectors

• Principally nuclear, but also renewables and

clean coal technologies.

• Nuclear encompasses civil and defence

Services

Full Tier 1, 2 and 3 including: -

• programme and project management

• engineering, consulting and technical services

• EPCm & EPC (with acceptable risk profile)

• Life-cycle services covering –

• new build

• refurbishment

• decommissioning

Facilities

• 16 regional offices and more then 30 site

offices across UK, Europe and RSA

• Largest UK independent laboratories

supporting the nuclear industry based at

Birchwood and Harwell

Business profile

• Typically delivering 1000 - 2000 projects per

year with a value range of £5K to £300M

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Nuclear Pedigree

. . . . 3,000 nuclear

professionals . . . .

. . . . a Nuclear New

Build partner for 60

years . . . .

1955

1990

1980

1970

1960

2000

2010EDF Partnership

Sizewell BWestinghouse JV

NSS/NCL

Canada

AMEC Czech Republic

NCI South Africa

AMEC Slovakia

Growth in

Clean-Up

NMP Sellafield

AGR Station

Design &

Construction

(all Consortia)

Magnox Station

Design &

Construction

(all UK Consortia)

Sizewell B PWR

Heysham 1 AGR

Dungeness A - Magnox

Sellafield

Bruce CANDU

Tokai 1

. . . . . a strategic role on

every civil NPP ever built in

the UK . . . .

. . . . a growing

international presence

AMEC Romania

Mactec (US)

AES (US)

ESRC (Serco) (UK)

GDA – EPR, AP1000, ABWRHinkley Point C

Ignalina RBMK

AMEC France

International

acquisitions

and New build

renaissance

3

KM in Nuclear Industry

Nuclear Knowledge

(Organisational

Knowledge)

knowledge

transfers

needed within

and between

phases

OPEX, Requirements

4

Need to maintain knowledge Over the Life-cycle

KM in Nuclear Industry : The Knowledge Cube

5

People

Pro

cesses

Tools

Op

era

tio

na

l L

evels

Profile of workforce requirement for new build

6

Qualified engineers represent 1.2 per cent of the UK workforce while construction

staff represent two per cent, assuming this proportion remains constant, by 2050,

the UK will have a deficit of 36,800 engineers and 66,800 construction workers.

In a statement, Owen Goodhead, managing director of Randstad CPE, said: ‘Our

projections for the size of the engineering workforce are conservative, yet they

paint a very grim picture for the UK’s economic prospects. Unless we can plug the

employment gap, the engineering and construction sectors will be unable to

perform efficiently and this will have serious consequences for the prosperity of

the country.’

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/channels/skills-and-careers/uk-faces-36800-shortfall-

in-qualified-engineers-by-2050/1015304.article#ixzz3PwSXn6ul

UK Faces 36800 Shortfall in Qualified Engineers by 2050

Age Profile of E & T Staff in Clean Energy

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Knowledge Transfer

0,0%

0,5%

1,0%

1,5%

2,0%

2,5%

3,0%

3,5%

18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70

%a

ge

of

sta

ff

Age (Years)

Modern technology platform enabling full integration with core business systems

such as HR, finance, training etc to monitor qualifications and skills of staff.

Knowledge Capture

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Explicit

Qualifications

Training

Implicit

Role Profile

Job Specification

Tacit

Experience

Professional Skills

Training

Database

eg. tardis

Project

dependent5 Levels of skill claims

2 Levels of Regulatory Knowledge

x

WBS, Competencies & Attribute List

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) drives the Functional Structure

Example of Functional Structure in CAS:

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Function

Engineering

Systems

Mechanical /

Piping / HVACPhysics

Sub Function

DisciplineHVAC Mechanical

Mechanical

Integrity

Air Compressors

DesignBoilers DesignAttributes

Engineering

& Technical

How does data get into the system ?Consumption of Data

Training and related

development information

system

(tardis)

Competency

Assurance System

(CAS)

HR(people related data)

CVs(Skill claims, Training & qualifications)

Data migrated from other

systems / locations on

server / spreadsheets, etc:

-Training docs

- Qualifications

- Affiliations, etc

Training, qualifications, affiliations information in CAS made available on the public profile

•All data is checked (assured)

•It is not only a competency recording system

•It is a competency "assurance" system

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MDAX

AWBS

HR data(HRMS)

Worker Record (biodata

and org structure)

Training and

qualification

records

(tardis)

Skills claims

and

CVs

CAS

ePDR

LMS

Expertise

LocatorNuclear

Skills

Passport

potential 2-way data

transfer in future

Data Integrity and Consistency

There will be no duplication of data

Reports

Work Break

Down

Structure/

Finance

Data

Performance Reviews/

Career Path

Training/ AMEC Academy

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People

ToolsProcess

CAS

HoP Network

Succession plan

Lunch & Learn

University Links

iMap

Tech. Processes

Guidance Notes

Tech Website

Tech. Review

Computer Software List

Capability gap analysis

Tech Dev projects

Technical GovernanceVice President + Technical Director

Engineering / Technical Governance

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SQEP definition

A Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person (SQEP), is a person

who has sufficient qualifications and experience in a defined

skill area, to be able to implement that skill, at one of five levels:

0 - Supervised

1 - Unsupervised

2 - Advising and guiding others

3 - Company “expert”

4 - Externally recognised “expert”

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Integrated with HR system for staff data upload

Integrated with tardis for direct links to academic, training and accreditation certificates

Functional skills aligned to WBS functional breakdown

Structured to meet requirements of AMEC Foster Wheeler global competency procedure

Method to assign, verify and demonstrate competency of our staff to clients

The repository for staff CVs

A tool for Directors and Managers to obtain an overview of the health of our capability (i.e. X SQEP staff at skill Y)

A tool to assist managers when carrying out Performance Reviews

A tool to assist with knowledge management, capturing the experience and hence knowledge of staff

Advantages of CAS

Prof. Nawal K Prinja

data

information

Procedures and Processes

training

experience

I’m a

SQEP!

Complexity

To

ols

What makes a SQEP?

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Knowledge Management Process

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Capture Tacit Knowledge (experience based)

Capture Explicit Knowledge (Qual/training based)

Maintain Head of Profession (HoP) Network

Utilise knowledge implicitly by allocating SQEP staff to projects

Conduct Governance and Design Reviews

Assess performance and identify training and development needs.

Update skill claims.

tardis database

CAS

Procedure

Procedure

Procedure

Procedure

ePDR

Produce Business and Function Roadmaps Procedure

Review Capability and conduct gap analysis Procedure

Identify Technology Development projects Procedure

Identify (a) Knowledge at risk

(b) Key individualsProcedure

Succession planning Procedure

Conduct Progressive Learning workshop and disseminate results

Main Message

Largest KM gap is in the Engineering and Technology area

Several KM initiatives including development of a Competency

Assurance System (CAS) have been taken

Behaviours and culture need to change for effective KM and

skills development

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