Automation is reshaping work faster than most firms can staff for it. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as the trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report. For sawmills, that means the shop floor now runs on sensors, drives and control systems, not just saws and conveyors.
The appetite is there, but adoption is slow. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035 Make UK's Making it Smarter report. That gap is also a government concern: the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, substantially lagging international peers the Smart Machines Strategy 2035. Every sawmill that automates a line needs people who can commission and maintain it.
Automating a mill does not remove jobs so much as change them. Automation engineers, PLC and controls programmers, and systems maintenance technicians become central to keeping the line running. The direction of travel is clear: 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, a figure that rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees Make UK's Executive Survey 2026.
The hard part is finding these people. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations The Manufacturer's coverage of Make UK research. In engineering more broadly, 76% of employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist skills topping the list the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The scale is national: in 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025.
Start by looking at who you already have. With 40% of manufacturers planning to upskill and redeploy existing staff for automation Make UK's Executive Survey 2026, an experienced maintenance technician is often closer to a controls role than the job title suggests. Map the skills a new line needs, then fill the gap with a mix of upskilling and fresh hiring.
Watch the pipeline, too. Entry-level engineering hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap a GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring. If you only hire senior controls engineers, you compete for a shrinking pool. Bringing in and training junior talent protects you against the next shortage. And since 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive skills to rise by 2030 Make UK's 2030 Skills report, hire for problem-solving and adaptability, not just a single programming language.
We built Reed.ai to make specialist hiring like this faster and simpler. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface people with the controls, PLC and automation maintenance skills your sawmill needs, then manage the process end to end. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us the role and start building your automation team today.
